What is drama?

1. What is drama? • A literary work written in dialogue to be performed before an audience by actors on a stage. (NTC’s Dictionary Of Literary Terms) • The general term for performances in which actors impersonate the actions and speech of fictional or historical characters (or non-human entities) for the entertainment of an audience, either on a stage or by means of a broadcast. (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms)

2. Does drama always mean to perform? • Closet Drama A literary composition written in the form of a play (usually as a dramatic poem), but intended – or suited – only for reading in a closet (i.e. private study) rather than for stage performance (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms)

3. Characteristics of a Drama • Act and scene • Characters • Dramatic structure

4. Act and Scene • Traditional trend • Start with 5 acts but later favor 3 • An act usually starts when important character/s enter • The scene in an act tells a lot about the whole play and easier to discuss • Individual scene reveals specific problem • Most modern plays are not divided into scenes but can be created when some issues need to be discussed

5. Characters • The people in the play (usually listed in the dramatist personae) • Main character = hero/protagonist (does not mean brave/noble) • Opposing hero = villain/antagonist (evil deeds disrupt the social order) • Sometimes hero can be the villain

6. Dramatic Structure • Basic structure – exposition, complication and resolution • Exposition – prepares the ground to show the changes that take place in the characters’ lives • Complication – develops in the central stage when characters try to come to term with the change • Resolution – order is re-established when characters come to term with the new situation