Introduction to Drama

1. Introduction to Drama

2. The definition of Drama • It is one of the major genres/ types of literature. It has both written form (a script - book) and a living form (the stage presentation) • It is written in dialogue to be performed before an audience by actors on a stage. • Essential to all forms of drama are a story, action that develops the story, and actors who impersonate the characters of the story. • The main kinds of Drama are: Tragedy, Comedy, History, Romantic …. etc

3. The Background of Drama • The Origins of Drama (Greece): • The word drama comes from a Greek word meaning “to act, do or perform”. • Drama has its origins in religious ceremonies (festival); Greek comedy evolved from Dionysian fertility rites; Greek tragedy evolved from rites concerned with life and death.

4. Medieval Drama (5th- 15th): • In the Middle Ages, Drama evolved from rites commemorating the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. • The famous kinds of drama were: Mystery, Miracle and Morality

5. Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (16th - 17th): • Beginning with the Renaissance, drama has continued to develop new forms and styles. For example, early drama was poetic, prose dialogue was introduced in the 16th century. • Many of these plays were written in verse • The famous playwrights are: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Middleton. • Authors of this period drew some of their storylines from Greek mythology and Roman mythology. • The famous kind of their plays is: historical plays that celebrated the lives of past kings 

6. The Elizabethan Theater (16th century): • The theater used to be a group of rooms in a courtyardand the people move from one room to the other in order to watch the play • Then, the theater developed and the play is performed on a stage. It was a square building in a square yard, three tiers of galleries (arranged one behind the other), and a stage in the middle of the yard where the people set or stand to watch the play. • There were no cover over the stage, and the lighting was natural (the play was performed in the morning or in the afternoon). • The role of women was performed by a young man (so there were not actresses) • There was no curtain • There were two doors: 1- in the floor as a trapdoor (as an entrance for the ghosts or as a hell), 2- the other door is an indoor (it is behind the stage where the actors inter and leave the stage).

7. Modern and PostmodernDrama (19th- 20th): • In these centuries, prose has become dominant, due largely to the demands of a rising middle-class audience for more contemporary subjects and themes. • The major themes are: Modern and Realistic. • The famous playwrights are: Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Show

8. However, the basic element of Drama have remained essentially unchanged. • Drama is still, as Aristotle called it, “imitating human action” presented through dialogue for the entertainment and instruction of an audience.

9. The Main Elements of Drama • Characters: they can be human, animal…etc. you must know that in every play there is a hero or protagonist. Also, there are two kinds of characters: 1- around character: whom personality changes during or at the end of the play because of some events. 2- flat character: who never changes. • Theme: every play must have a theme which is a central idea

10. Plot:  the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, how the reader views the story, or simply by coincidence.  • According to Aristotle, the PLOT is the most important element of drama—more important than character, for example. A plot must have, Aristotle says, a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the events of the plot must causally relate to one another as being either necessary or probable

11. The PLOT is divided into five parts. These parts are: exposition (of the situation); rising action (through conflict); climax (or turning point); falling action; and resolution.

12. The Exposition: introduces all of the main characters in the story. It shows how they relate to one another, what their goals and motivations are, and the kind of person they are. Most importantly, in the exposition, the audience gets to know the main character (protagonist), and the protagonist gets to know his or her main goal and what is at stake if he or she fails to attain this goal.

13. Rising action: It starts with the death of the characters or a conflict. Generally, in this phase the protagonist understands his or her goal and begins to work toward it. Smaller problems thwart their initial success, and in this phase their progress is directed primarily against these secondary obstacles. This phase shows us how he or she overcomes these obstacles.

14. Climax: The point of climax is the turning point of the story, where the main character makes the single big decision that defines the outcome of their story and who they are as a person. • The beginning of this phase is marked by the protagonist finally having cleared away the preliminary barriers and being ready to engage with the adversary. Usually, entering this phase, both the protagonist and the antagonist have a plan to win against the other. Now for the first time we see them going against one another in direct, or nearly direct conflict. • This struggle results with neither character completely winning, nor losing, against the other. Usually, each character's plan is partially successful, and partially foiled by their adversary. What is unique about this central struggle between the two characters is that the protagonist makes a decision which shows us one's moral quality, and ultimately determines one's fate. In a tragedy, the protagonist here makes a "bad" decision, which is one's miscalculation and the appearance of one's tragic flaw. • The climax often contains much of the action in a story, for example, a defining battle...

15. Falling action: it is often the time of greatest overall tension in the play, because it is the phase in which everything goes most wrong. • In this phase, the villain has the upper hand. It seems that evil will success. The protagonist has never been further from accomplishing the goal. This is true both in tragedies and comedies, because both of these types of play classically show good winning over evil

16. Resolution: In this final phase, there is a final confrontation between the protagonist and antagonist, where one or the other decisively wins. This phase is the story of that confrontation, of what leads up to it, of why it happens the way it happens, what it means, and what its long-term consequences are.

17. Setting: the time and place of the play and the events • Act and scene: the play is divided into acts and scenes. An act is a division or unit of a drama. The number of acts in a production can range from one to five or more, depending on how a writer structures the outline of the story. The length of time for an act to be performed usually ranges from 30 to 90 minutes, but may be as few as 10

18. Prologue : is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. • Epilogue : is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work. • A Soliloquy: allows a character to speak his thoughts aloud, but not directly to the audience. • An aside: is a convention that lets a character speaks directly to the audience without being overheard by the other characters

19. Stage direction: the information provided in addition to the dialogue to help a reader visualize the setting, character and action. • It usually printed in italics and are intended for the director, actors and other readers of the play. • It ranged from the simple directive “Exit”, found in Shakespeare’s plays, to the elaborate detailing of stage furniture and actor’s stage position of many modern plays.

20. Work Cited • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative) • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_theatre • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama • http://independent.academia.edu/DawnLewcock/Papers/127344/The_Origins_of_Drama_an_Introduction • http://asset3.learnhub.com/lesson/pages/4579/photos/30437-large.jpg • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_(drama) • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologue