Question

How did early English drama develop?

Answer 1

It originated in the church. Priests acted out hymns and religious stories to explain them to the uneducated congregation. Then drama spread out of the church, becoming more secular in tone and character. From these plays grew the miracle and mystery plays, and later the morality plays.

Answer 2

The most distinctive achievement of Elizabethan literature is the drama. It had its origins in native folk tales and culture. In England in the Middle Ages the tradition had religious plays as the most popular. By the end of the fifteenth century plays that depicted the ordinary lives of people began to appear, little by little did they begin to integrate secular themes as well. The great playwrights of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries time combined the classical dramatic theory with the folk and popular tradition. Shakespeare is indeed crucial to the development of English drama.