1) An art form 2) The building in which dramatic works included 3) Synonym for plays or dissimulation in everyday life ('pure theater')
Theatre as an art form is a 2500 year old form, which in its Western version has its origins in ancient Greece, where the performers produce a story through the events in the form of dialogue, body language and actions on a stage before an audience. This particular form of theatrical narrative is named drama, a word that has its roots in the verb 'to act'. A performance may also include or entirely consist of song, dance, pantomime, tableaux, video and film spots mm.
Many of the theater's dramatic works is through time been regarded as literature. And probably it is possible to read them, but so overlooked that it plays not primarily written to be read but to be seen built. Only then has the drama had flesh and blood in the form of live actors, costumes, set design, sound, lights, etc. and only then can the full unfolding of the playwright's original intentions read.
Theatre art has, like other art, has undergone a constant evolution over the last 2,500 years. Today the theater as popular entertainment, and it is not just for professional actors, but also a hobby for hundreds of amateur actors. Theatre's role in the 21st century is far more a freely accessible playground than a several thousand year old tradition and art form.
There are now great demands on the professional / state subsidized repertory theaters, as they are the basis for artistic development and inspiration for the country's amateur theaters and theater groups. The emphasis is therefore that the evidence in the form of manuscripts and notes are publicly available. These and other drama logical material as instructional and educational books found in the Drama Collection at the Royal Library.