Editing Dramaturgy (section)

=== Historical works ===
These are examples that define theatrical tradition throughout history. 

==== Poetics ====
[[File:Aristotle poetics.jpg|thumb|1780 edition of the Poetics]]
A foundational work in the Western theatrical tradition is ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' by [[Aristotle]] (written c. 335 BCE), which analyzes the genre of [[tragedy]]. Aristotle considers ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' (c. 429 BCE) as the quintessential dramatic work. He analyzes the relations among [[Character (arts)|character]], action, and speech, gives examples of good plots, and considers the role of audience response as an aspect of theatrical form. His "rules" are referred to today as "Aristotelian drama". In ''Poetics'', Aristotle discusses many key concepts of Greek drama, including the moment of tragic recognition ([[anagnorisis]]) and the purgation of audience feelings of pity and fear ([[catharsis]]).

==== Sanskrit ====
[[File:Natya Shastra (1898).jpg|thumb|1898 copy of the Nāṭya Shāstra]]
''Poetics'' is the earliest surviving [[Western culture|Western]] work of [[dramatic theory]]. The earliest non-Western dramaturgic work is probably the [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] work ''[[Natya Shastra|Nātya Shāstra]]'' (''The Art of Theatre''), written around [[Anno Dommini|500 BCE to 500 CE]]. It is thought to have been written by  a number of people, the core of which was compiled by the dramatist [[Bharata (sage)|Bharata]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of India |date=2006 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-684-31512-6 |editor-last=Wolpert |editor-first=Stanley A. |series=Gale eBooks |location=Detroit, MI}}</ref> This work describes the elements, forms, and narrative elements of the ten major types of ancient Indian drama.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eckersley |first=M. |title=Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director |publisher=University of Melbourne |year=1997 |place=Melbourne |page=37}}</ref> One of the concepts expressed in the ''Nāṭya Shāstra'' is the idea of bhaavas, or the emotions expressed by the actors. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pandey |first=Rajendra Prasad |date=2012 |title=Western Reception: A Study of Ramchandra Shukla |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23345939 |journal=Indian Literature |volume=56 |issue=4 (270) |pages=207–218 |issn=0019-5804}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Sengupta |first=Poile |date=2014 |title=THEATRE: A Playwright's Illusion |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24390754 |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=113–120 |issn=0376-9771}}</ref> There are 33 bhaavas mentioned, including love, horror, excitement, etc. <ref name=":0" /> These are intended to evoke [[Rasa (aesthetics)|rasa]] for the audience. <ref name=":0" /> Rasa is hard to define in English, since there is not an English equivalent for this word, but it the emotions felt by the audience, which is separate from emotions experienced through real life.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Dace |first=Wallace |date=1963 |title=The Concept of "Rasa" in Sanskrit Dramatic Theory |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3204783 |journal=Educational Theatre Journal |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=249–254 |doi=10.2307/3204783 |issn=0013-1989}}</ref> The term rasa first appeared in the ''Nāṭya Shāstra''. <ref name=":1" />

==== Epic Theatre ====
Perhaps the most significant successor to Aristotelian dramaturgy is the [[Epic theatre]] developed by the twentieth century German playwright [[Bertolt Brecht]]. Many of the innovations associated with Brecht as a theorist and writer for the stage, including the concept of the "estrangement effect" (or [[Verfremdungseffekt]]) and the acting technique known as [[gestus]], were intended as deliberate revisions of the values upheld by Aristotle.<ref>{{cite web| via= community.dur.ac.uk| url= https://community.dur.ac.uk/m.p.thompson/brecht.htm| first= Bertolt |last= Brecht| title= Brecht on Theatre| date= 1964}}</ref>