found: McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of world drama, c1972(Problem Play. Name given to the type of play that dramatizes contemporary social problems, with the characters representing or speaking for the forces involved. Problem plays were written and performed by the ancient Greeks. Not until the late nineteenth century, however, did the problem play come into its own as a popular theatrical genre, with the social problem as its primary reason for being. The problem drama reached its artistic apogee in the later works of Henrik Ibsen)
found: Quinn, E. A dictionary of literary and thematic terms, c1999(problem play. A form of drama that raises controversial social questions. The modern problem play was first developed by the French playwright Alexandre Dumas in a series of plays attacking social evils. The most celebrated name associated with the form is that of the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen)
found: Baldick, C. The Oxford dictionary of literary terms, 2008(problem play. Usually a play dealing with a particular social problem in a realistic manner designed to change public opinion; also called a thesis play. Significant examples are Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879), on women's subordination in marriage, and Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession (1902) on prostitution. See also Discussion play)
found: Cuddon, J.A. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory, 1998(problem play: see thesis play; thesis play: A drama which deals with a specific problem and, very probably, offers a solution. This form appears to have originated in the 19th c. Both Dumas (fils) and Brieux wrote a considerable number between 1860 and 1900. Elsewhere Ibsen was a major influence on the genre, for example A Doll's House (1879); this type of drama is also known as a problem or propaganda play.)
found: Abrams, M. A glossary of literary terms, c1999(Problem Play. A type of drama that was popularized by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In problem plays, the situation faced by the protagonist is put forward by the author as a representative instance of a contemporary social problem; often the dramatist manages--by the use of a character who speaks for the author, or by the evolution of the plot, or both--to propose a solution to the problem which is at odds with prevailing opinion)
found: Beach, C. Staging politics and gender, 2005:p. 110 (the genre of the social thesis play by dramatists like Eugène Brieux and Paul Hervieu)
found: OCLC, Mar. 12, 2014(in titles: thesis play; thesis-play; social thesis drama; problem drama; problem play; problem-play; social problem play)
