Elements of Stage Play/Theater/Drama

The elements of drama/play/theater, by which dramatic works can be analyzed and evaluated, can be
categorized into three major areas:

 Literary Elements
 Technical Elements
 Performance Elements

Aristotle
(384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher whose writings still influence us today. He was the first to
write about the essential elements of drama more than 2,000 years ago. While ideas have changed
slightly over the years, we still discuss Aristotle's list when talking about what makes the best drama.

Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama

Aristotle considered these six things to be essential to good drama:
•Plot: This is what happens in the play. Plot refers to the action; the basic storyline of the play.
•Theme: While plot refers to the action of the play, theme refers to the meaning of the play. Theme is
the main idea or lesson to be learned from the play. In some cases, the theme of a play is obvious;
other times it is quite subtle.
•Characters: Characters are the people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors
in the play. It is the characters who move the action, or plot, of the play forward.
•Dialogue: This refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by the characters in the
play. The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.
•Music/Rhythm: While music is often featured in drama, in this case Aristotle was referring
to the rhythm of the actors' voices as they speak.
•Spectacle: This refers to the visual elements of a play: sets, costumes, special effects, etc. Spectacle
is everything that the audience sees as they watch the play.

The Modern Theater

In the modern theater, this list has changed slightly, although you will notice that many of the
elements remain the same. The list of essential elements in modern theater is as follows:
•Characters •Plot •Theme •Dialogue
•Convention •Genre •Audience

The first four, character, plot, theme and dialogue remain the same, but the following additions are
now also considered essential elements of drama.

•Convention: These are the techniques and methods used by the playwright and director to create
the desired stylistic effect.
•Genre: Genre refers to the type of play. Some examples of different genres include comedy, tragedy,
mystery and historical play.
•Audience: This is the group of people who watch the play. Many playwrights and actors consider the
audience to be the most important element of drama, as all of the effort put in to writing and
producing a play is for the enjoyment of the audience.

Literary Elements

There are six stages in a plot structure.

1. Initial incident: The event that “gets the story going”

2.Preliminary event: Whatever takes place BEFORE the action of the play that is directly related to the
play
3.Rising action: A series of events following the initial incident and leading up to the dramatic climax
4.Climax: The turning point or high point of a story, when events can go either way
5.Falling action: The series of events following the climax
6.Denouement: Another term for the conclusion from the French word for “unraveling”

Other Literary Elements

Exposition: The “who, when, where and what” part of the play

Story organization: beginning, middle, end

Conflict: The internal or external struggle between opposing forces, ideas, or interests that creates
dramatic tension

Suspense: A feeling of uncertainty as to the outcome, used to build interest and excitement
on the part of the audience

Language: In drama, the particular manner of verbal expression, the diction or style of writing, or the
speech or phrasing that suggests a class or profession or type of character

Style: the shaping or design of dramatic material, settings, or costumes in a deliberately non-realistic
manner

Soliloquy: A speech by a single actor who is ALONE on stage

Monologue: A long speech made by one actor (a monologue may be delivered alone or in the
presence of others.)

Technical Elements

•Scenery (set): The theatrical equipment, such as curtains, flats, backdrops, or platforms, used in a
dramatic production to communicate environment

•Costumes: Clothing and accessories worn by actors to portray character and period.

•Props: Short for properties; any article, except costume or scenery, used as part of a dramatic
production; any moveable object that appears on stage during a performance, from a telephone to a
train

Lights: The placement, intensity, and color of lights to help communicate environment, mood, or
feeling

Sound: The effects an audience hears during performance to communicate character, context, or
environment

Makeup: Costumes, wigs, and body paint used to transform an actor into a character.

Performance Elements
Acting: Use of face, body, and voice to portray character

Character motivation: The reason or reasons for a character’s behavior; an incentive or

inducement/influence for further action for a character

Character analysis: In responding to dramatic art, the process of examining how the elements of
drama –literary, technical, and performance –are used

Empathy: The capacity to relate to the feelings of another

Speaking: The mode of expression or delivery of lines

Breath control: Proper use of the lungs and diaphragm muscle for maximum capacity and efficiency of
breath for speaking

Vocal expression: How an actor uses his or her voice to convey character
Inflection: Change in pitch or loudness of the voice.

Projection: How well the voice carries to the audience

Speaking style: The mode of expression or delivery of lines

Diction: Selection and pronunciation of words; clarity of speech.

Other Performance Elements

Nonverbal expression

Gestures: Any movement of the actor’s head, shoulder, arm, hand, leg, or foot to convey meaning

Facial expression: Physical and vocal aspects used by an actor to convey mood, feeling, or personality

Technical Theater Vocabulary

Technical vocabulary is the specialized vocabulary of any field that evolves due to experts' need to
communicate with clarity, precision, relevance, and brevity. It can also mean a word or phrase that is
used primarily in a specific field. We need to know the technical vocabularies for drama and theatre
to understand drama and theater's technicalities, thereby appreciate drama and theatre as one of our
forms of entertainment. This will help you establish their relationship to other words to build a
technical vocabulary network.
Actor/Actress - A male or female person who performs a role in a play, work of theatre, or movie.

Blocking - The planning and working out of the movements of actors on stage.

Character - A personality or role an actor/actress re-creates.

Characterization - The development and portrayal of a personality through thought, action, dialogue,
costuming, and makeup.

Critique - Opinions and comments based on predetermined criteria that may be used for self-
evaluation or the evaluation of the actors or the production itself.

Cue - A signal, either verbal or physical, that indicates something else, such as a line of dialogue or an
entrance, is to happen.

Dramaturge - A person who provides specific in-depth knowledge and literary resources to a director,
producer, theatre company, or even the audience.

Dress rehearsals - The final few rehearsals just prior to opening night in which the show is run with
full technical elements. Full costumes and makeup are worn.

Emotional memory - The technique of calling upon your own memories to understand a character’s
emotions.

Improvisation - spontaneous styles of theatre through which scenes are created without advance
rehearsal or a script.

Proscenium - The view of the stage for the audience; also called a proscenium arch. The archway is in
a sense the frame for stage as defined by the boundaries of the stage beyond which a viewer cannot
see.

Rehearsal - Practice sessions in which the actors and technicians prepare for public performance
through repetition.

Run-through - A rehearsal moving from start to finish without stopping for corrections or notes.

Script - The written text of a play.

Vocal quality - The characteristics of a voice, such as shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, booming, and so
forth.

Technical Theater Vocabulary (Part 2 : Stage Directions)

Stage directions are instructions in the script of a play that tell actors how to enter, where to stand,
when to move, also information about the lighting, scenery, props, and sound effects. Stage directions
give vital information for the action and relationships between people, things and places inside the
play script.
Actor Vocabulary

Positions on stage - different ways of facing the audience

 Full Front
 Full Back
 Profile
 Quarter Up-Left
 Quarter Up-Right
 Quarter Down-Left
 Quarter Down-Right

Stage Area

There are 9 main sections in stage:

They are often in abbreviated form. Here's what they mean:
Areas of the Stage - the stage is divided into nine areas

Proscenium - audience on one side

Stadium - audience on two sides
Thrust - audience on three sides
Arena - audience on all sides

· Upstage - away from the audience (when facing the audience)

· Downstage - towards the audience (when facing the audience)
· Stage Left - the actor's left (when facing the audience)
· Stage Right - the actor's right (when facing the audience)
· Set - the actual furniture, platforms, and flats on stage that help tell the story
· Setting - the imaginary place and time the stage area represents; includes details of the place and
time, such as the year, the time of day, the weather, region, feeling, and atmosphere

· Aside - A speech delivered to the audience supposedly not heard by the characters on stage.
· Backdrop - Scenery hung at the back of the stage.
· Cue - A signal prompting on event in performance, e.g. an actor's speech or entrance lightning or
sound effect.
· Flats - Flat pieces of scenery which can be printed to give the appearance of a building or setting.
· Flies - The space over the stage (out of view of the audience) used to store scenery (drop
curtains).

· Gauze: A material which can be used to see through when lit from behind or appear solid when lit
from the front.
· Iron: A safety curtain separating the stage from the audience in Proscenium Arch theater.
· LX & SFX: LX - Lighting effects and SFX - Sound effects.
· Prompt: A person (offstage) who prompts an actor if they forget their lines.
· Props (properties): Items carried on stage by an actor, small items on the set used by the actors.