Louie Jay M.

Pacheco
Bsed Values Education IV

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in

performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning
"action" which is derived from "I do". The two masks
associated with drama represent the traditional generic
division between comedy and tragedy. They are symbols of
the ancient Greek Muses, Thalia, and Melpomene. Thalia
was the Muse of comedy (the laughing face), while
Melpomene was the Muse of tragedy (the weeping face).
Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic
mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical
modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics , the earliest work of dramatic theory.

In English, the word "play" or "game" was the standard term used to describe drama until William
Shakespeare's timejust as its creator was a "play-maker" rather than a "dramatist" and the
building was a "play-house" rather than a "theatre." The use of "drama" in a more narrow sense to
designate a specific type of play dates from the modern era. "Drama" in this sense refers to a play
that is neither a comedy nor a tragedy.

The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes
collaborative modes of production and a collective form of reception. The structure of dramatic
texts, unlike other forms of literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and
collective reception. The early modern tragedy Hamlet (1601) by Shakespeare and the classical
Athenian tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles are among the masterpieces of the art of drama. A
modern example is Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill.

Drama is often combined with music and dance: the drama in opera is generally sung throughout;
musicals generally include both spoken dialogue and songs; and some forms of drama have
incidental music or musical accompaniment underscoring the dialogue (melodrama and Japanese
N, for example). Closet drama describes a form that is intended to be read, rather than performed.
In improvisation, the drama does not pre-exist the moment of performance; performers devise a
dramatic script spontaneously before an audience.
 History of Western drama

Classical Greek drama

Western drama originates in classical Greece. The

theatrical culture of the city-state of Athens produced
three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr
play. Their origins remain obscure, though by the 5th
century BCE they were institutionalised in competitions
held as part of festivities celebrating the god Dionysus.
Historians know the names of many ancient Greek
dramatists, not least Thespis, who is credited with the
innovation of an actor ("hypokrites") who speaks (rather
than sings) and impersonates a character (rather than
speaking in his own person), while interacting with the
chorus and its leader ("coryphaeus"), who were a traditional part of the performance of non-
dramatic poetry (dithyrambic, lyric and epic).

Classical Roman drama

Following the expansion of the Roman Republic (50927 BCE) into

several Greek territories between 270240 BCE, Rome encountered
Greek drama. From the later years of the republic and by means of
the Roman Empire (27 BCE-476 CE), theatre spread west across
Europe, around the Mediterranean and reached England; Roman
theatre was more varied, extensive and sophisticated than that of any
culture before it.

While Greek drama continued to be performed throughout the

Roman period, the year 240 BCE marks the beginning of regular
Roman drama. From the beginning of the empire, however, interest
in full-length drama declined in favour of a broader variety of
theatrical entertainments. The first important works of Roman
literature were the tragedies and comedies that Livius Andronicus
wrote from 240 BCE. Five years later, Gnaeus Naevius also began to write drama. No plays from
either writer have survived. While both dramatists composed in both genres, Andronicus was most
appreciated for his tragedies and Naevius for his comedies; their successors tended to specialise in
one or the other, which led to a separation of the subsequent development of each type of drama.

By the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, drama was firmly established in Rome and a guild of
writers (collegium poetarum) had been formed. The Roman comedies that have survived are all
fabula palliata (comedies based on Greek subjects) and come from two dramatists: Titus Maccius
Plautus (Plautus) and Publius Terentius Afer (Terence). In re-working the Greek originals, the
Roman comic dramatists abolished the role of the chorus in dividing the drama into episodes and
introduced musical accompaniment to its dialogue (between one-third of the dialogue in the
comedies of Plautus and two-thirds in those of Terence). The action of all scenes is set in the
exterior location of a street and its complications often follow from eavesdropping.

Medieval
Main article: Medieval theatre

Beginning in the early Middle Ages, churches staged

dramatised versions of biblical events, known as liturgical
dramas, to enliven annual celebrations. The earliest example is
the Easter trope Whom do you Seek? Two groups would sing
responsively in Latin, though no impersonation of characters
was involved. By the 11th century, it had spread through
Europe to Russia, Scandinavia, and Italy; only Muslim-
occupied Spain was excluded.

In the 10th century, Hrosvitha wrote six plays in Latin modeled

on Terence's comedies, but which treated religious subjects.
Her plays are the first known to be composed by a female
dramatist and the first identifiable Western drama of the post-
Classical era. Later, Hildegard of Bingen wrote a musical
drama, Ordo Virtutum.

One of the most famous of the early secular plays is the courtly pastoral Robin and Marion, written
in the 13th century in French by Adam de la Halle. The Interlude of the Student and the Girl, one
of the earliest known in English, seems to be the closest in tone and form to the contemporaneous
French farces, such as The Boy and the Blind Man.

Morality plays (a modern term) emerged as a distinct dramatic form around 1400 and flourished
in the early Elizabethan era in England. Characters were often used to represent different ethical
ideals. Everyman, for example, includes such figures as Good Deeds, Knowledge and Strength,
and this characterization reinforces the conflict between good and evil for the audience. The Castle
of Perseverance depicts an archetypal figure's progress from birth through to death. Horestes , a
late "hybrid morality" and one of the earliest examples of an English revenge play, brings together
the classical story of Orestes with a Vice from the medieval allegorical tradition, alternating comic,
slapstick scenes with serious, tragic ones. Also important in this period were the folk dramas of
the Mummers Play, performed during the Christmas season. Court masques were particularly
popular during the reign of Henry VIII.
 Asian drama
India
Main article: Theatre in India

The earliest form of Indian drama was the Sanskrit drama.

Between the 1st century CE and the 10th was a period of
relative peace in the history of India during which
hundreds of modern plays were written. With the Islamic
conquests that began in the 10th and 11th centuries, theatre
was discouraged or forbidden entirely. Later, in an attempt
to re-assert indigenous values and ideas, village theatre
was encouraged across the subcontinent, developing in a
large number of regional languages from the 15th to the
19th centuries. Modern Indian theatre developed during
the period of colonial rule under the British Empire, from
the mid-19th century until the mid-20th.

Modern Indian drama

Rabindranath Tagore was a pioneering modern playwright who wrote plays noted for their
exploration and questioning of nationalism, identity, spiritualism and material greed. His plays are
written in Bengali and include Chitra (Chitrangada, 1892), The King of the Dark Chamber (Raja,
1910), The Post Office (Dakghar, 1913), and Red Oleander (Raktakarabi, 1924). Girish Karnad is
a noted playwright, who has written a number of plays that use history and mythology, to critique
and problematize ideas and ideals that are of contemporary relevance. Karnad's numerous plays
such as Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Taledanda, and Naga-Mandala are significant contributions to
Indian drama. Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani are amongst the major Indian playwrights of
the 20th century. Mohan Rakesh in Hindi and Danish Iqbal in Urdu are considered architects of
new age Drama. Mohan Rakesh's Aadhe Adhoore and Danish Iqbal's 'Dara Shikoh' are considered
modern classics.

Modern Urdu drama of India and Pakistan

Urdu Drama evolved from the prevailing dramatic traditions of North India shaping Rahas or Raas
as practiced by exponents like Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. His dramatic experiments led to
the famous Inder Sabha of Amanat and later this tradition took the shape of Parsi Theatre. Agha
Hashr Kashmiri is the culmination of this tradition.

In some way or other, Urdu theatre tradition has greatly influenced modern Indian theatre. Among
all the languages Urdu (which was called Hindi by early writers), along with Gujrati, Marathi, and
Bengali theatres have kept flourishing and demand for its writers and artists has not subsided by
the drama aficionados. For Urdu drama, no place is better than Bombay Film industry otherwise
known as Hindi film industry. All the early gems of Urdu Theatre (performed by Parsi Companies)
were made into films. Urdu Dramatic tradition has been a spectators delight since 100 years and
counting.

China
Main article: Theatre of China

Chinese theatre has a long and complex history. Today it is often

called Chinese opera although this normally refers specifically to the
popular form known as Beijing opera and Kunqu; there have been
many other forms of theatre in China, such as zaju.

Japan
Main article: Theatre of Japan

Japanese drama is a serious dramatic form that combines drama, music, and dance into a complete
aesthetic performance experience. It developed in the 14th and 15th centuries and has its own
musical instruments and performance techniques, which were often handed down from father to
son. The performers were generally male (for both male and female roles), although female
amateurs also perform N dramas. N drama was supported by the government, and particularly
the military, with many military commanders having their own troupes and sometimes performing
themselves. It is still performed in Japan today.[57]

Kygen is the comic counterpart to N drama. It concentrates more on dialogue and less on music,
although N instrumentalists sometimes appear also in Kygen. Kabuki drama, developed from
the 17th century, is another comic form, which includes dance.
 Forms of drama
Opera
Western opera is a dramatic art form that arose during the Renaissance in an attempt to revive the
classical Greek drama in which dialogue, dance, and song were combined. Being strongly
intertwined with western classical music, the opera has undergone enormous changes in the past
four centuries and it is an important form of theatre until this day. Noteworthy is the major
influence of the German 19th-century composer Richard Wagner on the opera tradition. In his
view, there was no proper balance between music and theatre in the operas of his time, because
the music seemed to be more important than the dramatic aspects in these works. To restore the
connection with the classical drama, he entirely renewed the operatic form to emphasize the equal
importance of music and drama in works that he called "music dramas".

Chinese opera has seen a more conservative development over a somewhat longer period of time.

Pantomime
Main article: Pantomime

Pantomime (informally panto), is a type of musical comedy stage production, designed for family
entertainment. It was developed in England and is still performed throughout the United Kingdom,
generally during the Christmas and New Year season and, to a lesser extent, in other English-
speaking countries. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing,
employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a
well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience
is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.

These stories follow in the tradition of fables and folk tales. Usually, there is a lesson learned, and
with some help from the audience, the hero/heroine saves the day. This kind of play uses stock
characters seen in masque and again commedia dell'arte, these characters include the villain
(doctore), the clown/servant (Arlechino/Harlequin/buttons), the lovers etc. These plays usually
have an emphasis on moral dilemmas, and good always triumphs over evil, this kind of play is also
very entertaining making it a very effective way of reaching many people.

Pantomime has a long theatrical history in Western culture dating back to classical theatre. It
developed partly from the 16th century commedia dell'arte tradition of Italy, as well as other
European and British stage traditions, such as 17th-century masques and music hall. An important
part of the pantomime, until the late 19th century, was the harlequinade. Outside Britain the word
"pantomime" is usually used to mean miming, rather than the theatrical form discussed here.
Mime
Mime is a theatrical medium where the action of a story is told through the movement of the body,
without the use of speech. Performance of mime occurred in Ancient Greece, and the word is taken
from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although their performances were not necessarily
silent. In Medieval Europe, early forms of mime, such as mummer plays and later dumbshows,
evolved. In the early nineteenth century Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes
that we have come to know in modern times, including the silent figure in whiteface.

Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by Commedia dell'arte and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks
in the training of his actors. tienne Decroux, a pupil of his, was highly influenced by this and
started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime and refined corporeal mime into a
highly sculptural form, taking it outside of the realms of naturalism. Jacques Lecoq contributed
significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods.

Creative drama
Creative drama includes dramatic activities and games used primarily in educational settings with
children. Its roots in the United States began in the early 1900s. Winifred Ward is considered to
be the founder of creative drama in education, establishing the first academic use of drama in
Evanston, Illinois.

Different Types of Drama

A comedy makes us laugh when the play is well-

composed with the humorous elements. The story is
usually based on real-life characters, funny experiences
in life, or any type of fun-provoking situation. A comical
drama can also be sarcastic and raunchy. It is usually
light in tone and has happy endings. Composing a
comical drama requires high level of intellect and
perceptive faculties, because provoking laughter is not
as easy as it may seem.
Comedy- a play written in a kindly or humorous, perhaps bitter or satiric vein, in which the
problems or difficulties of the characters are resolved satisfactorily, if not for all characters, at least
from the point of view of the audience. Low characters as opposed to noble; characters not always
changed by the action of the play; based upon observation of life. Comedy and tragedy are
concerned more with character, whereas farce and melodrama are concerned more with plot.
Types of Comedy
There are five types of comedy in literature:
Romantic Comedy

This type of drama involves the theme of love leading to happy conclusion. We find romantic
comedy in Shakespearean plays and some Elizabethan contemporaries. These plays are concerned
with idealized love affairs. It is a fact that the true love never runs smooth; however, love
overcomes the difficulties and ends in a happy union.

Comedy of Humors

Ben Johnson is the first dramatist, who conceived and popularized this dramatic genre during late
sixteenth century. The term humor derives from Latin word humor that means liquid. It comes
from a theory that human body has four liquids or humors, which include phelgm, blood, yellow
bile and black bile. It explains that when human beings have balance of these humors in their
bodies, they remain healthy.

Comedy of Manners

This form of dramatic genre deals with intrigues and relations of ladies and gentlemen, living in a
sophisticated society. This form relies upon high comedy, derived from sparkle and wit of
dialogues, violations of social traditions, and good manners by nonsense characters like jealous
husbands, wives and foppish dandies. We find its use in Restoration dramatists, particularly in the
works of Wycherley and Congreve.

Sentimental Comedy

Sentimental drama contains both comedy and sentimental tragedy. It appears in literary circle
due to reaction of middle class against obscenity and indecency of Restoration Comedy of
Manners. This form gained popularity among the middle class audiences in eighteenth century.
This drama incorporates scenes with extreme emotions evoking excessive pity.

Tragicomedy

This dramatic genre contains both tragic and comedic elements. It blends both elements to
lighten an overall mood of the play. Often, tragicomedy is a serious play ends happily.

Tragic Comedy or Drama- a play with the sincerity and earnestness of tragedy but without its
inevitability of impending disaster, and with the kindly and tolerant attitude of comedy but without
its underlying spirit of humour; uses tense situations and moments of extreme conflict, but the
tragedy is averted and transcended.
 According to the definition given by Britannica, it is
a comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable
situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant
exaggeration, and violent horseplay. Farce, although
a sub-category of comedy, is intellectually inferior to
comedy because the plots and the characters are
substantially crude, ambiguous, and unimaginative.

Farce- a comedy in which story, character, and

especially situations are exaggerated to the point of
improbability; the situation begins with a highly
improbable premise, but when that is accepted everything that follows is completely logical. Fast
moving; uses such theatrical devices as duplications, reversals, repetitions, surprises, disguises,
chance encounters, often many doors and closets.
A farce is a literary genre and the type of a comedy that makes the use of highly exaggerated and
funny situations aimed at entertaining the audience. Farce is also a subcategory of dramatic
comedy that is different from other forms of comedy, as it only aims at making the audience laugh.
It uses elements like physical humor, deliberate absurdity, bawdy jokes and drunkenness just to
make people laugh and we often see one-dimensional characters in ludicrous situations in farces.

It is one of the oldest forms of drama. It exposes the

plight and suffering of humans to the audience. The
perfect example of a tragic drama is Shakespeare's
Hamlet. The theme of a tragedy usually rotates
around the ruins of a dynasty, downfall of man,
emotional betrayals, moral setback, personal loss,
death, and denials. A tragedy when composed and
enacted well can touch you deeply. These rarely have
happy endings.
Tragedy- a play written in a serious, sometimes
impressive or elevated style, in which things go
wrong and cannot be set right except at great cost or sacrifice. Aristotle said that tragedy should
purge our emotions by evoking pity and fear (or compassion and awe) in us, the spectators.
Tragedy is kind of drama that presents a serious subject matter about human suffering and
corresponding terrible events in a dignified manner.
 Melodrama is exaggeration of emotions. It's marked
by a surge of emotions, which is a technique to
make the character and the plot more appealing to
the audience. A melodrama can sometimes fail to
derive applause, because excessive display of
emotions can become monotonous. On the
contrary, a superbly executed melodramatic plot
can absorb you completely. They usually depict the
good and evil aspects of the characters involved.

Melodrama- a play in which the characters are types rather than individuals, the story and situations
exaggerated to the point of improbability or sensationalism and the language and emotion over-
emphasized
Melodrama is a subgenre of drama, which is an exaggerated form of this genre. Melodramas deal
with sensational and romantic topics that appeal to the emotions of the common audience.
Originally, it makes use of melody and music, while modern melodramas may not contain any
music. In fact, a melodrama gives preference to a detailed characterization where characters are
simply drawn, one-dimensional or stereotyped. Typically, it uses stock characters including a
heroes, heroines and villains.

It is a complete fictional work where characters

virtually display supernatural skills. It is more
appealing to children as fairies, angels, superheroes,
etc., are embedded in the plot. Use of magic, pseudo
science, horror, and spooky themes through various
kinds of technical devices create a perfect world of
fantasy. The modern version of drama incorporates a
great deal of special effects.

Music, melody, and dance play a significant role in a

musical drama. Here, the story is conveyed through
music and dance along with dialogs and acting. The
music should be in sync with the actions, and the
performer often uses dance as a means of self-
expression. The stage may be equipped with an
orchestra, well-rehearsed with the plot and the use of
music. Musical drama became popular as opera,
which is still considered to be intensely sensuous.