The Structure of Drama

Readings:

The Stage and the School – Chapter 5, p. 252-267

Excerpt from Aristotle’s “Poetics”

 

The play is the central element of the art of theatre

• It is brought to life by the actors• Expressed through media of color, light,

and movement against a background of the stage and scenery

• Unified by the creative vision of the director

Play’s 4 narrative essentials:

1.Exposition

2.Plot

3.Characters

4.Theme

The way a playwright presents these four narrative essential is the structure of the play

Traditional Drama = Aristotle’s 6 Elements of

Drama

1. Plot

2. Character & Characterization

3. Thought

4. Diction

5. Music/Song

6. Spectacle

Aristotle maintained that the action must have unity:

Complete in itself

Has beginning, middle, and end

Events must occur in logical order

Must reach a plausible conclusion

Protagonist should be “average or better” persons who experience happiness or misery as a result of their reactions to the situations of the plot

ARISTOTLE SAID…..

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) identified the basic principles of playwriting in his work Poetics. These principles were spectacle, or the visible part of a play; sound, or the audible part of a play; diction, or the language used in a play; character, or the person or people in a play; reasoning, or the way speech is used to present all aspects of a play, including the production of emotions; and plot, or the action and events of a play.

• The exposition shows the literary setting for an audience, often subtly answering the why, where, when, and who of the play.

• The exposition ultimately sets the mood, or emotional feeling, of the play, though mood may change throughout the play.

• The plot is what happens during the play. It generally features the development and resolution of a major conflict.

• The characters are the people in the play. When a character speaks, it is called dialogue. Most plays have traditional characters, such as the protagonist, or main character, and the antagonist, or the protagonist's opposition. The theme is the main idea of the play. It can be directly stated or, as is more common, left up to the audience to discover, interpret, and explore. A moral, on the other hand, is a lesson or principle contained within a play or taught by a play. Many plays have no particular moral, but every play has one or more than one theme.

Many of Aristotle's basic principles are found in today's traditional four-part dramatic structure: exposition, plot, characters, and than one theme.

Additional Question for Knowledge:

Which German playwright and director was well known for his rejection of Aristotle's view of theater, producing instead a form of theater that audiences would think about instead of feel a part of?

Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht. Brecht worked in and influenced theater from the

early 1920's until his death in 1956. He vehemently opposed Aristotle's assertions that characters must be

real, believable "people"; that actors must "get inside" of their characters emotionally; and that the audience

must be made to believe that a play's action is happening here and now. Brecht expounded his ideas in a

form of theater called "epic theater," which focuses on the audience's

detachment from the characters and the action of a play. For more on epic theater, see page 290 of The

Stage and the School.

NARRATIVE ESSENTIALS

Exposition

• The information put before an audience that gives the where, when, why, and who facts of a play

• Establishes the atmosphere and the mood of the play

• Atmosphere: environment of the play, created by staging and lights

• Mood: emotional feeling of a play

• Preliminary situation/antecedent action: most important part; clearly defined explanation of events that have occurred in the lives of the leading characters before the action of the play begins

Plot

• Series of related events that take place before the audience

• Protagonist: the main character in a play

• Antagonist: the person or force opposing the protagonist

• Denouement: French for “untying the knot” an element of plot that refers to the untangling and resolution of complications

Stages in Plot Structure• Preliminary situation• Initial incident• Rising action• Climax• Falling

action/Denouement• Conclusion

Characters

– Very little is as interesting as people

– Characters in plays must be vivid and varied in personality

– Dominant traits made evident through their speeches and actions

– Dialogue: lines of the play– Soliloquies: speeches in which

the actors talk alone—think aloud—about themselves and their motives or about other people and situations

Theme

• Basic idea of a play, which the author dramatizes through the conflicts of the characters

• Moral: lesson or principle contained within a play or taught by a play