What is a Play?

1. What is a Play? Using single words only, write down terminology of what makes up a play. Example: Actors, Stage

2. What is a Play? • It is not a thing, but an event, taking place in real time and occupying real space. • It is a drama (original from the Greek word dran, “something done.”) • It is action, not just the words printed in a book. • A play is “playing” and those who create plays are “players.”

3. What is a Play? There are different genres: tragedy, comedy, satyr, melodrama, farce, musical There are different durations: full-length, five act, three-act, two-act one-act. There are different periods: Greek, Shakespearean, Modern, Contemporary

4. What is a Play? Plays can be analyzed in two ways: • By their order of organization • By their components

5. The Order of a Play A theatrical experience involves an orderly sequence that can be divided into three groupings: Preplay Play proper Postplay

6. The Gathering of the Audience The chief concerns and processes to get the crowd to come see the show. Greek: the playwrights and actors held public meetings days before the play began. Elizabethan (Shakespeare’s Time): flags flew atop the playhouses on performance days.

7. The Gathering of the Audience Modern Theatre: Posters, newspaper ads, press releases, mailings to patrons announce performances. Once gathered, the patrons are seated and ready to see the show.

8. The Transition The theatre must “shift” the audience’s awareness from real life to stage life. • Written program (playbill) gives locale, time of the action, characters, actors - The lobby displays pictures or docs relevant to the play • Music sets a mood • Scenery is on stage (no curtain) • Lights dim

9. The Exposition The background information the audience must have in order to understand what’s going on in the action of the play. • Most plays begin with dialogue or action calculated to ease us into the concerns of the characters. • Greeks and Shakespeare used a prologue (usually a simple speech delivered to the audience.) • Modern plays mostly use minor characters that discuss something that is about to happen.

10. The Conflict The struggle a character(s) faces against opposing forces; this conflict creates the “drama” of the play. • - Conflict may be set up between characters as well as within them; it maybe reducible to one central situation, or evolve out of many. • Conflict will make up the bulk of the play by building tension, step-by-step.

11. The Climax The point in the plot where the conflict reaches its most extreme; it is the moment of maximum tension. • The character has reached a point of recognition and reversal. • Audience reaches catharsis (a cleansing or purification of the pity felt for the character’s conflict.)

12. The Denouement(dey-noo-mah) The resolution in which a final action or speech gives a new harmony or understanding. - Must provide clarity concerning the problems raised by the play, and give some vision or deeper and more permanent understanding.

13. The Curtain Call The last stage element in which the actors break out of their characters and bow as the audience “hopefully” applauds. - Liberates the audience from the world of the play and take them back to real life.

14. Criticism The play enjoys an extended afterlife through published reviews, conversations, scholarly articles, and sometimes formal classroom discussions.

15. The Poetics The first philosophical theatre critic was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) He wrote an essay on the definition of tragedy called The Poetics. Much of his thought process was derived from the tragedy play Oedipus, by Sophocles.

16. Aristotle • Student of Plato • Teacher of Alexander the Great • One of the most influential thinkers of all time

17. Why Do We Care? The reason that we study Aristotle’s perfect tragedy and The Poetics is because all literary tragedies are still compared to and talked about using Aristotle’s ideas. Thus, you will need to know this for any future literary class in both high school and college. Plus Oedipus is pretty cool to study.

18. Aristotle’s Six Ingredients of Theatre • Plot (most important) • Character • Theme • Diction • Music • Spectacle

19. Plot The order of actions that take place on stage (this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens next…) Includes the comings and goings of the characters, the timetable of the events, and the order of revelations, reversals, and discoveries. Think of a murder mystery or an episode of “CSI.” The story pulls you along, step-by-step.

20. Characters The human figures --- or impersonated presences---who undertake the actions of the plot. Character depth is what gives a play its psychological complexity, it sensuality and its warmth. Without it, we cannot experience love, hate, fear, hope, joy, despair. In other words, we live through the characters.

21. Theme A play’s abstracted intellectual content. It may be described as the play’s overall statement: its topic, central idea, or message. What is the play about?

22. Diction The pronunciation of spoken dialogue by the characters. Includes tone, imagery, cadence, articulation Also includes use of literary forms: verse, rhyme, metaphor, apostrophe, jest.

23. Music Rhythmic or melodic sounds in a play. Singing used as a type of diction (dialogue). Musical instruments to enhance tone. Offstage music (band playing outside a window.) Vocal tones, footsteps, sighs, shouts, gunshots, animal cries, and amplified special effects.

24. Spectacle The visual aspects of a play’s production. Scenery Costumes Lighting Makeup Props.

25. The Perfect Tragedy • According to Aristotle, the best example of the perfect tragedy was Oedipus Rex. • As we continue, think of how Oedipus Rex meets each of the following requirements.

26. The Three Unities • According to Aristotle the perfect tragedy should hold to three unities: • Time: ideally, the action should take place in 24 hours • Place – one location – no set changes • Action – one plot – no sub plots • (the mysterious fourth – mood – the entire play should be serious – no comic relief)

27. The Tragic Hero Five Parts • Must be a noble King or Ruler (but the audience should be able to identify with the hero) • Must have atragic flaw: (Hubris: Pride) • Downfall must be caused by his own actions as a result of his tragic flaw • Must have recognition of his own demise • He should die with honor and courage

28. Oh, the Insanity! • If the tragedy is done properly, the audience should be moved to a catharsis: purging of emotions, especially pity and fear • A catharsis should lead to a reinvigorated love of life