TIME LINE:BRITISH DRAMA

MA English Literature UGC NET Study Chart

British Drama: Complete Historical Timeline

From Ancient Classical Influence to Modern & Contemporary Theatre

Important Historiographical Note: British drama did not begin in ancient Greece. While classical Greek and Roman drama profoundly influenced later British plays, the distinct tradition of British drama begins primarily with medieval performance.

The 10 Writers to Memorise First

1. Medieval

Anon. (Everyman)

2. Tudor

Nicholas Udall

3. Elizabethan

University wits, William Shakespeare

4. Jacobean

John Webster

5. Restoration

William Congreve

6. 18th Century

R. B. Sheridan

7. Romantic

P.B.Shelley

8. Victorian

Oscar Wilde

9. Modern

George Bernard Shaw

10. Post-War

John Osborne

Chronological Master Chart

#	Period	Approx. Dates	Important Writers	Major Works & Key Contributions
1	Ancient Classical Background	c. 5th BCE – 5th CE	Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Seneca	Greek tragedy & comedy; Roman tragedies of Seneca (influential model for Elizabethan/Jacobean revenge tragedy).
2	Early Medieval Period	c. 5th – 10th Cent.	Anonymous (No established major English dramatists)	Christian liturgical performances (e.g., Quem Quaeritis trope); beginnings of European religious drama.
3	Medieval Drama	c. 10th – 15th Cent.	Anonymous Playwrights	Mystery, Miracle, and Morality plays. Key works: Everyman, The Second Shepherds' Play, The Castle of Perseverance.
4	Tudor Drama	1485 – 1558	John Skelton, John Heywood, Nicholas Udall	Magnificence, The Four PP, Ralph Roister Doister (first secular English comedy).
5	Early Renaissance Drama	c. 1550 – 1580	Thomas Norton, Thomas Sackville, Thomas Preston	Gorboduc (first English tragedy in blank verse), Cambises.
6	Elizabethan Drama	1558 – 1603	Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, Robert Greene	Doctor Faustus, Hamlet, The Spanish Tragedy, Endymion. Rise of commercial playhouses & verse tragedy.
7	Jacobean Drama	1603 – 1625	Ben Jonson, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, John Marston	Volpone, The Duchess of Malfi, The Changeling. Satire, cynicism, decay, and revenge tragedy.
8	Caroline Drama	1625 – 1642	John Ford, Philip Massinger, James Shirley	'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Cardinal, A New Way to Pay Old Debts. Courtly sophistication and drama prior to Civil War.
9	Commonwealth Period	1642 – 1660	John Milton, Sir William Davenant	Public theatres officially closed in 1642 by Puritans. Milton's closet drama Samson Agonistes published in 1671.
10	Restoration Drama	1660 – 1700	John Dryden, William Wycherley, George Etherege, William Congreve, Aphra Behn	All for Love, The Country Wife, The Way of the World, The Rover. Comedy of Manners, wit, first professional female actors.
11	Early 18th-Century Drama	1700 – 1745	Richard Steele, John Gay, George Lillo	The Conscious Lovers, The Beggar's Opera, The London Merchant. Sentimental comedy, ballad opera, domestic tragedy.
12	Later 18th-Century Drama	1745 – 1798	Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Brinsley Sheridan	She Stoops to Conquer, The School for Scandal, The Rivals. Anti-sentimental "laughing comedy" and social satire.
13	Romantic Drama	c. 1798 – 1832	Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley	Manfred, Cain, The Cenci. Poetic and closet drama (intended for reading rather than stage production).
14	Victorian Drama	1837 – 1901	Tom Robertson, Arthur Wing Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Oscar Wilde	Caste, The Second Mrs Tanqueray, The Importance of Being Earnest. Early theatrical realism, melodrama, farce.
15	Early Modern Drama	c. 1890 – 1918	George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Harley Granville-Barker	Mrs Warren's Profession, The Playboy of the Western World. Drama of Ideas, social realism, Irish Renaissance.
16	Interwar Drama	1918 – 1939	Noël Coward, J. B. Priestley, T. S. Eliot	Hay Fever, Dangerous Corner, Murder in the Cathedral. Witty comedies, modern verse plays, time experimentation.
17	Post-war Drama	1945 – 1960s	John Osborne, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Arnold Wesker	Look Back in Anger, Waiting for Godot, The Birthday Party, Roots. Theatre of the Absurd & Kitchen Sink Realism.
18	Political & Experimental	1960s – 1980s	Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard, Joe Orton	Saved, Top Girls, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Postmodern meta-theatre, feminist drama, critique of state politics.
19	Contemporary Drama	1990s – Present	Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Martin McDonagh, debbie tucker green	Blasted, Shopping and Fucking, The Pillowman, Random. In-Yer-Face theatre, shock aesthetics, identity politics.

Timeline at a Glance

Ancient Classical Influence → Medieval Drama → Tudor Drama → Early Renaissance → Elizabethan → Jacobean → Caroline → Commonwealth → Restoration → 18th Century → Romantic → Victorian → Modern → Interwar → Post-war → Contemporary

British Drama Chronological Study Chart • Designed for Academic & Exam Preparation