Download Mr__Ferrier_s_Guide_to_Drama

MR. FERRIER’S GUIDE TO DRAMA
What is drama?
Drama is a complex art at least twenty-five hundred years old. Over such a long
span, it has undergone many changes and followed diverse paths. When we
attend the theatre today, we and a few hundred other people come together,
usually in the evening, to see a performance that will last approximately two
hours on an indoor stage illuminated by artificial light. But theatergoing has not
always been this way. Our experience of theatergoing would have seemed
strange to Greeks living in the fifth century B.C. as they assembled at dawn in an
outdoor theatre scattering some seventeen thousand people to watch a series of
plays that lasted all day under the bright sunlight. Our experience would have
seemed equally strange to a fifteenth century A.D. English audience that
gathered at various places along a route to watch a series of short biblical plays
performed on wagons that moved from one performance to the next. These
examples by no means exhaust the possibilities, because theatrical experience has
been as varied as the cultures in which it has appeared. The practice we are
familiar with today encompass only a limited range of the theatre’s possibilities.
Such diversity invited questions about what theatre’s varied manifestations have
in common and the significance of their differences. It also invites questions
about the appeal of theatre: Why do people create theatre? What attracts
audiences to it? What makes one production better to us than another? Let us
begin our look at drama by examining some basic issues: the nature and function
of theatre; the relationship of theatre to other forms of art; criteria for judging
theatrical performances; how scripts, the usual starting point of theatrical
production, are structured; and other related topics. These initial explorations
will help build the foundation for a fuller understanding and appreciation of
drama and the processes of theatrical production.
Drama as Performance
Attending a play differs in several ways from going to a film. A live performance
has more of a sense of special occasion. There are no rules about how to
experience a theatrical performance. Willingness to give one’s full attention to
what is happening onstage moment by moment is the prime requisite. As a
performance unfolds, many questions that a reader can answer only in the
imagination are given immediate form, at least in this production of the play:
 What is the appearance of the stage setting?
 How are the characters dressed?
 How do the characters move and relate to each other?




Who is the intended audience?
When and where did the performance take place?
Who was involved in the production—producer, director, actor,
designers?
How effectively and fully were the goals realized (in the directing, acting,
design elements)?
Dramatic Action and Aristotle’s Poetics
Broadly speaking, a play is (as the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote in
his Poetics) a representation of human beings “in action.” By “action” he did not
mean mere physical movement. Rather, he was concerned not only with what
characters do but also with why they do it. In turn, the actions of the individual
characters relate to some question, problem, or theme that forms the central
focus, or dramatic action, of the play as a whole. Aristotle argues that a dramatic
action should be complete and self-contained (that is, everything essential for
understanding it should be in or implied by the play). Effective dramatic action
is deliberately shaped or organized to reveal its purpose and goal and to evoke
from the audience specific responses (pity, fear, laughter, ridicule, and so on).
Effective dramatic action, in addition to having purpose, must also have variety
(in story, characterization, idea, mood, spectacle) to avoid monotony. Effective
dramatic action engages and maintains interest—the situation must be sufficiently
compelling to arouse curiosity, the characters interesting enough to awaken
sympathy or antipathy, the issues vital enough to provoke concern, or the
spectacle and sound novel enough to attract attention.
Analyzing a Play-script
The structure of drama can best be understood by analyzing specific plays. Here
is a list of questions useful in that process:
 How is the dramatic action unified? Through cause-to-effect relationship
of incidents? Character? Theme/motif/idea?
 What are the given circumstances? (Geographical location? Period? Time
of day? Socioeconomic environment? Attitudes and relationships of
characters at the beginning of the play? Previous action?) How is this
information conveyed?
 At what point in the total story does the play begin (that is, where is the
point of attack)? What sets the dramatic action in motion (the inciting
incident)?
 What is the major conflict, dramatic question, or unifying theme? What is
the climactic scene? How is the action resolved? Are there subplots? If so,
how is each related to the main plot?






What is the dominant tone of the play? Serious? Comic? Ironic? Is the tone
consistent throughout, or does it change often? How is tone established?
For each character, list the biological, social, psychological, and moral
traits indicated in the script. Which traits of each character are most
important to the dramatic action? What is each character willing to do to
achieve his/her desires?
What are the major ideas/themes/implications of the dramatic action? Is
there a clear-cut message? If not, how is significance conveyed? Are there
are a number of possible interpretations of the play? If so, which seems
most defensible based on the play’s action, characterizations, and other
elements in the script?
To what extent do the vocabulary, rhythm, and tempo of speeches follow
or deviate from everyday colloquial usage? What information is given or
implied about sound? Music? Is this information significant to the
dramatic action? If so, how?
What information is given or implied in the script about settings?
Costumes and makeup? Lighting? Is this information significant to the
dramatic action? If so, how?
For what kind of theatrical space was the play written? What
characteristics of the script are explained by the theatrical or dramatic
conventions in use at the time the play was written?
Glossary of Dramatic Terms
Anagnorisis (or disclosure, discovery, recognition)—this term comes from
Aristotle’s Poetics (330 BC) in which he outlines what he sees as the basic
elements of a tragedy. Anagnorisis is the “recognition” or “disclosure” by a
character.
Amphitheater—a type of theater space used in ancient Greece. The orchestra
was a circular area at the bottom where the action took place. The theatron was a
semicircular sloping hillside that was terraced, and into which was placed
benches capable of seating about 15,000 people. Actors wore large masks to
facilitate the rapid change of roles and to communicate in the large space by
capturing and emphasizing the essential qualities of each character.
Aside—words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not "heard"
by the other characters on stage during a play. In Shakespeare's Othello, Iago
voices his inner thoughts a number of times as "asides" for the play's audience.
Bare Stage—term used to refer to Shakespeare’s stage which was signified by
minimal set pieces and decoration.
Blocking—the placement and movement of the actors on stage moment by
moment, usually planned by the director.
Catharsis –the emotional effect a tragedy has on its audience. Aristotle coined
the term in the Poetics. Catharsis is the feeling an audience has while viewing a
tragedy. Aristotle argued that tragedy “cleanses” the emotions for the audience.
An audience vicariously experiences the tragic events along with the tragic hero.
Chorus—a group of people who sang or danced in Greek drama, commenting on
the action of the play. By Elizabethan times the chorus was rarely used, in favor
of a single character delivering a prologue and an epilogue. Modern usage of the
chorus is often a character in the context of the play who comments on
characters and events, thereby giving additional perspective.
Closet Drama—a play suited only for reading, not for acting. Most nineteenthcentury English poetic dramas (e.g., Coleridge’s, Shelley’s Tennyson’s) fit into
this category.
Conventions—theatrical and dramatic practices, devices, and procedures that
are mutually understood and accepted by both theatre practitioners and
audiences.
Deus Ex Machina—a Greek term meaning “the God from the machine.” (1) In
Greek drama a god who descends by a crane-like arrangement and solves a
problem in the story, thus allowing the play to end. (2) Any unexpected and
improbable device (e.g., an unexpected financial windfall) used to solve a
problem and thus conclude the work.
Downstage--in the proscenium theatre, the forward part of the stage.
Dramatic Naturalism—this idea was first theorized by Emile Zola, a French
novelist and playwright. The naturalists argued that plays should be a slice of
life that demonstrates the effects of heredity and environment. Naturalism was
the first artistic movement to treat working class characters with the same
seriousness accorded the middle and upper classes. In the 20th century,
naturalism is often used as a label for plays that seek to recreate the details of
everyday life.
Epilogue—the concluding section of a work. It is also the recitation by an actor of
the concluding section of a play that often requests appreciation and kind
reviews.
Exposition—imparting information, usually about events that have happened
before the play begins.
Fourth Wall—a phrase that refers to the opening at the front of the stage. It is the
imaginary wall through which an audience looks into a room. To “break” the
fourth wall means to step outside of the stage space, either by directly addressing
the audience or physically stepping into the audience viewing space.
Globe Theater—Shakespeare’s theater held three thousand persons. The
configuration of the stage meant that no one was very far away from the action.
There were no intermissions, and the Globe served beer, wine and sold playing
cards. The atmosphere was one of a sporting event. The challenge for the
performers was to keep the audience quiet through skillful performances.
Groundlings—term coined in Hamlet to refer to the spectators who attended
performances at the Globe theatre who paid less to stand in the yard. They were
not under the roof, and therefore subject to the weather.
Hamartia—this Greek word is variously translated as “error” or “shortcoming”
or “weakness.” It is an error in judgment or an ignorance of certain facts that
leads to the hero’s downfall or reversal in fortune. It is often caused by the tragic
flaw.
In Medias Res—literally translated, “in the middle of things”; to begin the action
of a play or novel in the middle of an action sequence.
Left stage—the left side of the stage from the performers’ point of view as they
face the audience
Monologue—an extended narrative, which can be oral or written, delivered,
uninterrupted by one person although it may be heard or witnessed by others.
Peripety—a reversal of fortune.
Prologue—an introductory statement preceding a literary work; in Greek
tragedy the opening section of a play.
Properties—onstage objects of two types: (1) set properties, required to complete
or decorate the set, and (2) hand properties, used by the actors in their stage
business
Realism—an attempt in writing and production to represent characters and
events as they are observed in real life. Realism emerged in the 1850s, grounded
in the scientific outlook and the belief that human behavior can best be explained
in terms of hereditary and environmental influences. Realists argued that
because we can know the real world only through direct observation,
playwrights should write only about the society around them as objectively as
possible.
Right stage—the part of the stage that is to the actor’s right as he or she faces the
audience.
Scenery—the carpentry and painted cloths (and projected images) used on a
stage. Scenery may be used to conceal parts of the stage, to decorate, to imitate or
suggest locales, to establish time or to evoke mood.
Soliloquy—a type of monologue performed onstage as part of a play in which a
character reveals their inner thoughts and feelings out loud while alone.
Spoken Decor—in Elizabethan theater, the idea that scenery was described in
detail through words. Because there were no elaborate set pieces, Shakespeare’s
plays relied on descriptive detail in speeches to set the scene.
Subtext—unstated motivations, ideas, or tensions beneath the surface of the
play’s text. Often the subtext is more important than the text itself.
Tragedy—a play written in an elevated, poetic style dealing with events that
depict man as a victim of destiny yet superior to it, both in grandeur and in
misery. In drama a work that presents the downfall of its noble protagonist
through some error in judgment or personal weakness. According to Aristotle’s
definition of tragedy in the Poetics, a tragedy contains elements of the
supernatural, a tragic hero who has a tragic flaw which leads to his downfall,
and catharsis for the audience.
Unity—this term generally means something like “coherence”, “congruence”; in
a unified piece the parts work together and jointly contribute to the whole. Unity
suggests “completeness” or “pattern” resulting from a controlling intelligence.
In the Poetics, Aristotle says that a tragedy should have a unified action, and he
mentions that most tragedies cover a period of twenty-four hours.
Upstage—toward the rear of the stage, away from the audience.
Willing suspension of disbelief—term used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to
describe the audience’s complicity in accepting the stage events they know are
not real as if they were real during the performance. The audience does not
“believe” the stage events are reality, but rather agrees not to “disbelieve” them
to become imaginatively engaged.
Wings—a term for the offstage space on either side of the stage.