Art, literature, politics,  history, philosophy and the arts in general, there has never been much agreement and much confusion as to what the word means

       The origins of theatre are embedded in ritual, dancing, storytelling, and play-acting. The world's earliest recorded dramatic activity took place on the banks of the River Nile in Egypt.Ancient Chinese Indian and Greek drama also indicate a long tradition of theatrical activity.

       Theatre (from the Greek verb theasthai, to view or to see, whence theatron, or seeing place) may be defined not only as a structure in which dramatic performances are given, but as the sum of all the arts required for the production of a dramatic, or imitative, action.

       These include acting, theatrical costume and makeup, directing, screenplay, stage lighting, theatre machinery and special effects, and dramaturgy or playwriting.Theatre is an electric art form, often employing music and dance in its productions as well as the talents of leading artists from outside the theatre.

       Other mimetic performing arts, such as opera and ballet, are closely related to the theater, the principal distinctions being that opera consists of song and musical dialogue throughout, whereas ballet is an art of rhythmic movement precisely timed to music.

       With these reservations in mind, the following site concentrates on the evolution of the theater in different periods and cultures.

       In discussing the history of dramatic literature, all historians down to a few years since have, without exception, confined their attention to the rise of Greek    Drama, to its imitation in Rome, to the Mysteries and Miracles of medieval Christianity, to the revival of the classical form, and to its splendid development in the plays of Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, Calderon, Corneille, and Racine.

       Moreover, all writers instead of seeking for the origin of the Drama by a rigid application of the historical and inductive method have approached its study from the a priori standpoint of pure Aesthetics.

       But as even now the study of art with a few exceptions is almost invariably based on a priori assumptions, little regard being held to the anthropological method, it could hardly have been expected that writers on the drama, literature would have followed other lines.

       Finally, to further encourage site visitors to explore the world of art further, the page provides links to a number of other art sites, like bodyart, on the internet, with descriptions of what visitors can find at those sites.


STORING RARE BOOKS


Indoor Fountains