Objective: We will be able to define

elements of a drama
A drama is a story enacted by actors on a stage
for a live audience.
 Forms of Drama

There are two main forms of classical drama:

tragedy and comedy.
 Forms of Drama

A tragedy is a play ending in sorrow or regret.

• Most classical Greek tragedies deal with
serious, universal subjects such as

right and wrong

justice and injustice
life and death

• Tragedies pit human limitations against the

larger forces of fate or destiny.
 Forms of Drama

A comedy also deals with human flaws, but the

play ends happily. The plot usually centers on a
romantic conflict.
boy meets girl boy loses girl boy wins girl

Modern comedies
 Forms of Drama

In comedy, characters’ choices

lead to confusion and humor—

and an expected,
exaggerated outcome.

In many cases, a comedy

ends with a wedding.

[End of Section]
 Forms of Drama

Quick Check
MABEL CHILTERN. How horrid you have Does this play
been! You have never talked to me the sound like a
whole evening! comedy or a
tragedy? How can
LORD GORING. How could I? You went
you tell?
away with the child-diplomatist.
MABEL CHILTERN. You might have
followed us. Pursuit would have been
only polite. I don't think I like you at all
this evening!
LORD GORING. I like you immensely.
from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

[End of Section]
 Dramatic Structure

Characters in Conflict
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
Complications conflict will be resolved
tension builds

Resolution
Exposition conflict is resolved;
protagonist and conflict play ends
are introduced
 Dramatic Structure

Sometimes the dramatist creates a foil, a character

who contrasts with the protagonist.
The foil exhibits
characteristics and
virtues that are the
opposite of those of
the protagonist.

Tragic heroes often

have foils.
cowardice courage
 Dramatic Structure

Forms of Conflict
Comedies and other types of drama often have an
antagonist—a main character who opposes the
protagonist.
The antagonist creates problems for the
protagonist in many ways.
 Setting the Stage

Plays are meant to be performed—to come alive

onstage for an audience.

Theater artists, such as

• actors
• directors
• designers
• lighting technicians
• stage crews
help make the playwright’s vision a reality.
 Setting the Stage

Even the most basic performance of a play involves

• a stage
• costumes
• a set
• lighting
These help the actors become
the characters—and help the
audience connect with those
characters.
 Setting the Stage

The Stage
The stage on which actors perform can take
many forms.
In Shakespeare’s time,
• the stage extended into
the viewing area, and
• the audience surrounded
the stage on three sides
or watched from the
balconies.
 Setting the Stage

The Stage
Today, many stages are set
back and separated from the
audience by a curtain.

Other stages are set in

the middle of the
audience, “in the round.”
 Setting the Stage

Scene Design
Sets, lights, costumes, and props transform a bare
stage into the world of the play.

Often a playwright gives

directions at the
beginning of a play or
scene, describing the set
he or she envisions.
 Setting the Stage

Scene Design
A stage’s set might be

realistic and abstract

detailed and minimal
 Setting the Stage

Scene Design
Scene design includes lighting, which helps
establish the mood and appearance of the set.
 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

Costumes are the clothes that actors wear.

• Like sets, costumes can be

simple

elaborate

realistic
stylized
 Setting the Stage

Quick Check
[The headlights of a car suddenly What stage, lighting,
illuminate CHARLEY against the and props do you
wall. CHARLEY is leaning against imagine when you read
the lamp post, in a very casual this setting?
attitude, looking as dapper as
usual. TERRY and EDIE run to
him. The car drives off.]
From On the Waterfront: The Final Shooting Script by Budd Schulberg. Copyright ©
1980 by Budd Schulberg. Reproduced by permission of Miriam Altshuler Literary
Agency on behalf of Budd Schulberg.

[End of Section]
 Dramatic Elements

Actors rely on a variety of theatrical techniques to

convey ideas and emotions to the audience.

Stage Directions
Playwrights often include detailed notes—or stage
directions—describing how actors should move
and speak their lines.

[Wyona is sitting on the couch. She

sees Paul and jumps to her feet.]
Wyona. [Angrily.] What do you want?
 Dramatic Elements

Quick Check
LIZA. No: I dont want no gold and no What are the
diamonds. I'm a good girl, I am. [She stage directions
sits down again, with an attempt at in this passage?
dignity.]
HIGGINS. You shall remain so, Eliza,
under the care of Mrs. Pearce. And you
shall marry an officer in the Guards, with
a beautiful moustache: the son of a
marquis, who will disinherit him for
marrying you, but will relent when he
sees your beauty and goodness—
from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw [End of Section]
 Words and Action: Characters Onstage

The characters’ speech may

take several forms.

Dialogue
The conversation of characters
onstage is called dialogue.
• Dialogue and action move the play forward.
• Scripts often contain suggestions or
instructions for techniques to heighten the
emotion and tension in dialogue.
 Words and Action: Characters Onstage

Monologues and Soliloquies

A monologue is a speech delivered by one
character to another character onstage.
A soliloquy is spoken by a character alone
onstage to himself or herself or directly to the
audience. Soliloquies
• often express a character’s deepest
feelings
• may signal a change in the character’s
thinking
 Words and Action: Characters Onstage

Asides
Sometimes a character comments directly on the
action in a play.
These comments, called
asides, are spoken to the
audience or to one other
character.
Other characters do not hear
the comments.
 Words and Action: Characters Onstage

Quick Check
LIZA. No: I dont want no gold and no What does the
diamonds. I'm a good girl, I am. [She characters’
sits down again, with an attempt at dialogue tell you
dignity.] about them?

HIGGINS. You shall remain so, Eliza,

under the care of Mrs. Pearce. And you
shall marry an officer in the Guards, with
a beautiful moustache: the son of a
marquis, who will disinherit him for
marrying you, but will relent when he
sees your beauty and goodness—
from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw [End of Section]
 Analyze Drama
Your Turn
Analyze Drama
1. Name at least two differences between comedy and
tragedy.
2. What is the difference between a monologue and a
soliloquy?
3. What is the purpose of an aside?

[End of Section]
The End