DRAMA
Its Elements
DRAMA
Drama is a
composition in prose
form that presents a
story entirely told in
dialogue and action
and written with the
intention of its
eventual performance
before an audience.
Drama has a two-fold nature:
LITERATURE and THEATRE.
Setting identifies the time and place in which
the events occur. It consists of the historical
period, the moment, day and season in which
the incidents take place. It also includes the
sceneries in the performance which are usually
found in the preliminary descriptions.
Characters are the people in the play and thus
considered as the principal material in a drama.
Character Aspects
Physical
Social
• Physical identifies peripheral
facts such as age, sexual
category, size, race and color.
It deals with external
attributes which may be
envisaged from the description
of the playwright or deduced
from what the characters say
or what other characters
verbalize about his
appearance.
• Social embraces all aspects
that can be gleaned from the
character’s world or
environment as exemplified by
the economic status,
occupation or trade, creed,
familial affiliation of the
characters.
Character Aspects
Psychological
Moral
• Psychological discloses the
inner mechanism of the mind of
the character as exemplified by
his habitual responses,
attitudes, longings, purposes,
likes and dislikes. It is
considered as the most
indispensable level of character
categorization because routines
and emotions, thoughts, attitude
and behavior enable the readers
to know the character
intrinsically.
• Moral discloses the decisions
of the characters, either
socially acceptable or not,
exposing their intentions, thus
projecting what is upright or
not.
Plot lays out the series of events that form the
entirety of the play. It serves as a structural
framework which brings the events to a
cohesive form and sense.
Types of Plot
Natural Plot
Episodic Plot
• Natural Plot is a
chronological sequence of
events arrangement where
actions continuously take
place as an end result of the
previous action
• Episodic Plot – each episode
independently comprises a
setting, climax, and resolution;
therefore, a full story in itself
is formed.
Beginning
Middle
Ending
Antecedent Action:
Something happens
before the play begins
IN MEDIAS RES
Beginning
identifies information about the place, such
as geographical location, social, cultural, political background or
period when the event took place.
Exposition
• Exposition is the point where
the playwright commences his
story. It reveals the identity of
story’s initial crisis.
Middle is composed of a series of difficulties:
Complications
Crisis
• Complications bring
changes and alterations in the
movement of the action which
take place when discovery of
novel information, unexpected
alteration of plan, choosing
between two courses of action
or preface of new ideas are
revealed.
• Crisis reveals the peak of
anticipation in the series of
incidents.
Middle is composed of a series of difficulties:
Obligatory Scene
Discovery
• Obligatory Scene identifies
the open collision between two
opposing characters or forces.
• Discovery discloses points
which are previously
unknown, characterized as
something mysterious,
strange, unfamiliar and thus
revealed through objects,
persons, facts, values, or selfdiscovered.
Ending
is the final major component of the story
which brings the condition back to its stability. This part
brings satisfaction to the audience which extends to the
final curtain as peace is completely restored.
Theme is considered as the unifying element
that defines the dramatized idea of the play. It
is the over-all sense or implication of the action.
It defines the problem, emphasizes the ethical
judgment and suggest attitude or course of
action that eliminates the crisis is an acceptable
way.
Style refers to the mode of expression or
presentation of the play which points out the
playwright’s position or viewpoint in life.
Major Dramatic Attitude
Realism
Non-realism
• Realism is an accurate
detailed, and life-like
description in a play where
things are presented as real as
can be set in actual life, with
dialogues sounding like dayto-day conversation.
• Non-realism is method of
presentation identified as
something stylized or
theatricalized whereby artist
uses his feral imagination in
projecting his ideas.
Tragedy is a type of drama that shows the downfall
and destruction of a noble or outstanding person,
traditionally one who possesses a character weakness
called a tragic flaw. The tragic hero, through choice or
circumstance, is caught up in a sequence of events that
inevitably results in disaster. Tragedy is universal-it
can appeal to anyone, anywhere.
Comedy is a type of drama intended to interest and
amuse the audience rather than make them deeply
concerned about events that happen. The characters
overcome some difficulties, but they always overcome
their ill fortune and find happiness in the end. Comedy
is fixed. It can only happen to those characters involved
at that time and place.
Tragicomedy is a play that does not adhere strictly to
the structure of tragedy. This is usually serious play that
also has some of the qualities of comedy. It arouses
thought even with laughter.
Farce is a play that brings laughter for the sake of
laughter, usually making use grossly embellished events
and characters. It has very swift movements, has
ridiculous situations, and does not stimulate thought.
Melodrama shows events that follow each other rapidly, but
seems to be governed always by chance. The characters are
victims in the hands of merciless fate.
CHARACTER NAMES are presented in ALL CAPS at the
start of each new line/ set of lines the characters speak.
Stage directions- either in italics or (parentheses) can be
placed before or after dialogue. This Stage Business is the
physical representation of action that a prose writer would have
to describe to the reader.
ACT- a MAJOR division of a play
SCENE- a division of an Act
Develop a 10- minute ONE ACT drama based on any
set of characters, any setting, any conflict. The choices
are yours to be made. It may be an adaptation of a
previously published work- you must keep the elements
of the original in tact.