English 131

Introduction to Drama

I. Origins of DramaA. Many say drama originated in Greece

over 2,500 years ago as an outgrowth of the worship of the god Dionysus.

B. During Dionysian festivals, a group of 50 citizens of Athens, known as a chorus, would perform hymns of praise to the god. These were known as dithyrambic poetry.

Trivia: Thespis introduced dialogue, spoken lines representing conversation

II. Two main types of Greek drama

A. tragedyB. comedy

III. Aristotle’s classification of drama

1. epic poetry 2. dithyrambic poetry 3. comedy4. tragedy

Aristotle’s Six Elements of Tragedy

I. Plot

A. Components of plot

1. exposition = provides the audience with essential information — who, what, when, where — that it needs to know before it can continue

2. complication = the interjection of some circumstance or event that shakes up the stable situation that has existed before the play’s opening

3. rising action = the period in which the audience’s tension and expectations become tightly intertwined and involved with the characters and the events they experience

A. Components of plot

4. conflict = usually a problem that the characters cannot avoid

5. climax = the moment of greatest tension6. falling action = beginning of the lessening of

tension7. dénouement (resolution) = the “untying of the

knot,” in which the tension built up during the play is released

II. Characterization

A. Protagonist = the primary speakerB. Antagonist = the one who speaks against

himC. Character motivation = why does a

character behave in this manner? What does he/she hope to gain from these actions?

D. Two conventions a playwright might employ in revealing motivation are soliloquy (a speech made by a single character on stage alone) and aside (a brief remark made directly to the audience).

III. Theme = the central idea or ideas that a play discusses

A. Didactic = plays written to instruct the audience in ethical, religious, or political areas

B. Morality play = a sermon on sin and redemption rendered in dramatic terms

C. Problem play = uses the theater as a forum for the serious debate of social issues like industrial pollution or women’s rights

D. Drama of ideas = goes further than simply presenting social problems; it advances a program of reform

E. Social drama = radical social and political programs are openly propagandized

IV. Diction = what we would call a playwrights “style” or the language and vocabulary he/she uses

V. Melody = the rhythm of the language in a play (meter, verse, and so on)

VI. Spectacle = sometimes called mise en scène, or “setting of the scene.” This is the purely visual dimension of a play: the costumes, the props, the set.

Brief History and Description of Dramatic Conventions

Greek Tragedy Trilogy Chorus = a group of singers that comments on the

play, often from the point of view of public opinion of the actions taking place

Prologue = an introductory scene that tells the audience important information about the play’s setting, characters, and events immediately preceding the opening of the drama.

Episode (episodos)= a passage of dialogue between two or more actors or between actors and chorus

Greek Tragedy

Choral ode = the chorus is alone on stage, singing

Éxodos = the final scene of the play

Epilogue = after the main characters leave, this is where the chorus comes back on stage to sum up the play’s meaning

Medieval Drama

Folk drama = plays performed by wandering troupes of actors

Liturgical drama = plays put on by the Roman Catholic church

Mystery Plays = derived from holy scripture Passion plays = focused on the crucifixion of

Christ Miracle plays = dramatized the lives of the saints Morality plays = dramatized sermons with

allegorical characters

Elizabethan Drama

Raised stage = relied very little on set, but heavily on author’s ability to tell the tale

Female parts were played by young boysOriginality, as we use the term, meant little

at the timeDesigned to appeal to a wide audience, not

the elite.

The Comic Genres

Commedia dell’arte = a cast of masked stock characters (the miserly old man, the young wife, the ardent seducer)

Realistic Drama, the Modern Stage, and Beyond

Realism = plays that drop some of the dramatic conventions in an attempt to portray real life more accurately

Expressionism = dreamlike atmospheres Theater of the absurd = depicts a world

without meaning where everything seems ridiculous