ELEMENTS
OF DRAMA
A BRIEF
OVERVIEW
PLOT
storyline – a series of
events that occur in a dramatic
work to express the ideas of the
dramatic work
 The
HOW IS PLOT USED
IN DRAMATIC
WORKS?
THEME
basic idea of the play –
the feelings, ideas, goals and
desires of the playwright
The
WHAT ARE SOME
EXAMPLES OF
THEME IN
DRAMATIC WORKS?
CHARACTER
 Person
or animal that “acts” out
the events in a dramatic work –
gives the viewers someone to
relate to and connect with
HOW DO
CHARACTERS AND
CHARACTERIZATION
ADD TO DRAMATIC
WORKS?
LANGUAGE
 Verbalization
in a dramatic work that
presents feelings, ideas and
information to the audience – varies
depending on the setting and individual
characters (accent, dialect, slang, etc.)
 Body language also expresses the same
ideas as verbalization – body language
expresses ideas, reactions, feelings and
emotions
WHAT ROLE DOES
LANGUAGE AND
USAGE PLAY IN
DRAMATIC WORKS?
SPECTACLE
Everything
that occurs on
stage – movement, visuals,
setting, lighting, props,
costumes, make-up,
mechanics, etc.
WHY IS SPECATCLE
SO IMPORTANT IN
DRAMATIC WORKS?
DRAMA
TERMINOLOGY
TERMS YOU NEED
TO KNOW!!
PLOT TERMINOLOGY
PLOT
ACTION
ACTS
BLACKOUT
BLOCKING
CLIMAX
CONFLICT
CUE
EXIT
MOVEMENT
SCENE
THEME TERMINOLOGY
THEME
MOOD
CHARACTER TERMINOLOGY
CHARACTER
ACTOR
ACTRESS
CHARACTERIZATION
CAST
LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGY
LANGUAGE
DIALOGUE
PROJECTION
DICTION
MONOLOGUE
VOICE
SPECTACLE TERMINOLOGY
SPECTACLE
ACTION
BACKDROP
BLACKOUT
BLOCKING
CENTER STAGE
CHOREOGRAPHY
CUE
EXIT
MOVEMENT
SET
UPSTAGE
DOWNSTAGE
BASIC DRAMA TERMINOLOGY





1. act - a major division of a play.
2. anagnorisis - a recognition or discovery,
especially in tragedy - for example, when the
hero understands the reason for his or her fall.
3. catharsis - Aristotle’s term for the purgation
or purification of the pity and terror
supposedly experienced while witnessing a
tragedy.
4. climax - the culmination of a conflict; a
turning point, often the point of greatest
tension in a plot.
5. comedy - a literary work, especially a play,
characterized by humor and by a happy
ending.





6. conflict - a struggle between a character and
some obstacle or between internal forces, such
as divided loyalties.
7. crisis - a high point in the conflict that leads
to the turning point.
8. dénouement - the resolution or the outcome
(literally, the "unknotting") of a plot.
9. exposition - a setting-forth of information. In
fiction and drama, introductory material
introducing characters and the situation.
10. farce - comedy based not on clever language
or on subtleties of characters but on broadly
humorous situations





11. gesture - a physical movement, especially in
a play.
12. hamartia - a flaw in the tragic hero, or an
error made by the tragic hero.
13. hubris (hybris) - a Greek word, usually
translated as "overweening pride,"
"arrogance," "excessive ambition," and often
said to be characteristic of tragic figures.
14. peripeteia - a reversal in the action.
15. plot - the episodes in a narrative or
dramatic work - that is, what happens - or the
particular arrangement (sequence) of these
episodes.





16. protagonist - the chief actor in any literary work.
The term is usually preferable to hero and heroine
because it can include characters - for example,
villainous or weak ones - who are not aptly called
heroes or heroines.
17. scene - a unit of a play, in which the setting is
unchanged and the time continuous.
18. soliloquy - a speech in a play, in which a
character alone on the stage speaks his or her
thoughts aloud.
19. tragedy - a serious play showing the protagonist
moving from good fortune to bad and ending in
death or a deathlike state.
20. tragicomedy - a mixture of tragedy and comedy,
usually a play with serious happenings that expose
the characters to the threat of death but that ends
happily.
ELEMENTS
OF DRAMA
CRITIQUE
THE PLAY

ORGANIZATION

CHARACTERIZATION

DIALOGUE

PLOT
WHAT ARE THE
RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE
PLAYWRIGHT?
THE ACTING

VOICE

DICTION

EXPRESSION

PROJECTION
WHAT ARE THE
RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE ACTORS?
THE DIRECTING

UNITY

STAGE

COMPOSITION

RHYTHM

TEMPO
WHAT ARE THE
RESPONSIBILITIES
OF THE DIRECTOR?
THE STAGING

SETS

LIGHTS

COSTUMES

MAKE-UP

MECHANICS
WHY IS PROPER
STAGING
IMPORTANT, AND
WHO IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR
IT?
THE AUDIENCE
RESPONSE

ATTENTION

RESPONSIVENESS

APPRECIATION

APPLAUSE
CULTURAL
IMPLICATIONS
OF DRAMA
COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE



La " Commedia dell'Arte" is a distinct
theatrical genre that evolved from
outdoor performances by acrobats,
jesters and the first professional actors
during the Italian Renaissance.
With stylized masks, gestures and
improvisations over a plot ,the
Commedia repeatedly satirized wellknown "types" – rich, bumbling,
wealthy, intelligent
Italian troupes of Commedia dell'Arte
spread all over Europe performing in
streets and squares
SATIRE
Satire is a play in which sarcasm, irony,
and ridicule are used to expose or
attack folly or pretension is society
 Stories represented real people and real
events
 Strengths and weaknesses in
characters are exposed and all
characters are held up to moral
standards either civically or divinely

WIZARD OF OZ


Satirical story representing the Populist movement –
written in 1900 by Frank Baum
True meaning of Wizard of Oz facets
 OZ – ounce (measurement for gold)s
 Dorothy – Mary Elizabeth Lease – wore silver slippers
 Munchkins – common, everyday people
 Scarecrow – farmers (depicted as having no brain)
 Tin Man – rusted factories, laid off workers w/o heart
 Cowardly Lion – William Jennings Bryan
 Wicked Witches – evil bankers and industrialists
 Yellow brick road – gold standard
 Emerald City – Washington, D.C.
 The Wizard – William McKinley
MELODRAMA





Comes from "music drama" – music was used to
increase emotions or to signify characters
(signature music).
A simplified moral universe; good and evil are
embodied in stock characters.
Episodic form: the villain poses a threat, the hero
or heroine escapes, etc.—with a happy ending.
Usually 2-5 acts (five acts reserved for "serious"
drama).
Many special effects: fires, explosions, drownings,
earthquakes.
REALISM





Drama depicting real people, real events
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
Ibsen's early plays are wild and epic, concentrating
on romantic visions of the rebel figure in search of
an ultimate truth which is always just out of reach
"modern" phase suppresses his Romanticism and
focuses instead on the problems of modern society
These plays are characterized by their "realism,"
which he hoped would help audiences to more
easily digest his radical views
MUSICAL THEATRE
A play in which the story is told through a
combination of spoken dialogue and musical
numbers
 Andrew Lloyd Webber – composer of a variety of
musicals
 Cats
 Jesus Christ Superstar
 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
 Phantom of the Opera
 Evita

THE
END