Prologue

Prologue (Greek prologos), in drama, an opening speech, usually in verse, spoken by one of the actors to introduce the play. It derives from the formal opening speech, or prologos, in Greek drama, in which one of the characters would introduce himself and set the scene of the play. The device was first used by Euripides. The prologue became a separate entity in Roman drama, notably in the comedies of Plautus and Terence, and was revived in the classically inspired Italian Renaissance drama. In Elizabethan and Jacobean England, the prologue, known as the chorus, was sometimes used to introduce plays, though Shakespeare seldom used the device. However, both Romeo and Juliet and Henry V do begin with a formal prologue. By the time of Restoration theatre, the prologue was used more extensively, but it disappeared in 19th-century drama.