The Three Unities or dramatic unities are descriptions of how plays should be written, according to Aristotle. However, Aristotle was writing after the golden age of Greek drama, and many Greek playwrights, notably Aeschylus, wrote plays that do not fit within these conventions. The unities were: Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. ... Greek theatre or Greek Drama came into its own between 600 and 200 BC in the ancient city of Athens. ... Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ...

1. The Unity of Time: The play was to take place during a single day.
2. The Unity of Space: The play must take place in a single location.
3. The Unity of Action: All action within the play was to be directed towards a single overarching idea.

Although it is often believed that these conventions originated in Aristotle's Poetics, it was not until French neo-classical drama in the 17th century that all Three Unities were actually maintained. Aristotle had merely recommended that 'Action' should only consist of the main plot without subplots, and that 'Time' should represent action not extending beyond the length of one day. The Unity of Place was not mentioned at all. Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Plot in literature, theater, movies According to Aristotles Poetics, a plot in literature is the arrangement of incidents that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other. ... A subplot is a series of connected actions within a work of narrative that function separately from the main plot. ...

Maintenance of the three unities was particularly important to the classical French dramas of Molière, Racine, and Corneille. They held sway until Victor Hugo's Ernani; one of the things that made that play so controversial at its nineteenth century debut was its violation of this rule of classicism. Drama is a term generally used to refer to a literary form involving parts written for actors to perform. ... Molière, engraved frontispiece to his Works Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière ( January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673), was a French theatre writer, director and actor, one of the masters of comic satire. ... Jean Racine (December 22, 1639 - April 21, 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the big three of 17th century France (along with Molière and Corneille). ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ... Victor Hugo Victor Hugo (February 26, 1802 - May 22, 1885) was a French author, the most important of the Romantic authors in the French language. ... Ernani is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity as setting standards for taste which the classicist seeks to emulate. ...

See also: History of theater and Theatre technique Western Theater History Ancient Greek Theater The earliest days of western theater remain obscure, but the oldest surviving plays come from ancient Greece. ... Theatre techniques are procedures that facilitate a successful presentation of a play. ...

The classical unities are three rules for drama derived from Aristotle's Poetics. They are: Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. ...

1. Unity of Action: a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots.
2. Unity of Place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.
3. Unity of Time: a play should represent an action that takes approximately the same amount of time as the play; years should not pass during the hours a play takes.

Aristotle's comments in Poetics were descriptive, rather than prescriptive, and were meant to describe tragedy, but 16th century Italian and 17th century French critics expanded Aristotle's guidelines to make them into full rules for how any play must behave. French drama of the 17th century, particularly that by Corneille, was highly regular, whereas the contemporary English dramatists in the Elizabethan stage were largely unaware of these strictures. By the later 17th century, however, English dramatists (under the influence of French criticism picked up during the Interregnum) began to assess their own plays according to these rules. Thus, John Dryden, among many others, compares the "irregular" Shakespeare with the "regular" Ben Jonson in his Essay of Dramatick Poesie. Alexander Pope criticizes the violation of the unities in his Dunciad. In the 1728 version of the poem, the goddess Dulness notes that "Time himself stands still at her command,/ Realms shift their place, and Ocean turns to land" (Dunciad 1728, I 69-70). Additionally, he notes a violation of unity of action, as tragedy and comedy were mixed. Even Samuel Johnson was not free of applying the unities to drama when judging it in his Prefaces to Shakespeare. The Italian Republic or Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana or Italia) is a country in southern Europe. ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ... An interregnum is a period between kings, or between popes of the Roman Catholic Church. ... John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Benjamin Jonson ( June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... Essay of Dramatick Poesie is a work of dramaturgy by John Dryden published in 1668. ... Alexander Pope - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. ... Events Astronomical aberration discovered by the astronomer James Bradley Swedish academy of sciences founded at Uppsala Births February 21 - Emperor Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (d. ... This article is about the literary figure. ...

See also

• Theatre technique