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BBL 3208
SHAKESPEARE AND
RENAISSANCE DRAMA
WEEK 3
Themes and Elements of
Elizabethan Drama
THEMES
• Shakespeare would have grown up
watching Tudor morality plays, which were
the most popular form of drama in
Elizabethan England up until the late
1580s.
• These plays were entertaining allegories,
using humorous techniques such as farce
and slapstick.
• As the word morality implies, the themes
of these plays dealt with virtue. The
characters in the plays represent the
importance of choosing a Godly, or
virtuous life, over a less pious path.
• At the same time, intellectuals and
academics were interested in studying and
performing the plays of the ancient
Romans, particularly writers such as
Plutarch and Seneca.
• These plays were not as entertaining as
the Tudor morality plays, often having little
action and dominated by long soliloquies.
More important than entertainment in
these plays was a focus on poetic style
and correctness.
• By the time that Shakespeare moved to London,
both these styles had merged and created a
new style of play that could be appreciated by
the general public as well as being intellectually
challenging for academics.
• You will often find, during your study of English,
examples of where a part of a Shakespearean
text works on different levels.
• This is part of the genius of Shakespeare's work.
He wrote his plays for a diverse audience with
complex themes, mostly exploring the concepts
of humanity and the frailty of the human
condition.
• The stylistic techniques appeal to a wide
audience.
• This makes Shakespearean texts ideal to
debate and to practise inferring meaning
and examining relevance to audiences,
even in modern times. The following are
just a few examples of themes in famous
Shakespearean plays.
Play
Themes
• The power of love
• Romeo and Juliet
• The individual versus
society
• The inevitability of fate
Play
Themes
• Fate and free will
• Julius Caesar
• The distinction between
public and private faces
• The importance of
compromise
• Misinterpretation
Play
Themes
• Magic
A Midsummer Night's
Dream
• Dreams
• Difficulty in love
The Basic Elements of Theatre
• Script/Text, Scenario, Plan:
• This is the starting point of the theatrical
performance. The element most often considered
as the domain of the playwright in theatre.
• The playwright’s script is the text by which theatre is
created. It can be simplistic, as in the 16th century,
with the scenarios used by the acting troupes of the
Commedia dell’ arte, or it can be elaborate, such as
the works of William Shakespeare.
• The script, scenario, or plan is what the director
uses as a blue print to build a production from.
The Process:
• This is the coordination of the creative
efforts usually headed up in theatre by the
director. It is the pure process by which the
playwright’s work is brought to realization
by the director, actors, designers,
technicians, dancers, musicians, and any
other collaborators that come together on
the script, scenario, or plan. This is the
works in progress stage.
The Product:
• This is the end result of the process of
work involved. The final product that
results from all of the labors coming
together to complete the finished work of
script, scenario, and plan, in union with all
of the collaborators in the process to
create the final product. This is what the
audience will witness as they sit in the
theatre and view the work.
•
The Audience:
• Theatre requires an audience. For all of
the arts public is essential. The physical
presence of an audience can change a
performance, inspire actors, and create
expectations. Theatre is a living breathing
art form. The presence of live actors on
the stage in front of live audiences sets it
apart from modern day films and
television.
Elements of Drama
• Most successful playwrights follow the
theories of playwriting and drama that were
established over two thousand years ago by a
man named Aristotle.
• In his works the Poetics Aristotle outlined the
six elements of drama in his critical analysis
of the classical Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex
written by the Greek playwright, Sophocles, in
the fifth century B.C
• The six elements as they are outlined involve:
Thought, Theme, Ideas; Action or Plot;
Characters; Language; Music; and Spectacle.
1. Thought/Theme/Ideas
• What the play means as opposed to what
happens (the plot). Sometimes the theme
is clearly stated in the title. It may be
stated through dialogue by a character
acting as the playwright’s voice.
• Or it may be the theme is less obvious and
emerges only after some study or thought.
The abstract issues and feelings that grow
out of the dramatic action.
•
2. Action/Plot
• The events of a play; the story as opposed to the
theme; what happens rather than what it means.
• The plot must have some sort of unity and clarity
by setting up a pattern by which each action
initiating the next rather than standing alone
without connection to what came before it or what
follows.
• In the plot of a play, characters are involved in
conflict that has a pattern of movement. The
action and movement in the play begins from the
initial entanglement, through rising action, climax,
and falling action to resolution.
3. Characters
• These are the people presented in the
play that are involved in the perusing plot.
• Each character should have their own
distinct personality, age, appearance,
beliefs, socio economic background, and
language.
•
4. Language
• The word choices made by the playwright
and the enunciation of the actors of the
language.
• Language and dialog delivered by the
characters moves the plot and action
along, provides exposition, defines the
distinct characters.
• Each playwright can create their own
specific style in relationship to language
choices they use in establishing character
and dialogue.
•
5. Music
• Music can encompass the rhythm of
dialogue and speeches in a play or can
also mean the aspects of the melody and
music compositions as with musical
theatre.
• Each theatrical presentation delivers
music, rhythm and melody in its own
distinctive manner. Music is not a part of
every play. But, music can be included to
mean all sounds in a production.
•
• Music can expand to all sound effects, the
actor’s voices, songs, and instrumental music
played as underscore in a play. Music creates
patterns and establishes tempo in theatre. In
the aspects of the musical the songs are used to
push the plot forward and move the story to a
higher level of intensity. Composers and lyricist
work together with playwrights to strengthen the
themes and ideas of the play. Character’s wants
and desires can be strengthened for the
audience through lyrics and music.
•
6. Spectacle
• The spectacle in the theatre can involve all
of the aspects of scenery, costumes, and
special effects in a production.
• The visual elements of the play created for
theatrical event. The qualities determined
by the playwright that create the world and
atmosphere of the play for the audience’s
eye.