DRAMAIts 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

Drama has a two-fold nature: LITERATURE and THEATRE.

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA

SETTING

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.

CHARACTERSCharacters are the people in the play and thus considered as the principal material in a drama.

Character AspectsPhysical 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 AspectsPsychological 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.

PLOTPlot 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 PlotNatural 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.

Framework of a Plot

BeginningMiddle

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 self-discovered.

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.

THEMETheme 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.

STYLEStyle refers to the mode of expression or presentation of the play which points out the playwright’s position or viewpoint in

life.

Major Dramatic AttitudeRealism 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 day-to-day conversation.

• Non-realism is method of presentation identified as something stylized or theatricalized whereby artist uses his feral imagination in projecting his ideas.

GENRES OF DRAMA

TRAGEDYTragedy 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.

COMEDYComedy 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.

TRAGICOMEDYTragicomedy 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.

FARCEFarce 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.

MELODRAMAMelodrama 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.

Structural Elements

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

ASSIGNMENTDevelop 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.