DRAMA

DRAMA/ PLAY
is a literary composition designed to be acted by players on a stage before an audience. clearly portrays the real world by presenting mans significant experiences in a grand, moving and colorful ways.

 is an interpretation of life that uses dialogue and emotion written for actors to communicate to the audiences eyes and ears.

TYPES OF DRAMA:
TRAGEDY COMEDY FARCE COMEDY OF MANNERS

TRAGEDY
is a serious play that results in the destruction of the main character, often because of a tragic flaw or negative character trait

COMEDY
is a light play, usually with a happy ending after the main character overcomes temporary difficulties

FARCE
is a comedy involving ridiculous complications which put authority, order, and morality at risk.

COMEDY OF MANNERS
is a witty comedy that makes fun of the attitudes, manners, and affectations (pretensions or artificial behavior) of a particular, usually fashionable, social group. Unlike SATIRE which ridicule human frailties, the leading characters are rewarded in the end.

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
CHARACTERS PLOT THEME DIALOGUE CONVENTION GENRE AUDIENCE SETTING STAGE DIRECTION AESTHETIC DESIGN

CHARACTER
Is one of the persons who appears in the drama or play One of the dramatis personae (persons in the play) The playwrights success depends on his ability to create a character that an actor can bring to life

TYPES OF CHARACTERS
PROTAGONIST means the first contestant; the best actor who got the principal parts. EUTERAGONIST is the second best actor. ANTAGONIST is the principal rival of the protagonist in the conflict set forth in the play

 FOIL is a character who defines certain characteristics in the protagonist by exhibiting opposite traits or the same traits in a greater or lesser degree.

 CONFIDANT(E) provides a ready ear to which the protagonist can address certain remarks which should be heard by the audience but not by the other characters.

 RAISONNEUR expresses the voice of reason and/or of the author. STEREOTYPE OR STOCK CHARACTER is one who reappears in various forms in many plays, particularly in comedy (fruitful source of such figure)

 CHORUS is a group of actors who function as a unit who shared a common identity. CHORAGOS (leader of the chorus) sometimes spoke and acted separately.

PLOT
Is usually structured with acts and scenes The BODY of the play

TYPES OF PLOT
OPEN CONFLICT relies on the suspense of a struggle in which the hero, through perhaps fight against all odds, is not doomed.

 DRAMATIC THESIS: FORESHADOWING refers to the depiction of a scene or object which hints beforehand at an event or situation that will come up later.

 COINCIDENCE is the sudden reversal of fortune plays depict climatic ironies or misunderstandings.

 DRAMATIC IRONY is the fulfillment of a plan, action, or expectation is a surprising way, often opposite of what was intended.

PLOT AND CONFLICT

CONFLICT provokes events that make up the plot. Kinds: MAN vs. MAN MAN vs. SOCIETY MAN vs. SUPERIOR FORCE MAN vs. HIMSELF

THEME
The central message of the drama The SOUL of the play

PLOT AND THEME

Plot and theme should go hand in hand.
If the theme is one of nobility or dignity, the plot must concern events and characters that measure up to that theme.

DIALOGUE
Provides the substance of a play. Each word uttered by the character furthers the business of the play, contributes to its effect as a whole.

 A sense of DECORUM must be established by the characters (what is said must be appropriate to the role and situation of a character). The exposition of the play often falls on the dialogue of the characters.

AUDIENCE
is the act or chance of hearing; a reception by a great person; the person to hear. are inseparable parts of the theater have an indispensable role to play.

CONVENTION
TYPES: GREEK playwrights used allusion rather than explicit exposition Relied on CHORUS

 ENGLISH DRAMA used: MINOR CHARACTERS who play important role in providing information. EXTENDED SOLILOQUY enables a major character to reveal his thoughts in much greater detail than in natural dialogue.

 ASIDES who makes remarks to the audience but not heard by those on the stage.

 REALISM used realistic depiction of everyday life CONTEMPORARY used: NARRATOR (replaced the messenger, the chorus, and the confidante) FLASHBACK (often substitute for narration)

GENRES
TRAGEDY COMEDY

REMEMBER THIS:
DRAMA on stage often reflects the drama of everyday life. It concentrates it, focuses it, and holds it up for examination.

 Since plays are written with the intention of performance, the reader of the play must use her imagination to enact the play as she reads it.

 Readers of the play need to imagine not just the feelings or a flow of action, but how the action and the characters look in a theater, on a stage, before a live audience.

 The word drama originated from the Greek word DRAN meaning to do or act. It is divided into acts and scenes.

 It refers to notes that help in visualizing the setting, lighting, sound effects, etc. It is used to show how characters move, how they look like, and how the stage should be set up for the play. These are not spoken by actors

 They are set off in parentheses and in italics so actors dont confuse them with the dialogue. It helps the director and the actors know important details such as where actors should stand, how should they say their lines, and what their expressions should be.

 It is a sub item of stage directions that deals with the stage and its artistic backdrop.

 It refers to the time and place of the action in the story which directly affects the plot.

The End