Talk:Drama

Cleaned up and added material from Medieval theatre

I've cleaned up the article in line with the style guidelines and imported, then edited, expanded, summarised, etc. material from Medieval theatre appropriate to this article. I tried to keep that section short, but it covers many centuries. I'm about to gather the sources used in the citations and add them to the list. It would be good to do the same thing with subsequent periods from articles with appropriate content. The article has hardly changed in the last few years since I wrote most of what's here (in the theatre sections), and it's still pretty patchy in terms of coverage of the subject. I tried to clean up Drama (film and television) too, to clarify and forestall misunderstandings about the complex relations between the terms (they can't be easily separated or distinguished). I've added some material in the lede about the late arrival of the word "drama" in English and its further narrowing into a dramatic genre (yes, drama is a genre of drama(!)).  • DP •  ^{huh?} 06:12, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Copied content from Restoration comedy

I've imported content from the drama sections of Restoration comedy and summarised it for a section to contribute to the history of drama section. It could do with a note or two more on Aphra Behn and a mention of George Farquhar right at the end, but I didn't want it to get too long.  • DP •  ^{huh?}

The section "Forms of Drama" is based on a taxonomic mistake.

Opera is not a form of drama, but a form of theatrical performance one of whose elements is a drama. Ballet also has a dramatic story as an element, but it is not a type of drama. A puppet show is a type of theatrical performance, too, but it is not drama, either. Mime and pantomime are types of performance, and their stories might be of high moral seriousness, but neither the art nor the performance is drama.

"Drama" is a taxonomic class that has, for the Greeks, only two hyponymic divisions, tragedy and comedy; but it is one among other hyponyms of the higher taxonomic category "theatrical performance."

I will therefore eliminate the section.Wordwright (talk) 22:49, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

Wordwright, the Encyclopaedia Britannica defines opera as follows: "a staged drama set to music in its entirety". The Wikipedia article Theatre has: "Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers, typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance." Also opera is defined as "musical drama in A Handbook to Literature (7th edition 1996) and in the same work musical comedy is defined as "a combination of music with comic drama". The article on musical comedy comments "music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times". I, therefore, respectfully suggests the there is a need for some discussion before any changes are made.

Indeed. Things have moved along since ancient Greece, and this argument is unsustainable. Johnbod (talk) 00:19, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Isn't ballet a form of drama?

Isn't ballet, at least "dramatic dance", also a form of drama? {https://www.britannica.com/art/dance/Drama]. See also the definition of mime as "a theatrical medium where the action of a story is told through the movement of the body, without the use of speech". Ballet, in the form of dramatic dance at least, might well be defined as mime plus music.Rwood128 (talk) 14:04, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

Dramatic arts listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Dramatic arts. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Hildeoc (talk) 19:36, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Requesting wider attention

I felt article Islamic_literature is in bit of neglect so I added my note on talk page there, requesting to take note of Talk:Islamic_literature#Article_review. If possible requesting copy edit support. Suggestions for suitable reference sources at Talk:Islamic_literature is also welcome.

Posting message here too for neutrality sake

Thanks and greetings

Bookku (talk) 07:52, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Movie drama

I added here in the first sentence the film or movie drama - and it was reverted: "These are already mentioned in this sentence."

Really, where?

I do not see any mentioning of film or movie in the intro, only television. Which gives the wrong impression the term would not apply to movies.

--Bernd.Brincken (talk) 22:40, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

Film and movie are mostly covered in theater and television, but you can add video if you like.—Anita5192 (talk) 23:15, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

We are talking about the first sentence, that typically serves as a concise definition of the topic.

Now it cares to mention eight applications of drama - performance, play, opera, mime, ballet, theatre, radio, television - but not movie.

Why?

--Bernd.Brincken (talk) 22:08, 10 June 2026 (UTC)

Instead of the current disambiguation hint: "For the film and television genre, see Drama (film and television).", that wisdom should simply be included in the intro sentence. Because "Drama (film and television)" is definitely a part of "Drama", not a different topic that just happens to use the same term. --Bernd.Brincken (talk) 11:38, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Or you could simply insert another "etc." I don't think it's a good idea to try to enumerate everything in the lead.—Anita5192 (talk) 16:28, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

I believe this misnamed article is describing Drama (performance) in more of a live rather than recorded medium. This certainly needs clarification. The literature sidebar actual has this article as the link, rather than a Drama (literature) article. I believe there needs to be a few articles renamed to accurately describe the various sub-genres.--☾Loriendrew☽ ☏(ring-ring) 18:11, 11 June 2026 (UTC)