Up Next
Back to Show
Crash Course Theater
Thespis, Athens, and The Origins of Greek Drama
Season 1
Episode 2
This week on Crash Course Theater, Mike is acting like theater started in Greece. Well, for the western theater, this is true. The earliest recorded drama in the west arose in Athens, and these early plays grew out of religious ritual. Namely, they evolved from the worship of Dionysus, god of wine, fertility, and RITUAL MADNESS. That's right. I said RITUAL MADNESS.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
10:40
Spain was having kind of a moment in the 16th and 17th centuries.
12:54
In the 1600s, English theater had to go into hiding, from PURITANS. Enter: WOMEN.
11:50
Thanks, Shakespeare! Let's talk about Ben Jonson, revenge tragedies, and court masques.
10:46
Let's take a look at Shakespeare's comedies, romances, problem plays and heroines.
11:29
Shakespeare's tragedies had some jokes, and they changed the way tragedies were written.
10:52
How a young Shakespeare stormed into London's theater – and wrote some pretty good plays.
12:17
Let's take a look at London theater and the playwrights who set the stage for Shakespeare.
10:43
Painting, music, architecture, and plays with fart jokes were all thriving from 1300-1500.
12:20
Noh, and its counterpart Kyogen are some of the most revered theater forms in Japan.
11:10
After European churches changed their minds on theater, drama became an outdoor activity.
11:01
Meet Hrotsvitha: a cool, 10th century nun/playwright who influenced a new era of theater.
11:59
As Christianity rose in the west, theater declined. But it returned – via Catholic Mass!