History is one of the three main types of plays in Western theatre. These types are tragedy, comedy, and history. History plays are often seen as part of tragedy because they appeared much later than the other two genres. These plays are based on stories about real events from the past, usually set in the medieval or early modern times. The history genre became its own type of play during the Renaissance in England. The most famous examples are the history plays written by William Shakespeare, who helped define this genre. History plays also appear in other works, such as Thomas Heywood's Edward IV, Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, and the Dutch national poet Joost van den Vondel's Gijsbrecht van Aemstel.
Precursors
Plays connected to historical events can be traced back to the start of Athenian theatre. Many early Greek plays focused on stories that modern people see as myths, but the ancient Greeks did not separate myths from history. They included stories about their gods in the same main story that also included tales about their kings. The earliest surviving play, The Persians, records a real event that happened in history, even by today's standards. However, The Persians differs from modern history plays because it includes supernatural elements in the story of the Battle of Salamis. It also mainly shows the Persian perspective on the battle, which would have been less important to ancient Greek historians. Although The Persians describes a real event, it is not the same as modern history plays because it includes unverifiable supernatural details and focuses on different goals than ancient Greek historians.
A major change in the development of history plays happened during the Middle Ages with the rise of mystery plays. Theatre in the Middle Ages came from traditions tied to the mass, a religious ritual that, because it reenacts the sacrifice on the cross, has similarities to theatre and to rituals that led to theatre in ancient Athens. While Sunday church services were somewhat like theatre, the traditions around the Easter service were more clearly theatrical. For example, the play Quem quaeritis? involved the priest and acolyte acting out characters.
From this beginning, medieval theatre creators began making plays about religious stories in Christianity. Plays about saints, especially local saints, were very popular in England. These plays shared goals with historians of the time, often matching the content of books called "Lives of the Saints." However, they are not included in the modern idea of history plays because they include supernatural events as key parts of the story, which differs from today's understanding of history. The final step in creating modern history plays required the development of the modern understanding of history.
Early modern origins
The history play first became popular in Tudor England. A literary expert named Irving Ribner studied this genre and linked its rise to a new interest in writing about history in England during the 1500s. This included books like those written by Polydore Vergil (1534), Edward Hall (1543), and Raphael Holinshed (1577). Although this trend began in late Medieval England, it grew stronger after Henry VII became king. People wanted to show why the Tudor family deserved to rule. Playwrights and historians of the Renaissance had similar goals. While many historical works were written during the Middle Ages, these were mostly ignored in favor of newer stories. A more recent scholar, Ralph Hertel, connected the history play to the growing idea of English national identity under the early Tudors. He said that "Englishness" was something the audience helped create by watching these plays and connecting to the events shown.
Early examples of Tudor history plays include John Skelton’s Magnyfycence (1519). This play used character names from medieval morality plays, like "Magnificance" as the main character and "Folly" for the main enemy. However, Skelton made it clear to his audience that "Magnificance" represented Henry VII and "Folly" represented Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Another early play, John Bale’s Kynge Johan (1538), moved closer to secular history plays by naming real historical figures for its characters.
Later in the 1500s, Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (1592) greatly influenced the development of history plays. Earlier plays tried to include as much historical detail as possible, but Marlowe focused on events that made a good story. His work connected history with tragedy, which became important for later plays. It also set a new standard for using history plays as a form of propaganda.
Even though theatre was often viewed with suspicion during this time, history plays were praised by critics as valuable. One reason was their social purpose. Playwrights like Thomas Nash and Thomas Heywood believed history plays honored English heroes and created pride in audiences. These plays aimed to achieve what historians did, often promoting political messages through drama.
In the past 100 years, scholars have mostly studied how history plays relate to politics and national identity during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. They have explored how these plays connected to questions about leadership, government, and daily life under Queen Elizabeth and King James.
Other early modern history plays, besides those by Shakespeare, include John Ford’s Perkin Warbeck and anonymous works like Edward III, Thomas of Woodstock, and Sir Thomas More.
Shakespeare
In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were divided into three groups: comedies, histories, and tragedies. The histories, along with plays by other Renaissance writers, helped create the genre of history plays. Shakespeare’s histories are often called "English history plays" because they tell stories from English history, beginning with King John and ending with Henry VIII. In addition to these two plays, Shakespeare wrote eight others that cover the history of England from the time of King Richard II to King Richard III. The first group of four plays, written around the early 1590s, includes Henry VI, Part 1, Henry VI, Part 2, Henry VI, Part 3, and Richard III. The second group of four plays, completed in 1599, includes Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V. This second group is often called the Henriad because it follows the story of Prince Hal, who later becomes King Henry V.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare’s character Polonius mentions that actors can perform plays about tragedy, comedy, or history. However, some plays listed as tragedies in the First Folio could also be considered history plays if a broader definition is used. For example, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra tell stories about events from ancient Rome, while King Lear and Cymbeline focus on the history of ancient Britain. Macbeth describes events from medieval Scotland, not England.
A common theme in historical plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries is the question of who had the right to take part in government. Shakespeare’s history plays are seen as the most important examples of this genre. Later playwrights who wrote history plays either followed Shakespeare’s style or were aware of how their work differed from his.
Restoration and eighteenth century
After the Restoration, the English history genre lost much of the energy it had gained during the Tudor and Stuart periods. Even the highly respected English Renaissance theatre genre of tragedy, which had been closely connected to history plays from the start, became less popular. Instead, tragicomedy and comedy took precedence. Despite this shift, English playwrights still created many plays about historical events outside of England, such as William Davenant's The Siege of Rhodes, John Dryden's The Indian Queen and The Indian Emperor, and Elkanah Settle's The Empress of Morocco.
Productions of history plays often aimed to revive older styles. For example, adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, including his histories, were widely performed.
In the eighteenth century, Joseph Addison's neo-classical play Cato, a Tragedy could be considered a history play under the same broad definition that would apply to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
In contemporary theatre
Popular history plays written recently include The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. Some people say the play is not based on real history, but it still explores the limits of the history play genre and makes fun of some of its traditions. While it shares similarities with plays that mix strange and funny elements with family stories, it still has a strong connection to real historical events. George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan has been widely praised and is often compared to Shakespeare’s historical plays. In Stuff Happens by David Hare, the time gap between when the play was written and the events it describes is very small—only two years. The play uses exact quotes from real speeches, with all public statements made by the main characters taken directly from actual words spoken by real people during the events leading up to the Iraq War.