Elements of Drama

Elements of Drama

Play

Drama

Performance

Theater

Used in English since 893, spiking after Hamlet

Latin and Greek in origin, but not used until 18th century; rel. to melodrama

Not in use until late 16th century

Earliest known use in English 14th century

1. A literary work written for performance on the stage; a drama. The performance of such a work.

2. Activity engaged in for enjoyment or recreation.

3. Fun or jesting: It was all done in play.

OED: A literary composition in the form of dialogue, adapted for performance on the stage with appropriate action, costume, and scenery, in imitation of real events; a dramatic piece, a drama. (ca. 1440)

From drân = "do, act"

1. A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action.

2. Theatrical plays of a particular kind or period: Elizabethan drama.

3. The art or practice of writing or producing dramatic works.

1. The act of performing or the state of being performed.

2. The act or style of performing a work or role before an audience.

3. The way in which someone or something functions: The pilot rated the airplane's performance in high winds.

4. A presentation, especially a theatrical one, before an audience.

5. Something performed; an accomplishment.

6. Linguistics. One's actual use of language in actual situations.

Greek theatron = "seeing place"

1. A building, room, or outdoor structure for the presentation of plays, films, or other dramatic performances.

2. A room with tiers of seats used for lectures or demonstrations: an operating theater at a medical school.

3. a) Dramatic literature or its performance; drama. b) The milieu of actors and playwrights.

4. A large geographic area in which military operations are coordinated: the European theater during World War II.

Epochs of Modern Theater

1780-1860s	Romantic Drama	Remote, fantastical, and historical themes and plots; emphasis on the exploits of a larger-than-life hero; grandiose settings and stadium-like theaters (seating 3,000-4,000 spectators)	Shelley, Goethe, Hugo
1870s-1900	Naturalist Drama	Contemporary, social, and intimate themes and plots; emphasis on the struggles of ordinary humans; detailed and "life-like" scenery that erects a "fourth wall" between the actors and the stage	Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann
1890s-1920s	Symbolist theater	Mythical, abstract, and other-worldly themes and plots; emphasis on iconographic figures; intimate playhouses	Wilde, Strindberg
1920s-1950s	Theater of the Absurd	Existential, revolutionary, and philosophically-political themes and plots; emphasis on iconographic figures who seem ordinary; experimentation with stage and space (inspired in part by Artaud and Brecht)	Beckett, Sartre, Genet, Pirandello

Theater as Ritual (Religion)

Ancient Greece: Dionysian Festivals

East: Noh theater, Balinese dance
Western Culture: liturgical drama (mystery plays), stations of the cross, mass
Turner, Victor W. From Ritual to Theatre: the Human Seriousness of Play. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982. Print.

Vocabulary:

dramatic irony: when the audience shares a secret w/the characters that other characters don't know

Well-made Play: a drama in which a secret is unraveled

Nielsen / ENLT 375 Aristotle, Poetics ; Trans. S. H. Butcher. Classics at MIT. Jan. 2000. Web. Jan. 2005. <http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html>

Originally written ca. 350 B.C.E

Question: Imagining the opposites of the following, define anti-Aristotelian theater . . .

1. Tragedy endeavors, as far as possible, to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun, or but slightly to exceed this limit, whereas the Epic action has no limits of time.

2. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse. Dramatic action, therefore, is not with a view to the representation of character: character comes in as subsidiary to the actions. Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of a tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all. Again, without action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be without character. The tragedies of most of our modern poets fail in the rendering of character; and of poets in general this is often true.

3. Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

4. Fear and pity may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the inner structure of the piece, which is the better way, and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes Place. This is the impression we should receive from hearing the story of the Oedipus. But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle is a less artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it. And since the pleasure which the poet should afford is that which comes from pity and fear through imitation, it is evident that this quality must be impressed upon the incidents.

5. In respect of Character there are four things to be aimed at. First, and most important, it must be good. Now any speech or action that manifests moral purpose of any kind will be expressive of character: the character will be good if the purpose is good. This rule is relative to each class. Even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. The second thing to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valor; but valor in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate. Thirdly, character must be true to life: for this is a distinct thing from goodness and propriety, as here described. The fourth point is consistency: for though the subject of the imitation, who suggested the type, be inconsistent, still he must be consistently inconsistent.

Nielsen, Wendy C. "Elements of Drama." Wendy C. Nielsen Home Page. Oct. 2012. Date accessed.