What is a Closet Drama?
No, a "closet drama" is not a play that you perform in your closet. (Although that would be awesome.) Instead, a "closet drama" is a dialogue-based form of literature that reads like a play, but is not intended to be performed.
Why would someone write a play that was never meant to be performed? For some writers, the dialectic quality of a play is the best way to deliver information. Plato's Socratic dialogues read very much like theater (albeit without much plot or conflict), and Goethe's Faust Part One is drenched with philosophy.
In both cases, the ideas are conveyed through conversation.
Many poets, especially during the Romantic Age and the Victorian Era used closet dramas as a form for their poetic epics. Percy Shelley's lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound would not only take over five hours to perform properly, it would be incredibly difficult to bring to life on stage with all of its Olympian gods, Titans and mythic creatures. (Although I am convinced that sock-puppets could solve the problem.)
One of the most ambitious closet dramas is Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Although an brave theater company produced this play in the early 1900s, The Dynasts is clearly meant to be performed in the reader's mind. It is a sweeping epic about the Napoleonic Wars, narrated by celestial entities who observe humans as if we were ants. And it make it even more of a challenge, The Dynasts consists of not four or five acts, but 19 acts. Does that peak your interest? And do you have a lot of time to kill? Then you can read The Dynasts at Project Gutenberg.
Why would someone write a play that was never meant to be performed? For some writers, the dialectic quality of a play is the best way to deliver information. Plato's Socratic dialogues read very much like theater (albeit without much plot or conflict), and Goethe's Faust Part One is drenched with philosophy.
In both cases, the ideas are conveyed through conversation.
Many poets, especially during the Romantic Age and the Victorian Era used closet dramas as a form for their poetic epics. Percy Shelley's lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound would not only take over five hours to perform properly, it would be incredibly difficult to bring to life on stage with all of its Olympian gods, Titans and mythic creatures. (Although I am convinced that sock-puppets could solve the problem.)
One of the most ambitious closet dramas is Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Although an brave theater company produced this play in the early 1900s, The Dynasts is clearly meant to be performed in the reader's mind. It is a sweeping epic about the Napoleonic Wars, narrated by celestial entities who observe humans as if we were ants. And it make it even more of a challenge, The Dynasts consists of not four or five acts, but 19 acts. Does that peak your interest? And do you have a lot of time to kill? Then you can read The Dynasts at Project Gutenberg.
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