A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed
onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud
in a small group. A related form, the "closet screenplay,"
developed during the 20th century. Any drama in a written form
that does not depend to any significant degree upon
improvisation for its effect can be read as literature without
being performed. Closet dramas, however, are designed especially
for reading and do not concern themselves with stage technique.
Featuring little action but often rich in philosophical
rhetoric, they are seldom produced for the stage. The
philosophical dialogues of ancient Greek and Roman writers such
as Plato were written in the form of conversations between
"characters" and are therefore similar to closet drama (for
example "Myth about Erotes"). Beginning with Friedrich von
Schlegel, many have argued that the tragedies of Seneca the
Younger in the first century AD were written to be recited at
small parties rather than performed. Although that theory h