The birth of theatre

"Philip Freund has spent over thirty years writing a monumental history of the theatre. Stage by Stage is a chronicle of world theatre from primitive rites and enactments of myths to contemporary drama to be published in a series of volumes." "This first one, The Birth of Theatre, traces the evolution of classical drama from its beginnings in Egyptian and Middle Eastern religious ritual, and particularly the Greek mystical cult of Dionysus, through the golden age of the Periclean period in Athens and ending with the major Roman playwrights of the late Republican and early Imperial age. The book includes detailed discussions of the extant plays - tragedies and comedies - of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. This is followed by accounts of notable productions and revivals, especially in the USA and Britain over the past half-century as well as earlier where descriptions or assessments are available. The book ends with a discussion of the development of Middle and New Comedy in Greece and the works of Plautus, Terence and Horace."--BOOK JACKET.