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DRAMA handout
– written by Ágnes Harasztos –
Drama: a literary work designed for presentation by actors on a stage: an enactment of a story.
Two main types:
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Comedy: a dramatic work depicting the uphill struggle and eventual success of a sympathetic
hero or heroine; usually about ordinary people in difficult but non-life-threatening
predicaments.
Tragedy: a dramatic work portraying the doomed struggle and eventual downfall of an
admirable but flawed hero. Usually about powerful leaders or extraordinary individuals torn
between opposing goals or difficult choices.
1. Critical Concepts
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Frames – temporal and spatial for the dramatic performance (e. g. curtain, or entrance)
Willing suspension of disbelief – a tacit understanding between actors and the audience in
which both, for a brief period, pretend that the actors on stage “are really” what they in fact
represent.
Suspense – a common technique in novels and dramas to hold the audience’s attention by
engaging their interest in finding out whether the plot will go in a certain direction or not.
Dramatic question – the specific, called-for curiosity for suspense. It is always a specific
question: “whether x will happen or not?” rather than “what’s going to happen?”
Dramatic exposition – refers to essential background information conferred through
dialogue prior to rise of action in a play (biographical, understanding of the characters,
events leading up to the period covered in the plot). Traditional dramas can be divided into
five parts, often referred to as acts. The exposition is the first of these, followed by rising
action, climax, falling action, and denouement /deɪˈnuːmɒn/(conclusion).
Dramatic situation – has to do with the conflict of wills, desires, animate agents, or
inanimate forces that the play seeks to engage our emersion in – to solicit our identifications
and sympathies, and arouse our antipathies, within.
Resolution – the victory of one force over the other involved in the dramatic situation.
Act – a major division in the action of the play, comprising one or more scenes. A break
between acts often coincides with a point at which the plot jumps ahead in time.
Scene – a subdivision of an act or of a play not divided into acts. A scene normally represents actions
happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black-out,
or a brief emptying of the stage
Aside – a short speech or remark spoken by a character in a drama, directed either to the
audience or to another character, which by convention is supposed to be inaudible to the
other characters on stage.
Catharsis – the effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama, according to
Aristotle’s argument in his Poetics (4th century BC). Aristotle wrote that a tragedy should
succeed “in arousing pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish a catharsis of such
emotions”. There has been much dispute about his meaning, but Aristotle seems to be
rejecting Plato’s hostile view of poetry as an unhealthy emotional stimulant. His metaphor
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of emotional cleansing has been read as a solution to the puzzle of audiences’ pleasure or
relief in witnessing the disturbing events enacted in tragedies.
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Comic Relief – the interruption of a serious work, especially a tragedy, by a short humorous
episode that relieves emotional tension.
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Prologue – an introductory speech in a play.
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Climax – the turning point or high point in a plot’s action.
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Rising Action – the part of a plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest
and power to the climax or turning point. The rising action begins with an inciting moment,
an action or event that sets a conflict of opposing forces into motion, and moves through
complication(s), an entangling of the affairs of the characters in a conflict, toward the climax,
the major crisis that brings about a change in the fortunes of the protagonist.
Falling Action – the segment of the plot that comes between the climax and the conclusion.
Monologue – an extended speech uttered by one speaker, either to others or as if alone.
Soliloquy – a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on stage,
or while under the impression of being alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner
thoughts and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously
direct address.
Stage directions – the information provided in addition to the dialogue to help a reader
visualize the setting, characters, and action. Usually in italics, are intended for the director,
actors, etc.
Tragic Flaw – the defect of character that brings about the protagonist’s downfall in a
tragedy
Protagonist – The central character in a story.
Villain – the principal evil character in a play or story. The villain is usually the antagonist
opposed to the protagonist, but in some cases may be the protagonist himself/herself.
Further subgenres:
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Tragicomedy – a dramatic work in which the serious actions, harsh truths, and threatening
situations of tragedy are combined with the lighter tone and generally happy conclusions of
comedy.
Farce – is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly
exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. Absurd and physical humour characterises
it.
Satire – genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices,
follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming
individuals or society itself, into improvement.
Melodrama – is a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to
the emotions, often with strongly stereotyped characters.
Epic theatre – A certain type of drama, promoted by Bertold Brecht at the beginning of the
20th c. The main aim of epic theatre is to alienate the audience so that it should always be
aware of the fact that it is watching a drama, no illusions are encouraged.
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2. A brief history of theatre
a) Ancient Greek theatre:
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the origin of Western theatrical tradition, on rituals and religious festivals, the Aristotelian
unity of time, setting and plot (no more than 1 day, 1 place and no subplots), heyday: 5th c
BC: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Dyonysia’s drama competitions
b) Medieval theatre:
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Christian content: morality plays (personified Vices and Virtues), Mysteries (enacted scenes
from the Bible), in vernacular (often subversive discourse in front of the church), on pageant
wagon stages that were moving, actor from the locals, coarse humour
c) English Renaissance theatre:
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open, public playhouses with coarser parts for the commons who were standing and with the
elevated parts for the upper classes sitting on the balconies, company of players paid by a
rich gentleman, only male actors, Puritans banned all performances for moral reasons in
1642, William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
d) Restoration comedy:
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After the reopening of theatres, in Restoration period (1660-1710), private theatres,
aristocratic audience and topics, celebrity actors, moveable scenery and women actors
appear
e) Nineteenth century theatre:
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Victorian melodramas, light comedies, later more serious dramas about the mysterious
forces in human fate, the effect of Henry Ibsen, Irish theatre: concerned with folklore,
symbolism and the life of the Catholic peasants, John Millington Synge (1871-1909)
f) Twentieth century theatre:
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realism and Naturalism, Epic theatre (Bertold Brecht, alienation effect), Theatre of the
Absurd (Samuel Beckett)
A possible method to approach a drama (by Esther Lombardi)
1. Look at the title. What do you think the title says about the play?
2. Can you tell what the genre is: comedy, tragedy etc.? Based on the genre, does the play
end the way it's supposed to?
3. Look at the setting. Does it seem appropriate? How does the setting affect the
overall feel of the play?
4. If there are parts of the play that you don't understand, read the lines aloud. Visualize
what the lines would sound like/what an actor would look like speaking the lines.
5. Summarize the plot of the play. What are the basic plot points? How does the action build
up to the climax of the play?
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6. Describe each character. Who are they? How are they related? Are they flat or round,
static or dynamic?
7. Look at the stage direction. How detailed is the staging? Do the directions give you a sense
of what the play is about and what is happening?
8. Read the introduction before and after you read the play. If you have a critical edition of
the play, also read the essays about the play. If no essays or commentary is included in
your edition, consider purchasing a book (or checking one out of the library) that discusses
the critical theory/analytical dimension of the drama.
9. Look at the historical background of the play. What famous works of literature influenced
the play you are reading? How did this play inspire or influence later works.
10. What is the theme (message, moral or idea) of the play?