INTRODUCTION TO DRAMABasic Expectations of the drama genre

A drama is a play that is meant to be seen and it’s dramatic. Like a film, a play’s appearance or what it looks like on stage is important. A good play will show conflict, tension and drama. The entrances and exits are important. They add visual excitement and change – the

audience can see them running in or out and it makes a big difference. The beginning and end of an act are dramatic moments. The characters’ language shows their social attitude. The setting shows the social status of the characters

There are five important elements to a good drama1. PLOTThe plot refers to a sequence of events that are planned with acts and scenes which move from the beginning through to the end of a play. A plot in a play is arranged in time, so one of the things which encourage us to continue reading is to see what happens next. It deals with causality that is how one event or incident causes another. There are five parts to a plot.

EXPOSITION The beginning of the story where the setting, characters and events are introduced

RISING ACTION Problems and conflicts are revealed and the characters have to face all these challenges

CLIMAX The highest point of crisis in the story which makes or breaks the characters

FALLING ACTION Resolutions to conflictsRESOLUTION The ending where conflicts are resolved and if the

ending is a sad one it can be called a catastrophe

2. CHARACTERSThe characters refer to the people in the play. The most important character is called the main character or the protagonist who is usually the hero in the play. The character that is in conflict with the other character is the antagonist and is usually the villain in the play. The other characters are called the minor characters and they have very few lines or few stage appearances. In a play, characters must fully assume the role they are playing to closely resemble real life to make the action more convincing. The dialogues will make the characters have interactions with each other and the monologues will reveal a character’s deepest thoughts and feelings to the audience.

3. SETTINGThe setting provides the background to the play. It refers to the place and time where a particular event takes place and this will be shown in the change of scene for each new background introduced. The setting will also reveal the social status of the characters.

4. THEMEThe theme refers to a unifying idea, image or motif, repeated or developed throughout the play. It represents the message or perspective on life the playwright wishes to share with the audience. The theme may be implied or explicitly conveyed by the dialogue and actions of the characters on stage. A moral value can also be learnt from the theme.

5. NARRATORA narrator tells or relates the story in the play. He will be relating and explaining situations and events. His task is to fill in the gaps or tie the loose ends of the story in the play together.

DRAMA: RUMPELSTILTSKIN –retold by Angela LanyonA Melodrama:Rumpelstiltskin is a play which falls into the dramatic genre of a melodrama.A melodrama is a play where the characters behave in an extreme emotional way, with the bad characters being very bad and the good characters being very good. Here the antagonist or villain is Rumpelstiltskin who is cunning and manipulative. The protagonist is poor innocent young Lisa who is a victim of her father’s boastfulness. In a melodrama, the good will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. There is a clear distinction between good and evil

SYNOPSISThe play is about how a young and innocent girl has to spin straw into gold for a greedy King when her parents foolishly boast of her cleverness in a bid to attract the King’s attention. The King is cruel and inhuman. He will cut off her head if she fails in her task. A strange little man climbs the wall of the tower into her room and offers to help her in exchange for her pretty necklace and ring in the first two occasions. She has nothing to offer him the third time but he is willing to help her spin the straw into gold if she promises to give him her first-born son in exchange for his help. In her desperation, she readily promises him. The king is very pleased with all the gold she has spun for him and marries her. A year later, the little man comes to claim his prize but the queen refuses to part with her baby. The little man feels sorry for her and asks her to solve a riddle of guessing his name in three days. With the help of her parents who secretly follow the little man into the woods and learnt of his name, Lisa is able to solve the riddle and keeps her child.