Lesson 5: Elements of Drama and Classification of Drama

Introduction

Drama is the act of portraying a story in front of an audience. It involves

the characters and events of the story being brought to life on a stage by
actors and their interactions (verbal and non-verbal) through its events.
Of various forms of drama, plays are the most popular. Some other
formats are dance performances, radio shows, puppet shows, etc. The
history of drama goes back to Aristotle and his treatise ‘Poetics’ which
gives a critical analysis of Sophocles’ Greek play, ‘Oedipus Rex’.
Plays aim to show through action and dialogues what the written text of
the story delineates. It has a written blueprint called the script which has
all the information regarding the characters, their dialogues, and the
stage setting like mise-en-scene, etc.
The various characteristics of drama are:
Themes in Drama
It represents the basic idea of the text. It can be as direct as the title of
the drama to very obscure and needs careful thought and analysis. The
action and its plot make the audiences immerse in the drama and try to
extract the theme behind it.
Plot in Drama
The sequence of events or actions in a play is called its plot. It represents
what happens in the drama. The clarity and coherence of the plot is
essential to give the drama a logical and undisturbed flow.
The various characters follow a pattern of interactions and movements
through various stages of the plot. These stages are initial disturbance or
conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and finally the resolution of
the conflict.
Characterization in Drama
How the characters are portrayed and developed is known as
characterization. The characters act out the story in front of the audience.
They are the agents of movement and progression in a drama.
They are responsible for perusing and traversing the plotlines. A character
has its distinctive appearance, beliefs, thoughts, flaws, personality, age,
and dialogues. Actors in the play have the responsibility of bringing the
characters to life.
The various characters in any drama are the protagonist (represents the
theme), the antagonist (the villain of the drama), anti-hero (the object of
sympathy), etc.
Characters may include the narrator who introduces other characters and
informs about the various interactions and happenings in the drama.
Setting, Spectacle, and Descriptions
The setting represents when and where the drama unfolds. It can have
multiple places or be confined to a single space. The historical and social
context, time period, and the location of the story is set are all included in
the design of the setting of any drama.
Example: Merchant of Venice is set in 16th century Venice. Spectacle
involves the complete range of aspects of dramatic production from the
setting, make-up, costumes to special effects.
The visual elements add more information for the audience to register
and help create a unique world or atmosphere and bring to life the
playwright’s ideas. The direction is an essential constituent of effective
stagecraft.
Stage directions are provided to the actors to follow and ensure unity of
movement on stage. The organization of props and lighting is also crucial
in any performance.
Descriptions provide a wealth of information about various things from
the setting and its elements, characters, and their thoughts, plot and its
web of action, etc. The coherence of details is important to keep the
audience engaged and richness is important to keep them entertained.
Language in Drama
The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the
actors of the language. The dialogues are the lines that the characters
speak and often represent their feelings and emotions.
Language and dialogues delivered by the characters move the plot and
action along, provides exposition, and defines the distinct characters.
Each playwright can create their own specific style in relationship to
language choices they use in establishing character and dialogue.
Monologues and soliloquies help are speeches that incorporate
information difficult to be extracted through dialogues. Example: “To be,
or not to be“, a soliloquy from Hamlet.
Music in Drama
It provides cadence to the dialogues and adds an element to the
theatrical presentation. Though not indispensable in a drama, music
provides sounds to the action in the drama.
It creates patterns and rhythm of those patterns. It is used to enhance the
experience of the audience and provide heightened sensorial stimulation
for the audience.
It also adds more power to the ideas presented in the play like tragedy,
heroism, optimism, loss, etc. Even the thoughts and desires of the
characters are depicted through various musical elements and
compositions.
The right kind of sound effects or music greatly supplements the ebb and
flow of emotions in the play.

Elements of Drama
Formal Elements of Drama
The elements of fiction discussed in Module 2 — plot, character, setting, conflict,
and theme — can be applied to drama. An additional concept to consider relating to the
plot of a play is the common convention of the play beginning in the middle of the action.
The Greeks referred to this convention as in media's res — literally ‘in the midst of
things.’ A literary advantage for drama beginning in media res is that without an
exposition, the dramatic tension and conflict are presented immediately to the audience,
which is more conducive to live performance.
An act is a major division in the action of the play, often used to demarcate key parts of the
plot. Plays may have only one or as many as five or more acts. A scene is a smaller unit
within an act, often signalled by the entrance or exit of a character or change in the setting
or focus of the action.
When analyzing character, the terms dialogue, monologue, and soliloquy take on increased
importance. Conversation between two or more characters is referred to
as dialogue (usually the majority of speech in plays consists of dialogue). A monologue is
when one character delivers a speech to convey his or her thoughts, although other
characters may remain on stage in the scene. Similar to a monologue, a soliloquy is a speech
made by one character but delivered when he or she is alone on stage. Knowing the root
words of each term can help clarify the distinction. Monologue comes from the Greek words
mono (single) and legein (to speak); soliloquy comes from the Latin words solidus (alone)
and Coqui (to speak).
Clearly, the setting of a play takes on extra importance as readers can pay close attention to
the staging, costuming, and other directorial notes included in the text of the play. For
example, the content of one scene can be set in an incongruous location or a character
might be wearing a costume that contradicts the actions he is performing, thus resulting
in dramatic irony. Understanding the subtleties between what is written as dialogue to be
spoken by the actors and what is written to be gestured or achieved
through lighting, scenery, costumes, props, and other elements of staging are critical for
interpreting the meaning of a given scene. (The professional term for staging a character â
€™s movements and position on the stage is known as blocking .)
As always, attention to the use of figurative language whether presented in dialogue
between characters or in monologue or soliloquy, will end layers of depth and add
compelling specificity to any analysis — and robust consideration of the
historical context including relevant social issues or cultural norms (or resistance to those
norms) represented directly or indirectly in the play will demonstrate a more advanced level
of critical thinking.

Types of Drama in Literature

Comedy: A comedy is a type of drama that is written to be entertaining or
amusing for the audience.
 The television show Seinfeld is considered a comedy. This sitcom
follows the lives of four friends and the humorous situations they
encounter together.
Tragedy: A tragedy is a type of drama that can be described as serious in
nature and often includes a catastrophic ending.
 William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is an example of
a tragedy. In this play, two young children fall in love and feel the need
to hide this from their parents due to their feuding families. However,
their rash thinking leads them to their ultimate deaths.
Farce: A farce is a subcategory of comedy. Theses low comedies include
ridiculous and slapstick comedic situations in order to create humor for the
audience.
 The movie Dumb and Dumber is an example of a farce. This movie
follows the story of two caricatures on a mission to return a briefcase to
a beautiful lady. Throughout the film the two encounter several
ridiculous and crude situations.
Melodrama: While it originally referred to dramas that included accompanying
music, melodramas now refer to plays that include highly emotional situations
in order to play on the feelings of the audience.
 The play Les parents terribles by Jean Cocteau is an example of a
melodrama that involves several layers of over dramatic situations
including cheating and suicide.
Musical Drama: Musical dramas refer to plays in which characters engage in
dialogue but also include scenes in which the passion of the character is so
great he expresses himself in song.
 Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera is a well-known
example of a musical drama that tells the story of obsession.
The Function of Drama
Dramas serve the function of entertainment for the audience. While reading a story is powerful,
watching the story be performed by actors adds a level of realism to the work. In the age of binge
watching, many people enjoy spending leisure time watching dramas specifically in the forms of
movies or television.

Activity 1. Choose the best answer from the given options.

Questions
1.
A serious literary work usually intended for performance before an audience.
A.
Drama
B.
Pun
C.
Allusion

2.
A serious drama, written in prose or verse.
A.
Iambic pentameter
B.
Allusion
C.
Tragedy

3.
An introduction before a literary work
A.
Act
B.
Prologue
C.
Scene

4.
A major division of a play or drama
A.
Scene
B.
Act
C.
Pun

5.
A subdivision of an act in drama
A.
Scene
B.
Aside
C.
Soliloquy

6.
A speech given by a character on stage while he/she is alone.
A.
Dramatic monologue
B.
Aside
C.
Soliloquy

7.
One character addresses another character while onstage, revealing an inner thought or feeling. All
other characters on stage are seemingly unable to hear this.
A.
Aside
B.
Pun
C.
Dramatic monologue

8.
A brief reference, within a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is
expected to know.
A.
Aside
B.
Act
C.
Allusion

9.
Play on multiple meanings of a word or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings.
A.
Prologue
B.
Aside
C.
Pun

10.
Lines that ideally have five unstressed syllables, each followed by a stressed syllable.
A.
Dramatic monologue
B.
Iambic pentameter
C.
Pun

ACTIVITY 2: Choose the best answer from the given options and write the words.

1. What is a narrative?

The storyline or plot of a piece of drama

A character in a play who tells the story

A drama which relies upon words, not physical means, to deliver the story

2
What is non-linear drama?

When actors never stand in a line onstage but are spread out to make it visually interesting

When events are presented in an order that is non-chronological

When there are no lines spoken so the content is all mime and physical work

3
What is a subplot?

A separate story running parallel to the main one

A storyline which isn't good enough

A storyline that doesn't turn out the way you expect it would

4
What's the meaning of action onstage?

The events contained in the drama; what the characters actually do

Mime or physical work

High energy drama, like an action movie

5
What's meant by a scene's content?
A scene which is relaxed and happy

The characters involved in the scene

The issues or themes that the scene explores

6
What is the term for when the tension builds to its highest point in the drama?

Dramatic peak

Climax

Anti-climax

7
What's the purpose of a cliffhanger?

To keep the audience guessing what's going to happen next

A device that attaches large pieces of scenery to the back of the stage

To help the audience understand a character's motivation

8
Which of these techniques might be used to demonstrate 'contrast' effectively?

Hot-seating

Thought-tracking

Cross-cutting

9
What might this image symbolise?
Peace and tranquility

Death and sorrow

Love and romance

10
What is a dramatic convention?

A meeting where people involved in theatre talk about their work

A twist in the plot of the drama

A technique employed regularly in the drama that the audience attach meaning to