There was a great change in the culture of world theatre during the 20^th century. It happened mainly in Europe and in North America. The rules of theatrical representations were greatly challenged. It resulted into the developments of new forms of theatre in these parts of the world. These forms were called as modernism, expressionism, impressionism, political theatre and many other forms of experimental theatre. This development continued and it gave rise to theatrical forms such as naturalism and realism.

The artistic reputation of theatre continuously improved after being derided throughout the 19^th century. The growth of film industry had a degenerative effect on the International theatre as people now preferred watching the movies, produced by the film industry. It provide more naturalistic thrills to the audience than theatres and had varied range of subjects.

But the theatre in the world did not die. It lived and now again flourishes. There is a segment of audience which places more value to stage performance than screen performance.