What is the difference between drama and play?

Drama and Play are two words that are often confused when it comes to their usage and meanings. Strictly speaking, there is some difference between the two words. The word ‘drama’ is used in the sense of ‘theater’. On the other hand, the word ‘play’ is used in the sense of ‘a literary composition’. The difference is that a drama is a type of play. A movie or TV show can also be dramas but are not plays. Some other types of plays are musical, comedy,Shakespearean, and biopic.A play is a dramatic performance, as on stage, and a drama is a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character.

The most significant difference between these two entities is that drama refers to a form of written literature that is intended for performance while play refers to a theatrical performance. In simple words, a drama is to be read and a play is to be seen. However, different people might give different interpretations to what they read. This is to say, in a drama, we only read the dialogues and stage directions; we often imagine the performance in our minds. But in a play, the audience get to see the story enacted. Here we do not have to imagine the emotions of the characters, sound and light effects or background settings. In addition, the play might present a different interpretation from what we understood from reading the drama. This difference could be even made from a subtlest change of tone, mood or gesture. It can be said that a play gives artists’ interpretation of the drama.