Drama therapy

Henrik Johan Ibsen has a prominent place in the genre of realism in theatre. He is called the father of realism and modern drama. He was born on March 20, 1828 in Skien, Norway to Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg. His father was a general merchant. Henrik Ibsen’s childhood was full of poverty because of his father’s financial setbacks. At the age of 15, he stopped going to school and joined as an apprentice in an apothecary in Grimstad. The poverty had a strong influence on his plays. He had…

Considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman can be seen as praise to a man who, while trying to bring his family into grace, falls in a tragic life. As Centola (25) says, “Miller’s play tells the story of a man who, on the verge of death, wants desperately to justify his life.” Willy is a complex and fascinating man who gradually destroyed himself with false hopes and beliefs. He is a tragic man who, in his whole life, has believed that he would…

Arthur Miller provides audience with a different kind of experience in Death of a Salesman. He not only provides us with the insight into complex human conditions but also tells us about the false reality that most of the people perceive. Primarily this play does not seem any different from other plays as it involves the basic three act structure comprising of exposition, confrontation and climax. The unique thing about this play is the way Miller has used time and space. He made the characters…

Introduction Macbeth is considered to be Shakespeare’s one of the most outstanding tragedies. Scholars widely agree that Macbeth was written around the year 1606 and to support the idea ‘the strongest indication that Macbeth was composed in the summer of 1606 concerns its allusion to a ship named the “Tiger” which has sailed to the near east en route to Aleppo, an ancient trading city in Syria’(Feldman: 213). Shakespeare’s main source to write Macbeth was Chronicles of England, Scotland, and…

In the Athenian play, Medea, Euripides explores the role of the Chorus and how their ongoing interactions with Medea influence and enhance the audience’s understanding and perception of Medea and her choices. The homogenous Chorus was a widely used technique in Ancient Greek theatre to bridge the gap between the audience’s thoughts and the performers’ actions, and for Medea, Euripides uses the naïve Chorus to observe and comment on characters' behaviours and actions, guiding the thoughts of the…

Desire under the Elms The Plight of Modern Man O'Neill's Desire under the Elms represents the plight of modern man through many themes. The play represented theme of greed, family problems, Alienation and psychological problems which are all considered to be within the problems faces by modern man. The protagonist Eben is a very clear example on these themes. The theme of greed is represented intensively through all characters but especially Eben. His desire to own the farm alone is…

In a View From the Bridge, Miller tries to create a modern age greek tragedy. A greek tragedy is defined as a play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance and outstanding personal qualities, falls to disaster through the combination of a personal failing and circumstances which he cannot deal. Miller portrays this through the character of Eddie who is understandably the ‘man of importance’ at least within his household. The character of Eddie also ’falls to disaster’ at the end of…

order to the cosmos.” “Free Will is the freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. It is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action.” “Oedipus the King” is the classical drama written by one of the most famous playwright Sophocles. It is a tragic play. The question which arises after reading the play is that was Oedipus a victim of fate or free will? There is a fundamental relation between fate…

With this letting go leads to the big aspect of change throughout the show. Felix and Oscar adjust their personalities throughout the show, and become less of their archetypes; feminine and masculine. By the end of the play, the characters are no longer so far away. While Felix and Oscar start as opposites, they definitely don’t end up that way. Oscar Madison’s development is much more evident than Felix’s is. He starts the show as a self-centered,sloppy, self-proclaimed “husky man” (Simon, The…

in and do their part. This PT has also made me realise how fun drama and theatre is. I used to believe that it was all about analysing the script, the reason why the playwright wrote it in such a way, but I realised that staging a play was so much more than this. We need lighting, sound, some actions and many other factors that are not included in the script. A lot of our play used improvisation, and taught me how personalised drama and theatre could be to different production…