Intro to Drama
“Beauty” by Jane Martin
Think, Pair, Share
• We are going to think about these questions
silently for a moment, pair with a partner, and
share your ideas with each other before we
discuss them as a class.
• What can an audience expect when watching
a play? Ideally, audiences experience this type
of literature very differently than the short
stories we have read so far. What makes the
experience of watching drama unique?
Origins of Drama
• The Western theater tradition traces is origins back to
ancient Greece.
• The earliest plays (dramas) were performed during
religious festivals to Dionysius and featured stories
from mythology and history. (7th Century BCE)
• Many of the Greek plays that are still performed and
studied today were written in the 5th century BCE.
• By the time Aristotle wrote about Greek theater
around 330 BCE, the genres of tragedy and comedy
were firmly established, and the ancient Greeks were
speculating about the history of drama much in the
same way we wonder about the past now.
Ancient Greek Theater at Eretria
One of the oldest existing theaters of its type, construction began in the
5th century BCE.
Image Credit: Perseus Digital Library
Elements of Drama
• When reading a play, you will encounter two
distinct types of writing that the play needs in
order to get its action across to an audience.
– The dialogue consists of the lines the actors speak as
they perform their parts.
– The stage directions, which are written in third person
present tense, tell what the actors should be doing.
They also give directions about sets, lighting, and
music. They are usually written in italics. Some
authors write sparse, simple stage directions, and
some writers provide extensive, often beautifully
eloquent stage directions.
Elements of Drama, Continued
• Drama, like fiction, has characters, setting, plot,
etc., but there are some characteristics of drama
that are unique because drama is meant to be
performed live.
– Sets (scenery, props, etc) may be elaborate or simple,
and often reflect the theme of the play.
• Playwright Anton Chekov once said, "If you put a gun over
the mantle in the first act, then it must fire in the last."
– Lighting and music are used to create mood and
enhance theme.
Development of Sets/Scenery
• Ancient Greek theaters had a building called a
skene that could be decorated to represent a
temple, a house, or some other structure
relevant to the plot of the drama.
• Some Greek theaters also had trap doors that
would allow characters to enter or exit
suddenly, and some had cranes that would
allow characters representing deities to
descend onto the stage.
Development of Sets/Scenery
• Plays in Shakespeare’s day also included scenery
that was more or less elaborate depending on the
audience and the wealth of the acting company.
• However, no matter how elaborate the scenery,
the burden of conveying where and when the
action takes place still fell on the actors.
• Directors of modern plays sometimes choose not
to have elaborate sets on stage in order to keep
the focus on characters’ actions and words.
In Class Reading of Beauty on p. 762
• At the bottom of p. 765, the two women switch
bodies. So, for my two “actresses,” when the
switch occurs…
• The first name is the one you should be looking
at to figure out who speaks based on your
original roles that you chose.
• The second is the character you're now playing.
– Carla/Bethany = Bethany in Carla’s body (so Carla's
actress still speaks, but she is now playing Bethany)
– Bethany/Carla = Carla in Bethany’s body (so Bethany’s
actress still speaks, but she is now playing Carla)
Questions for Beauty
• This seems on the surface to be a case of “The
grass is always greener on the other side.” Is
there anything else going on here? What other
issues does this play bring up? How does the play
address those issues?
• If we were able to watch the video, how did the
director and the actresses use lighting, music,
props, costumes, and stage directions?
• Why is the switch supernatural? Why don't they
just talk about their differences?
• Which woman do you think is going to be
happier with the switch? Support your opinion.