Drama Unit

Drama

What Is Drama?
A drama is a story enacted onstage for a live
audience.
What Is Drama?
 Origins of Drama
 The word drama comes from the
Greek verb dran, which means
“to do.”
 The earliest known plays . . .
 were written around the fifth
century B.C.
 produced for festivals to honor
Dionysus, the god of wine and
fertility
Dramatic Structure
Like the plot of a story, the plot (sequence of events)
of a play involves characters who face a problem or
conflict (a struggle or clash between opposing
characters or forces).
Climax
point of highest tension;
action determines how the
conflict will be resolved
Complications
tension builds

Resolution
Exposition conflict is resolved;
characters and conflict play ends
are introduced
Elements of Drama
Acts/Scenes are basic divisions of drama.
A drama may consist of one or more acts, divided into
scenes.

Motifs are recurring objects or concepts

within a play, while archetypes are patterns
of situations, symbols, and character types.
Performance of a Play
The script, or test, or a play contains
dialogue and stage directions. Dialogue is
the words the characters say
(conversation). Stage directions are notes
telling how the work is to be performed or
staged. The Playwright is the author.
When you read a play, remember that it is meant
to be performed for an audience.
Stage Directions Performance
Playwright describes setting  Theater artists bring the
and characters’ actions and playwright’s vision to life
manner. on the stage.
[Wyona is sitting on the  The audience responds to
couch. She sees Paul and the play and shares the
jumps to her feet.] experience.
Wyona. [Angrily.] What do
you want?
 Theater artists include
 Actors
 Directors
 Lighting technicians
 Stage crew
Setting the Stage
Sets represents the place where a scene is set.
Stages can have many different sizes and

layouts.
“Thrust” stage
• The stage extends
into the viewing area.
• The audience
surrounds the stage
on three sides.
Setting the Stage
“In the round” stage is surrounded by an
audience on all sides.
Setting the Stage
Proscenium stage
• The playing area extends behind an opening
called a “proscenium arch.”
• The audience sits on one side looking into the
action.
upstage
stage right stage left
downstage
Setting the Stage
Stages in Shakespeare’s
time were thrust stages.
Setting the Stage
Scene design transforms a bare stage into the
world of the play. Scene design consists of
• sets
• lighting
• costumes
• props
Setting the Stage
A stage’s set might be
realistic and abstract

detailed and minimal
Setting the Stage
A lighting director skillfully uses light to change
the mood and appearance of the set.
Setting the Stage
The costume director works with the director to
design the actors’ costumes.
• Like sets, costumes can be
detailed minimal
Setting the Stage
Props (short for properties) are items that the
characters carry or handle onstage.
• The person in charge of props must make sure

that the right props are available to the actors at
the right moments.
In performances, these various elements of drama combine to
produce the illusion of reality, known as dramatic effect.
Through this effect, the dramatist explores a theme, or
central message about life.
Tragedy
A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily.
• Most classic Greek tragedies deal with
serious, universal themes such as
right and wrong

justice and injustice
life and death
• Tragedies pit human limitations against the

larger forces of destiny.
Tragedy
The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a
tragic hero. This hero
pride
• is noble and in many
ways admirable
• has a tragic flaw, a rebelliousness
personal failing that
leads to a tragic end
jealousy
Comedy
A comedy is a play that ends happily after an
amusing series of predicaments. The plot usually
centers on a romantic conflict.
boy meets girl boy loses girl boy wins girl
Comedy
The main characters in a comedy could be
anyone:
nobility townspeople servants

Comedy
• Comic complications always occur
before the conflict is resolved.
• Typically, comedies involve confusion,

jokes, and a happy ending.
• Sometimes, the play ends with a
wedding.
• The most popular forms of comedic
plays are satires.
• the use of humor, irony,
exaggeration, or ridicule to expose
and criticize people
Modern Comedy
 Modern Comedies
 In modern comedies, the genders in this romantic
plot pattern sometimes are reversed.
Modern Drama
A modern play
• may be tragedy, comedy, or a mixture of the
two
• usually focuses on personal issues
• usually is about ordinary people
Modern Drama
Modern playwrights often experiment with
unconventional plot structures.
long flashbacks
music
visual projections of
a character’s private
thoughts
The Characters
The characters’ speech may take any of the
following forms.
Dialogue: conversations of characters onstage
Monologue: long speech given by one character to others
Soliloquy: speech by a character alone onstage to himself or herself or
to the audience
Asides: remarks made to the audience or to one character; the other
characters onstage do not hear an aside
Dialogue - a conversation between two or more characters.
Dialogue between the Avengers in "The Avengers"
Notice most of the Avengers say something during the clip

and that both Captain America and Iron Man are equally
speaking, making it more of a dialogue, or conversation.
Monologue - A long speech by one actor in a play or movie,
directed at another character, but goes mostly uninterrupted.
The Joker's monologue in the "Dark Knight"
Even though Batman does speak, most of the speech is done by the
Joker; therefore, it is a monologue because one character is giving
a mostly uninterrupted speech. Think of it as a lecture of sorts.
Soliloquy - when a character shares
their thoughts aloud and they are alone.
Notice that Hamlet is alone. He is talking to himself and to

noone else. He is alone with his thoughts.
Aside - when a character talks directly to the audience, but no
one else in the play hears it. [Breaking the 4th wall]
Notice how Farris is talking directly to the audience. He is

making the audience active participants in the movie and is,
therefore, breaking the 4th wall. Think of it as he is taking the
audience "aside" to have a private conversation.
The Audience
Finally, a play needs an audience to
experience the performance
understand the story
respond to the characters

Explicit / Implicit
Explicit!
• Stated or expressed clearly in detail – No room for
confusion
Explicit Theme: A theme that is clearly expressed or

stated in detail at some point in narrative
Example of Explicit Theme

• Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” (1835) • Story begins as
narrator remembers article in newspaper: man leaves wife for 20
years and then returns.
• Narrator gives reader a choice: – Can think on situation on their

own – Can “ramble” through the rest to the message he got from it,
“done up neatly, and condensed into final sentence”
Explicit / Implicit
Implicit
• Opposite of Explicit: Implied • Details hint at it, but do
not clearly express it
• Implicit Theme: a theme that is implied through –

Characters, Plot, Setting, Stylistic Choices
Example of Implicit Theme

• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818, 1831) • Implicit Theme:
Language, reading and writing lead to self-discovery and
knowledge.
• Narrators make several general statements about the
importance of language, writing, or reading throughout text
The End

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Drama

Motifs are recurring objects or concepts

Stages can have many different sizes and

realistic and abstract

• The person in charge of props must make sure

right and wrong

• Tragedies pit human limitations against the

nobility townspeople servants

• Typically, comedies involve confusion,

Notice most of the Avengers say something during the clip

Notice that Hamlet is alone. He is talking to himself and to

Notice how Farris is talking directly to the audience. He is

experience the performance

understand the story

respond to the characters

Explicit Theme: A theme that is clearly expressed or

Example of Explicit Theme

• Narrator gives reader a choice: – Can think on situation on their

• Implicit Theme: a theme that is implied through –

Example of Implicit Theme

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