Elements of Drama

A drama is a story enacted onstage for a live audience.

What Is Drama?
Stages can have many different sizes and layouts.
Thrust stage
Setting the Stage
The stage extends into the
viewing area.
The audience surrounds the
stage on three sides.
In the round stage is surrounded by an audience on all sides.
Setting the Stage
Proscenium stage
Setting the Stage
The playing area extends behind an opening called a proscenium
arch.
The audience sits on one side looking into the action.
upstage
downstage
stage left stage right
Setting the Stage
Stages in
Shakespeares time
were thrust stages.

A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily.
Tragedies pit human limitations against the larger forces of destiny.
right and wrong
justice and injustice
life and death
Tragedy
Most classic Greek tragedies deal with serious, universal
themes such as
The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a tragic hero. This hero
is noble and in many ways
admirable
has a tragic flaw, a personal failing
that leads to a tragic end
rebelliousness
jealousy
pride
Tragedy
A comedy is a play that ends happily. 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 servants townspeople
Comedy
Theme: the basic idea of a play; the
idea, point of view, or perception that
binds together a work of art.

Language: in drama, the particular
manner of verbal expression, the
diction or style of writing, or the speech or phrasing that
suggests a class or profession or type of character.

Style: the shaping of dramatic material, settings, or
costumes in a deliberately nonrealistic manner.
Literary Elements
Literary Elements
Characters/Characterization
The actors in a storys plot.


The protagonist is the main character, the
character who has a conflict that is
resolved in the end.

The antagonist is in conflict with the main
character.
Foil
A character who provides a strong contrast to
another character.
Function of Foil Characters
A foil may emphasize another characters distinctive traits
or make a character look better by comparison.
Plot: the series of events that take
place in a play. There are 5 stages
in a plot structure:


Exposition introduces the storys
characters, setting and conflict.
Rising action occurs as complications,
twists, or intensifications of the conflict occur.
Climax is the emotional high point of the story or play.
Falling action is the logical result of the climax.
Resolution presents the final outcome of the story.

Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves characters who
face a problem or conflict.
Climax

point of highest tension;
action determines how the conflict will
be resolved
Resolution
conflict is resolved;
play ends
Complications
tension builds
Exposition
characters and conflict are
introduced
Dramatic Structure
Dramatic Structure
Conflict is a struggle or
clash between opposing
characters or forces. A
conflict may develop . . .

between characters who want
different things or the same thing
between a character and his or her
circumstances
within a character who is torn by
competing desires


The characters speech may take any of the following forms.
Dialogue: conversations of characters onstage
Monologue: a long speech made by one actor; a monologue may
be delivered alone or in the presence of 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
Speech
Dialogue

A conversation
between
characters in a
literary work.

Function of Dialogue
Dialogue brings
characters to life
by revealing their
personalities and
by showing what
they are thinking
and feeling as
they react to other
characters.
Monologues
Monologue: a long speech made by one actor;
a monologue may be delivered alone or in the
presence of others.
An example is Hamlets well-known monologue:
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
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. (III i 64)
Soliloquies
A long speech delivered by a
character who is alone
onstage.
Function of Soliloquies
A soliloquy typically
reveals the private
thoughts and emotions
of the character. An example is Juliets soliloquy:
The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse;
In half an hour she promised to return.
Perchance she cannot meet him: that's not so.
O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams (II v 1-5)
Function of Asides
Asides are frequently used to
provide information to the
audience and to reveal the
private thoughts of characters.
Asides
In a play, a comment made
by a character, but is not
heard by the other
characters onstage.
Stage Directions
Found in brackets [ ]
or italics.
Describe scenery and
how characters speak
C, Center Stage
L, Stage Left
R, Stage Right
U, Upstage or Rear
D, Downstage or
Front

When you read a play, remember that it is meant to be performed for
an audience.
Stage Directions
Playwright describes setting
and characters actions and
manner.
[Wyona is sitting on the couch.
She sees Paul and jumps to her
feet.]
Wyona. [Angrily.] What do
you want?
Performance of a Play
Performance
Theater artists bring the
playwrights vision to life
on the stage.
The audience responds to
the play and shares the
experience.
Technical Elements
Scenery
Set
Costumes
Props
Lighting
Sound/ Music
Make-up





Scene Design
Plays are divided
into acts and
scenes ,
which indicate a
change in
location or the
passage of time.
Function of the Scene Design
The scene design allows the author of the
play to create a sense of Setting.
Scene design transforms a bare stage into the world of the play.
Scene design consists of
props
sets
costumes
lighting
Setting the Stage
A stages set might be:
realistic and
detailed
Setting the Stage
abstract and
minimal
Set
Construction on the stage that shows time/place
Could be called Scenery
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.
Setting the Stage
Technical Elements
Lights: the placement, intensity, and color of lights
to
Help communicate environment, mood, or feeling

Sound: the effects an audience hears during
performance to communicate character,
context, or environment

Makeup: costumes, wigs, and body
paint used to transform an actor
into a character.
Finally, a play needs an audience to
experience the performance
understand the story
respond to the characters
The Audience