Domestic drama expresses and focuses on the realistic everyday lives of middle or lower classes in a certain society, generally referring to the post-Renaissance eras. According to the English Communications Syllabus, domestic drama refers to a dramatic story containing an emphasis on its "characters' intimate relationships and their responses to [the] unfolding events in their lives." The characters, their lives, and the events that occur within the show are usually classified as 'ordinary' events, lives, and characters, but this does not limit the extent of what domestic drama can represent. Domestic drama does, however, take the approach in which it "concerns people much like ourselves, taken from the lower and middle classes of society, who struggle with everyday problems such as poverty, sickness, crime, and family strife." a domestic drama is a drama that is usually being used in comedy.

Domestic is derived from the Latin domus, or home. The word domestic is defined as "of or relating to the household." Drama receives the definition of "A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action," and it is derived from the Greek word drao, to act or to take action. The combination of both domestic and drama provides a literal translation of "a serious story relating to the household," clearly a synonymous definition to the given definition provided by the English Communications Syllab

Dramatic works have nearly always contained a sense of domestic drama within its fundamental plot line. Even in the early ages of Greek drama, there has been a sense of ordinary people's struggles with their lives (though this cannot be classified as domestic drama due to the incorporation of the Greek gods interfering with the common people and the enabling of the common people to have “godlike” attributes). Medieval theatre tended to express religious themes within their shows with miracles and the creation of morality plays, in which the shows were used as religious allegories. Though not yet emphasizing the ordinary lives, the development of dramatic works is slowly working towards more realistic plot lines, one of the essential elements in domestic drama.

Renaissance theatre marks the arrival of pastoral drama, drama referring to the relationships of the rustics. Though this describes the events of 'ordinary people', the shows tended to stretch realism, focussed mainly on the romantic relationships of the rustics, and were decorated with an emphasis on the comedic aspect of theater. Pastoral drama was considered to be more successful than the traditional comedies and tragedies, enforcing the further development into domestic drama.

Drama in the late seventeenth century consisted of neoclassical comedies focusing on the comedic relationships within the upper classes. This era also consisted of the Restoration drama and placed an emphasis on the usage of poetic language, "sensational incidents, and epic personages" within the show. These styles of shows are not considered domestic dramas because they focus on the relationships of the higher classes, as opposed to the middle or lower classes. This further develops into domestic drama as the plot lines become more realistic and centered around characters' relationships and their actions towards each other.

The eighteenth century marks the arrival of domestic drama as the shows start focusing on the problems of the ordinary people. The early eighteenth century playwrights used domestic drama to express the "trend toward sentimental bourgeois realism." These new domestic dramas also incorporated realistic comedies of fairly sophisticated characterizations [with] middle-class morality. These early domestic dramas are classified as part of the Romantic era of all types of arts.

Nineteenth century drama took the complete step in incorporating realism into drama, thus resulting in more serious and philosophical drama. Characters and settings gradually developed into the realistic truths of the current society. Along with realism was naturalism: “selective realism emphasizing the more sordid and pessimistic aspects of life.” This movement of combined realism and naturalism gave way to the “slice-of-life” shows commonly synonymous with domestic drama. One outstanding playwright of this era was Henrik Ibsen of Norway. His frequent usage of realism within his shows “brought to a climax the realistic movement of the nineteenth century and also served as a bridge to twentieth century symbolism.” Ibsen used middle-class characters dealing with his complex plots and “surpassed other such works” of his time. Playwrights such as Ibsen have drawn much attention to domestic drama and have brought this method to its high significant stature in modern theatrical works.

The twentieth century introduced symbolism into the makings of domestic dramas, ultimately causing variations within domestic drama. Early twentieth century shows incorporated such psychological devices as “minimal scenery, telegraphic dialogue, talking machines, and characters portrayed as types rather than individuals.” Domestic drama suddenly became a combination of naturalism, expressionism, symbolism, and commonly used psychological affairs. The classification of domestic dramas became unclear as shows challenged new ideas and created a difficulty in determining the illusions and realism of a show.