DRAMA-> mirrors life onstage-> provides readers and viewers fresh insights into human behavior

AS IT DEALS WITH…

•MOTIVES• PROBLEMS• PASSIONS• PYSCHOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS IN LIFE

CHARACTERS ARE REPRESENTED BY STAGE PERFORMERS WHO ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE IN AN INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE.

DRAMA• Is a literary work written to be performed onstage and intended to create an illusion of reality•2 MAIN ELEMENTS:–DIALOG–ACTION

DIALOG AND ACTION build up:

Chorus (Greek)SoliloquySymbolsMasksOrchestra, etc.

DRAMA: Etymology

DRAN (Greek) = ‘to do, to act, or to perform’Originally an ART FORM but is now considered as a LITERARY GENRE.

DRAMA: BasisMIMESIS- the imitation of life which centers on either a physical or spiritual kind of conflict.

A HISTORY OF DRAMADrama began in

ancient Greece dating back to 543 B.C.

It started as choral performances of

dancing and singing honoring the Greek god, Dionysus, the

god of wine.

The history of drama

GREEK DRAMA-part of religious and agricultural

festivals-thank and praise the gods

Eugene O’Neill

First American dramatist who made a distinctive trend out of Naturalism

The Emperor Jones (1920)

Anna Christie (1921)

The Hairy Ape (1922)

Naturalist School Playwrights

New realism and Symbolism Playwrights

Types of Drama or Play

Major Types:1. Comedy designed to be

entertaining and humorous where misfortune ends in triumph or happiness.

2. Tragedy serious drama where the protagonists begin happily and end in misery and failure

Subtypes of Comedya)HIGH COMEDY- an intellectual

comedy that relies on wit or with clever use of language (such as the use of epigrams) employing sarcasm and irony as sources of humor.

b)LOW COMEDY- relies on jokes, slapstick behavior, gags, ridicule, and humiliation as sources of humor.

c) SATIRIC COMEDY- portrays human weakness or folly as being ridiculed from the viewpoint of what seems to be enlightened or superior position.

Subtypes of Tragedya)Classical Tragedy-the tragedies

of Ancient Greece and Rome and the later tragedies after them.

b) Modern Tragedy- is a serious play in which the protagonist is an ordinary person and the events are also ordinary.

Other types of DRAMA

a. Tragicomedyb. Theater of the absurdc. Farced. Melodramae. Masquef. Pantomimeg. Feminist Character

Elements of the Drama

1) Dialog- chief tool 2) Character- lead characters:

protagonist & antagonist3) Plot or dramatic structure4) Theme5) Setting

TIPS ON HOW TO READ A PLAY1) Using the mind’s eye or visualizing the

stage production2) Empathizing with the protagonist3) Identifying the conflict4) Recognizing situations with the use of

colors, lights, costumes, sounds, music, etc.

5) Understanding basic dramatic structure

6) Judging artistic value