istoryworld
Events relating to theatre
The so-called Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenae, is the most spectacular of the beehive tombs of this period
Frenzied dances, in honour of the god Dionysus, become part of Greek theatre - deriving probably from the northeast, in Thrace
Thespis, traditionally considered the first actor, wins the drama competition in Athens
Aeschylus wins the prize for tragedy at the City Dionysia in Athens
Sophocles wins the prize for tragedy in Athens, defeating Aeschylus in the competition
Euripides enters the drama contest at the City Dionysia in Athens for the first time
Aristophanes wins first prize in Athens for his comedy The Acharnians
Socrates is now sufficiently prominent to be satirized in Clouds, a comedy by Aristophanes
The theatre at Epidaurus is the earliest and best surviving example of a classical Greek stage and auditorium
Plautus and Terence, in the second and third century BC, create a Roman drama based on Greek originals
The first known mystery play, the Mystery of Adam, takes place outside a church somewhere in France
Tannhäuser is one of the Minnesinger, the German equivalents of the French troubadours
Kanami and Zeami Motokiyo please the shogun with their theatrical performance, and his patronage begins the tradition of Japan's No theatre
The English mystery cycles are performed by trade guilds, on carts pulled from audience to audience around the city
The Italian players of the commedia dell'arte first feature in the records in this year
James Burbage builds London's first theatre and calls it the Theatre
Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III
The Globe, where many of Shakespeare's plays are first performed, is built on Bankside in London
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age
William Shakespeare's name appears among the actors in a list of the King's Men
Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I
The satirical voice of the English playwright Ben Jonson is heard to powerful effect in Volpone
Shakespeare's last completed play, The Tempest, is performed
