INTRODUCTION TO
DRAMA
IMPORTANT TERMS (QUIZ ON FEB 10-11)
WHAT IS A PLAY?
• Play: A story acted out live and
onstage
• Major types of plays:
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Modern (mixture of comedy and tragedy, usually)
COMEDY
• Comedy: a play that ends happily
• Characters in Comedy: Central characters
can be from any class, including servants. They
almost always have flaws, but they usually
discover the error of their ways (unlike in
tragedies).
• Conflicts in Comedy: Conflicts in comedies are
almost always romantic in nature—obstacle is
always overcome in comedies—obstacles are
often ridiculous
TRAGEDY
• Tragedy: serious and important actions that
end unhappily (topics like fate, life, and
death)
• Tragic Heroes: Central character usually a
noble figure who has a personal failing that
leads to downfall
• Tragic Flaw: Imperfections that lead otherwise
noble hero to make choices leading to tragic
end (i.e. pride, ambition, passion, jealousy,
etc.)
DRAMATIC ELEMENTS (CONTINUED)
• Script: The text of a play
(includes spoken words and
stage directions)
• Stage Directions: Describe
the appearance of the
stage, as well as how the
characters move and speak
on the stage—suggestions
rather than demands
SCENE 1- DAY 6
Sound of a bicycle bell: DING DING! DING DING!
[Lights up on a man and a woman, riding bicycles, side by side, facing the audience.
The woman wears a knee brace and rides a road bike; the man rides a mountain bike.
They are equipped for a long ride-- helmets, CamelBaks, water bottles, padded bicycle
shorts. They've been on these bikes for a while and it shows. They pedal dutifully without
interruption. The woman sucks the life out of her water bottle. The man watches her
adoringly.]
MAN: How’s your knee?
WOMAN: I’m thinking it would hurt less if you just wailed on it with a
sledgehammer.
MAN: Next pit stop we’ll try that instead of ice.
WOMAN: Sounds like a plan. Unless you can’t find a sledgehammer. In that
case we’ll just go with the ice.
MAN: Agreed. (beat) We’re almost there. It’s almost over. In thirty more miles
we’ll be there and we’ll be...
WOMAN: Done. The longest thirty miles of my life. I’m in misery. (she looks at
him) Now would be a good time to make me laugh.
MAN: (beat) Marry me.
WOMAN: (beat) That’s not funny. Try again.
ELEMENTS OF STAGING
• Staging: Includes everything that is part of
a play but is not part of the written script
• Stage: Grand or small in size. In front of
the audience or in the center.
• Set: Realistic or minimal—transforms
stage into setting
On the set of Modern Family (TV)
STAGES
Right: Black Box
Left: Thrust Stage
Left: Arena Stage
Right:
Proscenium
Stage
ELEMENTS OF STAGING
• Lighting: Shakespeare’s plays were in outdoor natural
lighting—today, most plays are performed indoors
and require artificial lighting (including colored
lighting)
• Costumes and Props: Elaborate or minimal—work
with sets and lights to support the action and create
the appropriate mood.
PLAY PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
• Plays are meant to be performed
• Performance Process
Stage Directions
Playwright describes setting and actions
Interpretation
Actors, directors, and designers interpret
these directions creatively
Performance
Audience experiences the story through the
actors’ speech and actions
SPEAKING
• Dialogue: Conversation between characters
• Monologue: Long speech by one character
to another character/ other characters
• Soliloquy: Speech by one character alone
onstage to himself/herself or to audience
"To Be or Not to Be“
• Aside: A comment only the audience is
supposed to hear
READING SHAKESPEARE ALOUD
• End-stopped Line: Has
final punctuation at the
end of the line
• Run-on Line: Has no final
punctuation at the end
of the line—NO PAUSE!
• Archaic: Used to
describe words (or
particular meanings of
words) that have
disappeared from
common use (examples:
“hap,” “anon,” “mark,”
etc.).
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Think of a play you have seen (The Odyssey if
you went with us!)
1) Describe the stage/set. Was the setting
realistic? How? Why or why not?
2) Describe the actors’ costumes. Why do you
think they wore these costumes?
3) Evaluate the dialogue. Was it serious or
humorous? Clear? Convincing?
ANALYSIS: What was the effect of #1-3 on the
audience?
Paraphrase the words into your own words—to help with this, read No
Fear Shakespeare to see how others paraphrase
MOVIES AND PLAYS
MOVIES VERSUS PLAYS
• Plays—long time watching subtle development of conflicts among
small group of people in one setting
• Movies—visual medium that whisks us from place to place
• Delight the eye rather than the ear
• Theater is more a medium of words
Luhrmann
BACKGROUND TO ROMEO AND
JULIET
 Written about 1595
 Probably his 13th play
 Idea taken from “The Tragical History of
Romeo and Juliet,” a poem by Arthur Brooke
(1562)
 Unlike his other tragedies, Shakespeare
allows chance, or fate, to determine the
destiny of the hero and heroine (Romeo and
Juliet)—and not necessarily their tragic flaws.
PROLOGUE TRANSLATION ACTIVITY
(PARAPHRASE)
• With a partner, you will paraphrase the
prologue of Romeo and Juliet.
1. Read the prologue in Elizabethan English.
2. Decide with your partner what each line
would read like in today’s language. Try
your best to maintain the specific
meaning!
3. Decide on the five most important details.
Be prepared to share with the class