DRAMA OVERVIEW
 more than any other literary form, drama is a
visual & col-laborative medium, designed to
be performed by actors in front of an audience.
DRAMA OVERVIEW
 generally speaking, drama is more
dominated by dialogue than are fiction &
poetry.
DRAMA OVERVIEW
 A play (the common term for a dramatic
composition) also has a number of
distinguishing con-ventional elements
(division in-to acts & scenes, stage directions, a list of characters, and others).
ORIGINS OF DRAMA
 western drama originated in ancient
greece. the word drama itself comes
from the greek dran—meaning to do,
to act.
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 for several centuries beginning around 530
b.c.e., playwrights competed during
religious fes-tivals relating to dionysus,
god of wine & fertility.
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 plays came to be performed in large
outdoor amphitheaters. (the word theater
comes from the greek words for “seeing
place.”)
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 actors wore stylized masks that
symbolized their charac-teristics.
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 ANOTHER CONVENTION OF GREEK
DRAMA WAS THE CHORUS, WHICH
DANCED & SANG BETWEEN SCENES IN
THE ORCHESTRA (THE ROUND AREA
AT THE FOOT OF THE AMPHITHEA-
TER).
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 the chorus represented the values of the
community, and its scene-ending odes
provided commentary on the play and
clues to what was to come.
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 another convention was the deus ex
machina (“god from the machine”)—an
elaborate mechanism for lowering actors
playing the roles of gods onto the stage.
GREEK DRAMA (cont.)
 the most important greek play-wright was
sophocles, author of oedipus rex,
considered by many to be the most
influential drama ever written.
ROMAN DRAMA
 though roman drama basically adapted the
conventions of greek drama, the playwright
seneca (1st century c.e.) had a big
influence on the development of the 5-act
play & the revenge tragedies (e.g., hamlet)
of eliza-bethan england.
MEDIEVAL DRAMA
 during the middle ages (500-1350) the
classical tradition was lost, and plays
became vehicles for religious expression.
the two most common types of plays were
miracle plays & morali-ty plays.
MEDIEVAL DRAMA (cont.)
 miracle plays dramatized bible stories or
the life & martyrdom of a saint.
MEDIEVAL DRAMA (cont.)
 morality plays (such as the 15th-century
everyman) dramatized allegories of the
christian soul in quest of salvation & employed
personified abstractions such as shame, lust,
mercy, etc. as characters.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA
 after its birth in ancient greece, drama’s
next great period of development was in
england dur-ing the reigns of queen
Elizabeth (1558-1603) & King James i
(1603-1625).
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 exemplified by the plays of wm.
Shakespeare, dealing largely withe
actions, intrigues, & romances of kings,
queens, & other highborn characters.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 as in greek drama, no women were
allowed on the stage.
 plays often blended action, humor, &
violence with poetry & philosophical
insights.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 early plays were performed in innyards &
open spaces between buildings.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 theaters were circular & only partly
roofed, with the audi-ence on the sides as
well as in front of the raised stage.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 theaters held up to 2500 people in an
intimate setting, including 500-800
groundlings (commoners who stood in
the “pit” at the foot of the stage).
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 though scenery & props were limited,
costumes & sound ef-fects were quite
elaborate.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 stages included a second-level balcony,
doors at the back for entrances & exits, a
curtained alcove, and a trap door in the
stage floor for the entrances & exits of
spirits.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 one convention was the aside: comments
directed only to the audience that make
them privy to a character’s thoughts & that
allow them to perceive ironies & intrigues
unknown to other characters.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 another convention was the soliloquy
(from the latin for “talking to oneself”).
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 a soliloquy, which is not part of the dialogue
of the play, is a speech delivered by a lone
actor on the stage for the purpose of
revealing his or her thoughts, motives, &
inner nature.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 probably the most famous soli-loquy is
hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 in Elizabethan drama, the chorus of greek
drama evolved into a person who
sometimes spoke the prologue & epilogue
of a play, providing authorial commentary as well as exposition regarding
the subject, time, set-ting, etc. of the play.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (cont.)
 some plays have what is called a choral
character (e.g., the fool in king lear)
who stands apart from & comments on
the action of the play.
MODERN DRAMA
 the most popular form of drama in the 19th
century, especially in the U.S & England,
was melo-drama.
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 melodramas are love stories & action-
packed, intrigue-filled plots w/ happy
endings & flat, stereotyped characters
repre-senting extremes of good & evil.
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 the late 19th & early 20th centu-ries saw the
rise of realism, which presents the crises
and conflicts of ordinary people’s everyday
lives (work, family, relationships, etc.).
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 the picture-frame stage became the norm,
often reproducing settings in realistic
detail.
 scenery & props are important.
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 FOUR-ACT PLAYS BECAME THE NORM,
AND CONVENTIONS SUCH AS ASIDES
& SOLILOQUIES FELL INTO DISUSE.
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 THE 20TH CENTURY ALSO SAW THE
RISE OF THE THEATER OF THE ABSURD, W/ ITS SEEMINGLY UNINTELL-
IGIBLE PLOTS & IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR.
Examples of theatres and
schools
 Absurd theatre
 Anger Theatre
 Epic Theatre
 Realism
MODERN DRAMA (cont.)
 waiting for godot, for in-stance, two
tramps amuse them-selves w/ aimless
conversation & meaningless activity while
waiting in a waste place for a person
named godot who never comes (and who
may or may not exist).
MAJOR TYPES OF DRAMA
 TRAGEDY FOCUSES ON LIFE’S SOR-
ROWS & DIFFICULTIES, RECOUNTING
A SERIES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN
THE LIFE OF A SIGNIFICANT PERSON,
TREATED W/ SERIOUSNESS & DIGNITY, AND CULMINATING IN AN UNHAPPY CATASTROPHE.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 THE BASIC STRUCTURE & PURPOSE OF
TRAGEDY WERE FIRST DEFINED IN
ARISTOTLE’S POETICS.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE, A TRAG-
IC HERO IS A GREAT MAN OR WOMAN WHO SUFFERS A REVERSAL OF
FORTUNE (LIKE OEDIPUS IN OEDIPUS
REX) B/C OF A WEAKNESS, ERROR IN
JUDGMENT, OR ACCIDENT.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 ARISTOTLE CALLED THIS ERROR ETC.
HAMARTIA, WHICH DURING THE
RENAISSANCE EVOLVED INTO THE
CONCEPT OF THE TRAGIC FLAW.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 ARISTOTLE ALSO SAID THAT WATCH-
ING THE HERO’S DOWNFALL (THE
CATASTROPHE) AND SEEING THE
DRAMA’S RESOLUTION (RESTORA-
TION OF ORDER), . . .
TRAGEDY (cont.)
. . . THE AUDIENCE EXPERIENCES A
CATHARSIS—I.E., RELIEF FROM THE
TENSIONS OF THE PLAY (A PURGING
OF “PITY AND FEAR”) AND A SENSE OF
HAVING GAINED INSIGHT, ENLIGHT-
ENMENT.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 TRAGIC HEROES AROUSE PITY B/C
THEY ARE NOT EVIL & B/C THEIR MIS-
FORTUNE EXCEEDS WHAT THEY DESERVE; THEY AROUSE FEAR B/C THE
AUDIENCE RECOGNIZES THEMSELVES
IN THE HERO & THE POSSIBILITY OF A
SIMILAR FATE.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 PLAYS FROM ELIZABETHAN TO MOD-
ERN TIMES HAVE DEVIATED GREATLY
FROM THE ARISTOTELIAN NORM. FOR
EXAMPLE, SOMETIMES THE HERO IS
NOT A GOOD PERSON (MACBETH).
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 ALSO, AFTER THE 18TH CENTURY, TRAG-
IC HEROES BEGAN TO BE DRAWN FROM
THE MIDDLE & LOWER CLASSES IN
WHAT ARE CALLED DOMESTIC TRAGEDIES, THUS LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR MODERN DRAMAS LIKE
DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 COMIC RELIEF WAS ALSO INTRO-
DUCED INTO TRAGEDIES, AND THE
GENRE OF TRAGICOMEDY (ESSENTIAL-
LY A TRAGEDY W/ A HAPPY ENDING)
EVOLVED.
TRAGEDY (cont.)
 SINCE MODERN TRAGEDIES DO NOT
ALWAYS FOLLOW THE CONVENTIONS
OF CLASSICAL TRAGEDY, SOME CRITICS ARGUE THAT THEY ARE NOT TRUE
TRAGEDIES & THAT THEIR PROTAGONISTS NOT TRAGIC HEROES.
COMEDY
 A COMEDY IS A PLAY OF A LIGHT,
AMUSING NATURE IN WHICH CHAR-
ACTERS OVERCOME ADVERSITY TO
ACHIEVE SUCCESS & A HAPPY END-
ING, OFTEN IN THE FORM OF MARRIAGE.
COMEDY (cont.)
 PROBLEMS ARE EITHER NOT VERY
SERIOUS OR ARE TREATED IN A
LIGHT-HEARTED MANNER, CONVEYING THE SENSE THAT NO GREAT DISASTER WILL BEFALL THE CHARACTERS.
COMEDY (cont.)
 THE DISTINCTION IS OFTEN MADE BE-
TWEEN LOW COMEDY (WHICH IS
CRUDE, PHYSICAL, EVEN VIOLENT) &
HIGH COMEDY (WHICH IS MORE
THOUGHTFUL & INTELLECTUAL IN ITS
APPEAL).
COMEDY (cont.)
 IN ROMANTIC COMEDY, LOVERS
MUST ENDURE HUMOROUS TRIALS &
TRIBULATIONS EN ROUTE TO A LIFE
OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER (A MID-
SUMMER’S MIGHT DREAM, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE).
COMEDY (cont.)
 A COMEDY OF MANNERS IS A SAT-
IRICAL PORTRAYAL OF THE CONVENTIONS & MANNERS OF A SOCIETY,
USUALLY THE DOMINANT ONE AT THE
TIME A PLAY IS WRITTEN.
COMEDY (cont.)
 THE COMEDY OF MANNERS DELIGHTS
IN THE FAULTS & FOIBLES OF HUMANITY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IS MORE
REALISTIC & CRITICAL THAN ROMANTIC COMEDY.
COMEDY (cont.)
 THE COMEDY OF MANNERS WAS HIGH-
LY DEVELOPED IN THE LATE 17TH CEN-
TURY IN WITTY PLAYS THAT EXPOSED
THE HYPOCRITICAL CONVENTIONS &
RIDICULOUS ARTIFICIALITIES OF HIGH
SOCIETY.
COMEDY (cont.)
 THE COMEDY OF MANNERS EVOLVED
INTO SATIRIC COMEDY, WHICH
RIDICULES THE VAIN & FOOLISH,
TREATING THEM W/ SARCASM &
MAKING THEM SEEM LUDICROUS &
REPULSIVE.
COMEDY (cont.)
 ANOTHER POPULAR FORM OF COM-
EDY IS FARCE, WHICH PRESENTS
EXAGGERATED CHARACTER TYPES IN
IMPROBABLE OR LUDICROUS SITUATIONS, AND EMPLOYS SEXUAL MIXUPS, BROAD VERBAL HUMOR, & A LOT
OF ANTIC PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.