Dr Nemika (Assistant Professor) Department of English. Dayanand Arya Kanya Degree College, Moradabad
A play, often in verse, written to be read rather than performed. Such type of plays are meant for peaceful reading in the lonely rooms that’s why they are called as closet drama. These plays are often philosophic and thoughtful and sometimes they are poetic. Therefore, the common ordinary reader fails to understand the depth of these plays. The language of closet drama remains different so this language also does not suit to a theatrical performance because the actors cannot speak the long speeches and the audience also find themselves tired of these long speeches. In short such type of dramas are more poetic than dramatic.
During the early 1800s, most plays that were performed were ‘melodramas’ or ‘burlesque.’ Serious writers such as Browning and Byron sought to elevate the art form by removing it from the stage altogether by creating closet dramas. It was a natural reaction to the sensational performances of the day.
This art form was popularized in the Romantic era by such writers as Robert Browning and Goethe. Plays are written, generally, to be performed, and the playwright depends on the actors and actresses to bring his script to a higher level. With closet dramas, the playwright intends just the opposite. Though they started their career as dramatists, their genius was poetic so they could not express the dramatic qualities. They didn’t have much knowledge about the stage and audience so they wrote their plays in the manner of long poem. For example, Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound. In the tradition of Romantic poetry, Shelley wrote for the imagination, intending his play’s stage to reside in the imaginations of his readers. However, the play is filled with suspense, mystery and other dramatic effects that make it, in theory, performable.
Shelley wrote two lyrical dramas: Prometheus Unbound and Hellas. Both give fine expression to Shelley’s idea of the ideal world and his doctrine of Necessity. Shelley’s case also illustrates that the need for a full expression of the subjectivity of the author gives birth to unacted drama. In writing his lyrical dramas, Shelley made conscious efforts to explore the potentialities of language as the medium for unacted drama, thus making his contribution to the development of this new literary genre.
Many poets from Wordsworth to Swinburne presented poetic dramas which were put in the class of closet drama. During Victorian era Tennyson also tried his hand in writing this type of drama, he wrote seven dramas; romantic and historical. Like Tennyson, Browning also attempted this kind of writing. His popular dramatic works are Strafford, The Return of the Druses, and A Soul’s Tragedy. The Dynasts (1904–8) by Thomas Hardy (which later was adapted for performance by Granville ) is also placed in this type of dramas.
English Learners 