This major study reconstructs the vast history of European Drama from Greek tragedy through to 20th century theatre, focusing on the subject of identity. Throughout history, drama has performed and represented political, religious, national, ethnic, class-related, gendered, and individual concepts of identity. Erika Fischer-Lichtes topics include: * Ancient Greek theatre * Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre by Corneilli, Racine, Molière * The Italian commedia dellarte and its transformations into 18th century drama * The German Enlightenment - Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, and Lenz * Romanticism by Kleist, Byron, Shelley, Hugo, de Vigny, Musset, Büchner, and Nestroy * The turn of the century - Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Stanislavski * The 20th century - Craig, Meyerhold, Artaud, ONeill, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett, Müller. Anyone interested in theatre throughout history and today will find this an invaluable source of information.