We have on previous occasions discussed the foundations, history and development of Guyanese literature in these pages. The last time it was in the context of independence. Those accounts have, for the most part, excluded drama, which is part of literature and is studied along with it, but frequently treated separately. This is based on the real existence of drama as another discipline with its peculiar characteristics and exclusive history; that is, drama as theatre. Dramatic literature was written to be performed and is just as often looked at as theatre – as performance. This intervention is to briefly relate the development of Guyanese drama to the early epochs of national literature and show its particular evolution and relation to wider West Indian theatre.
Literature is divided into Pre-Columbian, Colonial, Modern, the period of Imitation, the Age of Nationalism; Pre-Independence and Post-Independence eras. Drama may fit into these broad areas: Pre-Columbian, Colonial, Modern, the rise of Local Theatre, Professional, and Contemporary Guyanese Stage.
