In the world there are several types of performing arts. According to them Drama is the main one wchich having all of the features in performing arts.  Drama is an art when one or more people performs an incident to the audience by separating time and locations on one stage.  Since the creation of man, story telling and performing is very famous among them. Because of this human kind have been characterized by drama.  From the very beginning, there was a wide variety of dramas, and the most frequently used elements were dialogues, music, dancing, gestures, and a variety of performances in the performing arts.  Modern Western theater is invaded by realism.  Nevertheless, the play was always performed in a variety of influences, including traditional and experimental influences. In all drama types there is a one common thing. That is called  Gesture. There are four type of Gestures,

1. Describing facial expressions 
2. Describing costumes 
3. Describing body language 
4. Describing vocal language   

                                

   History         

                                               The first recorded play is The story of the god Osiris, who performed in an ancient Egypt in 2000 BC.  It plays annually since the beginning of civilization.  It epitomizes the interplay of devotion and drama.  The Greeks in ancient times were involved in the presentation of drama.  They expanded the horizons of drama by presenting tragic and entertaining dramas.  They also began to make plays with mythical characters.  Also, the Greeks took the lead in dramatic criticism, which gave them a professionalism in drama.

 Western drama began to flourish under the Roman Empire, beginning in medieval England.  With the rise of Western dramaturgy, by the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, Western theater had spread to Spain, Italy, France, and Russia.  The dramatic tradition that originated in North America was also the beginning of American drama.

 Oriental drama history dates back as far as 1000 BCE.  Indian Sanskrit drama has its origins.  Dramatic art has also been made in Japan since the 17th century, and they are also the creators of the Kabuki and Kyopane drama traditions. Drama traditions were also unveiled in China, Korea and South Asia.

      

 

Types of Theatres 

                                                      

1. proscenium Stage
2. Round Stage 
3. Black-box Stage
4. Open Stage 
5. Platform Stage
6. Thrust Stage

Drama in Sri Lanka                           

Sri Lanka as an Asian country, is famous all over the world for a variety of things.  Drama is one of the most important of these.  As mentioned in several  sources that drama originated in Sri Lanka far from the beginning.  In the beginning people started story telling using  folk stories and according to those stories they were started to perform drama. The plays of today do not have a very long history. Folk dramas have such a long history. 

When we considered about evolution of Sri Lankan drama, folk drama have to be mentioned as first.

There are three types of folk dramas in Sri Lanka.

1- SOKARI  

Sokari is one of the oldest folk dramas in Sri Lanka.  The reason is that other folk dramas are based on different stories.  It is noteworthy that Sokari drama is made up of the same story and the name of the main character is the name of the play.

 This is a folk drama limited to the upcountry.  It is uncertain how the name Sokari got its name.  Professor Sarathchandra suspects that it may have been a derogatory term in the Hindustan language called Chokri.  Chokri literally means girl.

 Sokari plays by using thorns as a threshing floor after harvesting.  The threshold is set and the lamps are lit and the night is played.  Soccer play is often held annually.  All the characters are played by men. Geta beraya( udarata beraya) is used to perform the play. 

 Objectives of performing the Sokari Folk Drama,

 * Enrichment and Prosperity.

 * To attain Seth Peace by paying homage to Lord Buddha, Lord Kataragama and Lord Pattini.

 * To have fun

             

                             2-KOLAM  

Kolam is considered as one of the main folk dramas belonging to Low country Dance tradition. There are several legends about the origin of Kolam plays.  According to a famous story, Kollam had begun according to the story of king "Maha Sammatha" The kings queen had a desires which cannot full fill because of her pregnancy. Because of this the King always being sad.

 Seeing the king's remorse, Sakdevindu ordered the Lord of the Universe to remedy it.  The Lord of the Universe has placed a sandalwood mask and a book on how to perform the masquerade.

 Upon seeing this, Uyanpalla informed the king.  The king used the masquerade of the garden to perform a drama in accordance with the storybook.  It was the queen of the queen who watched the play and recovered.  It is said that the Kolam drama began.

There are several characters in Kolam plays.  There may be some variations in the roles.  After playing the lead role, the drama of Kolam is presented.  For this purpose, a number of stories such as 'Sandakinduru' and 'Maname' are used.

 The masks used to portray the characters of Colum reflect the character of the characters.
Devole drum( pahatharata beraya) is used to perform the play.

3-NADAGAM  

Nadagam became a popular drama after the poems began to mark an important turning point in the local drama industry.  The father of Nadagam art, which was created with the influence of the dramas of southern India, is considered by Philip Singo.  This appears to be the second stage of Nadagam art.  A professional blacksmith, he was born about 1770.  It is said that he was a Catholic and worked at the mill, even making a play of Nadagam.  The earliest Nadagam written in this language was composed in Tamil and later in Tamil and the Sanskrit language was widely used.  Thereafter, they used the genres of Jathaka Katha and Sinhala literature for their creations. EX:- SAKUNTHALA , EHELEPOLA 

MODERN DRAMA

There are two types in modern drama.

1.Natya Dharmi
                               - known as melodrama. Prof.Ediriweera Sarathchandra is considered as the father of this drama type. Mostly based on jathaka stories. Poetric dialogues are used to perform . High costumes less stage equipments used. Hard to understand and mostly suitable for veterant people. Long play. Have a script and a performer calles 'pothegura' . Chorus team is necessary . Very cultural and sanskrit.
Ex:- Singhabhahu
        Maname
        Kada walalu
Dramatists:- Ediriweera Sarathchandra , Sanath Dharmasiri

2. Loka Dharmi
                             - performing present situations. Mostly aimed for society and politics. Very simple and easy to understand. Any social level can understand this plays. Very realistic and the dialogues are also very timely performed.  No permenant scripts. Short and easy to perform. Less songs are used some actual dramas not having songs.
Ex:- Kelani palama
        Dolls house
        Thala mala pipila

Dramatists:- Jayalath Manorathne , Sarath Kothalawala , Madhani Malwattha.

As well as there is another drama type called mixed drama. It has both of the features in natya dharmi and loka dharmi. But very simple dramaturgy. Ex:- Naribaena. 

And there are plays that make only for children . These are called 'Children's plays'.

In this way we can show the evaluation of Sri Lankan Stage Dramas. It all depends on Sri Lankan culture. All over the world, most of the people started to love those kind of sri lankans plays because of there beauty and varieties.