closet drama

closet drama a play that is meant to be read rather than performed. Precursors of the form existed in classical times. Plato's Apology is often regarded as tragic drama rather than philosophic dialogue. The dialogues of Cicero, Strabo, and Seneca were probably declaimed rather than acted, since only the comic theater survived transplantation from Greece to Rome. Closet dramas were particularly popular in the early 19th cent. when melodrama and burlesque dominated the theater, and poets attempted to raise dramatic standards by reviving past traditions. Byron's Manfred (1817) and Shelley's The Cenci (1819) imitate Shakespeare, and Goethe's Faust (Part I, 1808; Part II, 1832) draws in part on the Elizabethan tradition. Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671) and Shelley's Prometheus Unbound (1819) are based on Greek tragedies. Notable among other closet dramas are Robert Browning's Strafford (1837) and Pippa Passes (1841).

Closet Drama, plays written to be read as opposed to those intended for production. Among the most important and influential were those of Seneca. Many verse plays by established poets, particularly in the 19th century, though meant to be read were successful in production; while Tennyson's have not been revived, de Musset's have joined the permanent repertory. The term ‘closet drama’ also includes translations of plays, usually classics in their own countries, intended for reading and not for acting.