The period known as the English Renaissance, approximately 1500–1660, saw a flowering of the drama and all the arts. The two candidates for the earliest comedy in English Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1552) and the anonymous Gammer Gurton's Needle (c. 1566), belong to the 16th century.

This post explores the origins, key periods, and influential playwrights that have shaped English drama, providing a thorough understanding of its evolution from medieval morality plays to contemporary masterpieces. 1. Medieval Religious Drama. 2. The Rise of Secular Drama: Morality Plays. 3. The Elizabethan Era: The Golden Age of English Drama. 4.

English drama started as a religious enterprise and continued to evolve until it transformed into its secular, artistic form. In the later days of the Roman Empire, corrupt drama, on account of its immoral nature, was driven out of the stage. Further, the church forbade all kinds of drama.

•The history of drama is deeply rooted in the religious annals of history. •Thus the early plays that merged gradually into Elizabethan drama. •The era of Elizabeth, drama is found with distinctive stages in twofold appeal. • i.

The history of the English drama takes us back to the century succeeding the coming of the Normans the earliest mention of any dramatic representation in this country referring to a performance of a Latin play in honor of St. Katherine, at Dunstable about 1110.