Understanding Drama: A Comprehensive Guide to Its Elements, History, and Techniques, Study notes of Literature

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E L E M E N T S

O F

D R A M A

A N D T H E A T E R

WHAT IS DRAMA? lThe word drama comes from the Greek word for
action. Drama is written to be performed by actors and watched by an audience. lDrama is a type of literature that is primarily written to be performed for an audience. When reading a play, it is important to keep certain features of drama in mind. Some of these features relate to drama as literature; others reflect its character as a performance.

DRAMA

Consists of two types of writing The dialogue that the characters speak The stage directions that tell the actors how to move and speak, describing the sets and props Can be presented in two ways As literature, the text of the play itself As performance, the production of the play in a theater

HOW IS A PLAY WRITTEN?

• The author of a play is called a playwright. Everything a playwright writes must appear onstage.
• A play in written form is called a script.
• The playwright writes the dialogue , or what the characters say to each other in conversation, as well as the stage directions , which tells how the play is to be performed.

ARISTOTLE’S SIX ELEMENTS OF DRAMA

1. Diction : Specific words the playwright chooses to use. 2. Spectacle : All the visuals represented in the play. Represents everything you see: set, costumes, lights, etc. 3. Thought : What the audience learns - the moral of the play, or the **theme

4. Characters** : The play must be about someone or something, can be human or non-human. 5. Melody : Everything you hear - music, sound effects, silence are all examples of this. 6. Plot : Show must have a beginning, middle and end. Something needs to happen and a character must be challenged.

PLOT STRUCTURE

• Exposition or Introduction This is the beginning of the story, where characters and setting are established. The conflict or main problem is introduced as well.
• Rising Action Rising action which occurs when a series of events build up to the conflict. The main characters are established by the time the rising action of a plot occurs, and at the same time, events begin to get complicated. It is during this part of a story that excitement, tension, or crisis is encountered.

LITERARY ELEMENTS OF THEATER/DRAMA

• Character : a person portrayed in a drama, novel, or other artistic piece.
• Conflict : the internal or external struggle between opposing forces, ideas, or interests that creates dramatic tension.
• Suspense : a feeling of uncertainty as to the outcome, used to build interest and excitement on the part of the audience.
• Theme : the basic idea of a play; the idea, point of view, or perception that binds together a work of art.

TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF

THEATER/DRAMA

• Act : a major division in a play
• Scene : a real or fictional episode; a division of an act in a play.
• Lighting : the arrangement of lights to achieve particular effects in order to help create mood or tone in a play.
• Sound : the effects an audience hears during a performance to communicate character, context, or environment.
• Set Design : everything on the stage including furniture and props, and environment in which the action of a play occurs.
• Costumes : the clothing worn by the actors who play the characters. Oftentimes, these help to establish characterizations, mood, and tone.

STAGE SCENERY

SCENERY/PROPS

COSTUMES/MAKE-UP

TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF

THEATER/DRAMA: PERFORMANCE

• Acting : use of face, body, and voice to portray

character.

• Character Motivation : the reason or reasons for a

character's behavior; an incentive or inducement for

further action for a character.

• Empathy : the ability to relate to the feelings of

another.

TYPES OF UTTERANCE

• Monologue is a long speech made by one actor; may be delivered alone or in the presence of others.
• Aside is when a character in a play speaks to the audience though there are other characters on stage.
• Soliloquy is used in to reveal the innermost thoughts of a character. It is a great technique used to convey the progress of action of the play , by means of expressing a character’s thoughts about a certain character or past, present, or upcoming event, while talking to himself without acknowledging the presence of any other person.

• Example of monologue: “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief … O that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!”… (from Romeo & Juliet)
• Example of Aside: Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.--will you walk out of the air, my lord? (from Hamlet)
• Example of Soliloquy: “To be, or not to be? That is the question— Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune…” (from Hamlet)