Discover published sets by community

Time period: 5th - 15th century, Characteristics: Religious themes, morality plays, pageant wagons, Key figures: Hrosvitha, Mystery and Miracle play authors

Time period: Late 20th century - present, Characteristics: Emphasis on physical expression, combination of dance and acting, visual storytelling, Key figures: Jacques Lecoq, Pina Bausch, DV8 Physical Theatre

Time period: Late 18th - mid-19th century, Characteristics: Emphasis on emotion over reason, exotic settings, celebration of the individual, Key figures: Lord Byron, Victor Hugo, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Time period: Early - mid-20th century, Characteristics: Audience alienation effect, commentary on social issues, narrative rather than dramatic structure, Key figures: Bertolt Brecht

Time period: Early 21st century - present, Characteristics: Use of digital media, virtual or augmented reality, livestreamed performances, Key figures: Companies and artists exploring technology in performance

Time period: 240 BC - 476 AD, Characteristics: Adaptations of Greek works, slapstick humor, stock characters, Key figures: Plautus, Terence, Seneca

Time period: Mid-20th century, Characteristics: Meaningless actions, illogical dialogue, circular structures, Key figures: Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter

Time period: Late 20th century - present, Characteristics: Scripts constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic, Key figures: Max Stafford-Clark, Alecky Blythe, London's Tricycle Theatre

Time period: Late 19th - early 20th century, Characteristics: Use of metaphorical images, focus on spirituality and dreams, rejection of realism, Key figures: Maurice Maeterlinck, Paul Fort

Time period: Early - mid-20th century, Characteristics: Distorted reality to evoke moods or ideas, bold and graphic design, episodic structure, Key figures: Bertolt Brecht, Georg Kaiser, Ernst Toller

Time period: Early - mid-20th century, Characteristics: Assault on senses, non-linear narrative, physical theatre, Key figures: Antonin Artaud

Time period: Early 21st century - present, Characteristics: Audience participation, unconventional spaces, multisensory experience, Key figures: Punchdrunk, Third Rail Projects

Time period: Late 20th century, Characteristics: Provocation, graphic content, moral ambiguity, Key figures: Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Anthony Neilson

Time period: 5th century BC, Characteristics: Chorus, masks, amphitheatres, Key figures: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

Time period: Late 19th century, Characteristics: Everyday settings, complex characters, social issues, Key figures: Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw

Time period: Mid to late 20th century - present, Characteristics: Use of non-fictional sources, commentary on current events, often verbatim or with multimedia support, Key figures: Anna Deavere Smith, The Living Theatre, The Tectonic Theater Project

Time period: Late 20th century - present, Characteristics: Deconstruction, multi-media, irony, and pastiche, Key figures: Robert Wilson, Pina Bausch, Richard Foreman

Time period: 14th - 17th century, Characteristics: Revival of classical texts, perspective scenery, proscenium stages, Key figures: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Commedia dell'arte troupes

Time period: 17th - 18th century, Characteristics: Adherence to the 'unities', verisimilitude, poetic justice, Key figures: Molière, Racine, Corneille