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A play, or stageplay, is a form of literature written by a playwright, almost always consisting of dialogue between fictional characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed or read. Therefore, the term "play" can refer to both the written works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance.
Richard Monette, who held the longest tenure of Artistic Director at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (1994-2007), said that plays on the shelf are literature, whereas plays on the stage are theatre.
earliest recorded theatrical event dates back to 2000 BC with the passion plays of Ancient Egypt.
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A play, or stageplay, is a form of literature written by a playwright, almost always consisting of dialogue between fictional characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed or read. Therefore, the term "play" can refer to both the written works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance.
Richard Monette, who held the longest tenure of Artistic Director at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (1994-2007), said that plays on the shelf are literature, whereas plays on the stage are theatre.
History
The earliest recorded theatrical event dates back to 2000 BC with the passion plays of Ancient Egypt. This story of the god Osiris was performed annually at festivals throughout the civilization, marking the known beginning of a long relationship between theatre and religion.
In Western culture, the play originated in Ancient Greece and was popular through Roman times. They began to fade from popularity until the late 16th century, when Shakespeare popularised theatres and plays. His influence on this literary form, and the English language, is still apparent today.
Shakespeare may, in fact, have helped introduce the play to England, as before the late 1500s there were no set plays in England, just wandering minstrels performing scenes on request.
The history of plays in Eastern theatre is traced back to 1000 BC with the Sanskrit drama of ancient Indian theatre. The earliest plays in Chinese theatre also date back to around the same time. Japanese forms of Kabuki, Noh, and Kyogen date back to the 17th century. Other Eastern forms were developed throughout China, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
The most popular plays in the medieval Islamic world were passion plays known as ta'ziya, where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history. In particular, Shia Islamic plays revolved around the shaheed (martyrdom) of Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali. Live secular plays were known as akhraja, recorded in medieval adab literature, though they were less common than ta'ziya plays.
Comedies are plays which are designed to be humourous. Comedies are often filled with witty remarks, and unusual characters. Certain comedies are geared toward different age groups. Comedies were one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece, along with tragedies.
A generally nonsensical genre of play, farces are often overacted and often involve slapstick humour.
These plays often involve death and are designed to cause the reader or viewer to feel sadness. Tragic plays convey all emotions, and have extremely dramatic conflicts. Tragedy was one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece.
These plays focus on actual historical events. They can be tragedies or comedies, but are often neither of these.he term architecture (from Greek a???te?t?????, architektonike) can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.
As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter. A wider definition often includes the design of the total built environment, from the macro level of how a building integrates with its surrounding landscape (see town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture) to the micro level of architectural or construction details and, sometimes, furniture. Wider still, architecture is the activity of designing any kind of system.
As a profession, architecture is the role of those persons or machines providing architectural services.
As documentation, usually based on drawings, architecture defines the structure and/or behavior of a building or any other kind of system that is to be or has been constructed.
Architects have as their primary object providing for the spatial and shelter needs of people in groups of some kind (families, schools, churches, businesses, etc.) by the creative organisation of materials and components in a land- or city-scape, dealing with mass, space, form, volume, texture, structure, light, shadow, materials, program, and pragmatic elements such as cost, construction limitations and technology, to achieve an end which is functional, economical, practical and often with artistic and aesthetic aspects. This distinguishes architecture from engineering design, which has as its primary object the creative manipulation of materials and forms using mathematical and scientific principles.
Separate from the design process, architecture is also experienced[1] through the senses, which therefore gives rise to aural,[2] visual, olfactory,[3] and tactile[4] architecture. As people move through a space, architecture is experienced as a time sequence.[5] Even though our culture considers architecture to be a visual experience, the other senses play a role in how we experience both natural and built environments. Attitudes towards the senses depend on culture.[6] The design process and the sensory experience of a space are distinctly separate views, each with its own language and assumptions.
Architectural works are perceived as cultural and political symbols and works of art. Historical civilizations are often known primarily through their architectural achievements. Such buildings as the pyramids of Egypt and the Roman Colosseum are cultural symbols, and are an important link in public consciousness, even when scholars have discovered much about a past civilization through other means. Cities, regions and cultures continue to identify themselves with (and are known by) their architectural monuments.[7]
Terminology
The term "play" can be either a general term, or more specifically refer to a non-musical play. Sometimes the term "straight play" is used in contrast to "musical", which refers to a play based on music, dance, and songs sung by the play's characters.
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