Think about the experiences you've had with dramatic texts, including seeing live performances or film adaptations. How does the era in which a play was written affect your ability to enjoy it or understand it? How is it different to read or see a play written more than two millennia ago (such as tragedies and comedies from ancient Greece) compared to a few centuries ago (for example, Shakespeare or others from the Renaissance) or one produced in the last 100 years?
Playwrights are affected, consciously or unconsciously, by the conditions under which they conceive and write, by their own socioeconomic status, by personal background, by religious or political position, and by their purpose in writing.
