Drama Glossary
Key theatre terms and definitions including related shows.
A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty.
A theatrical entertainment popular in early 18th-century England, taking the form of a satirical play interspersed with traditional or operatic songs.
Absurd or comically exaggerated imitation, often used in vaudeville-style productions. Burlesque evolved to have sexual innuendo and striptease acts.
A literary style or mode that subverts normal or dominant society, and may be playful or dark.
A man overwhelmingly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable.
A type of play developed during the Victorian period that takes place in a drawing room, a room in a home where guests are entertained (such as a living room).
A period of rapid economic growth in America during the last thirty years of the nineteenth century.
Also called the Paris Uprising of 1832, an insurrection against the monarchy of Louis Phillipe I. The event is a central plot point in Les Misérables.
From 1737 to 1968, the Lord Chamberlain had the power to decide which plays would be granted a licence for performance. This meant that he (and his department) had the capacity to censor theatre.
A popular form of entertainment during the nineteenth century with a formulaic plot and stereotypical stock characters.
A form of variety entertainment popular in Britain from c.1850-1918, consisting of singing, dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and novelty acts.
The non-verbal expression of ideas through the body, using no words; also a hugely popular and increasingly extravagant spectacle which has its roots in commedia dell’arte.