1. Chapter Five Stage & School Textbook
Structure of Drama
Chapter Five
Stage & School Textbook

2. Essential Standard B.A.1 Analyze literary texts and performances.
Clarifying Objectives
B.A.1.1 Interpret the plot structure and the thematic, technical, and dramaturgical elements within scenes from plays.
B.A.1.2 Analyze informal or formal theatre productions in terms of the emotions or thoughts they evoke, characters, settings, and events.

3. Vocabulary
Action - that which happens on stage to hold the audience's attention
Antagonist - the person or the force working against the protagonist in a play
Atmosphere - the environment of the play created by staging and lighting
Denouement - an element of the plot that is the solution of a mystery or an explanation of the outcome
Dialogue - the lines of a play spoken by characters
Exposition - the information put before an audience that gives the where, when, why, and who facts of a play
Mood - the emotional feeling of a play

4. Vocabulary continued….
Moral - the lesson or the principle contained within a taught by a play
Plot - the series of related events that take place in a play
Preliminary situation - a clearly defined explanation of the events in the lives of the leading characters before the start of the play's action
Protagonist - the main character in the play
Situation - problem or challenge a character or characters must face
Soliloquy - a speech delivered by an actor alone onstage that reveals the character's innermost thoughts
Theme - the basic idea of a play

5. Key Elements of a Play
Characters - The play must be about someone or something - can be human or non-human.
Diction - Specific words the playwright chooses to use.
Melody - Everything you hear - music, sound effects, silence are all examples of this.
Plot - Show must have a beginning, middle and end. Something needs to happen and a character must be challenged.
Spectacle - All the visuals represented in the play. Represents everything you see: set, costumes, lights, etc.
Thought - What the audience learns - the moral of the play.
Aristotle (Greek philosopher, BC) wrote The Poetics stating the key elements of a successful play.

6. Aristotle’s Philosophy
Action must have unity
Events must occur in logical order with a plausible conclusion
Protagonist must be believable, “average or better” people who experience happiness or misery resulting from reactions to situations
Action in tragedy should purge emotions (of audience) though pity or fear (catharsis)
Play should reveal universal truth

7. Evolution of Aristotle’s Ideas
Aristotle’s theories came to be considered rules
French & neoclassicists (16th C) set up rules requiring 3 unities: time, action, and place
Their rules required a 24-hour period and a single place
The 3 unities became essentials in French classical tragedy
Later playwrights discarded traditional rules

8. Modern Changes to Structure
Many plays are two parts of several scenes with an intermission instead of 3-Act or 5-Act structure
Open stage is increasingly used
Eliminates the principle of aesthetic distance
Removes reminder that a play is a play and not reality

9. Narrative Essentials – Exposition
The literary setting exposed in exposition:
what kind of play is being presented
where and when it takes place
who the leading characters are
what situations and conflicts take place
Problem: exposition is necessary but information without action is uninteresting
Effective exposition: brief and unobtrusive; gives information in a subtle way

10. Methods of Exposition
Time and place printed in program and assumed at the beginning
A character states the facts, then what follows reveals information that the audience needs in order to understand the play action

11. Atmosphere and Mood Established in the exposition
Atmosphere largely created by staging and lighting
Added to with various tempos of speech and movement, and choice of language
Atmosphere brings out feelings that create the mood of the play
Mood established by characters, setting, lighting, dialogue
Audience should be able to identify mood at the start of the play. (Playwright’s job)
Mood is subject to change or reversal as play progresses.

12. Essentials of Exposition
Preliminary Situation (Antecedent Action): the most important part of the exposition
Events that occur before the action of the play begins; therefore, the basis for the play
Techniques for exposition PS:
Minor characters bring audience up to date
Prologues
Telephone conversations
Narrators
Ingenious scenic effects

13. PLOT Events that take place Problem faces protagonist
Conflict between protagonist & antagonist
Conflicting elements give rise to suspense
Conflict is resolved in some manner
Plot unfolds in several stages

14. Stages in Plot Structure
How the Plot Develops
Preliminary Situation
Explanation of events that occurred before action of play begins.
Initial Incident
First important event from which the rest of the plot develops. Makes the audience wonder what will happen next.
Rising Action
All or nearly all important characters introduced; goals and obstacles facing protagonist revealed; series of situations develop from conflict.
Lifts the level of interest in the audience.
Climax
Turning point of action; moment of intense crisis. Determines the outcome of the conflict.
Falling Action
Shorter than the rising action; incidents must be significant.
Conclusion
Logical outcome of preceding action: success, failure, happiness, sorrow of characters

15. Another term for resolution is
Another term for resolution is. denouement – French term for “untying the knot”. It addresses the untangling of complications.

16. Georges Polti: The 36 Dramatic Situations
Supplication
Deliverance
Crime pursued by vengeance
Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
Pursuit
Disaster
Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune
Revolt
Daring enterprise
Abduction
The enigma
Obtaining
Loss of loved ones

17. The 36 Dramatic Situations – continued
Enmity of kinsmen
Rivalry of kinsmen
Murderous adultery
Madness
Fatal imprudence
Involuntary crimes of love
Slaying of unrecognized kinsman
Self-sacrificing for an ideal
Self-sacrifice for kindred
All sacrificed for passion
Necessity of sacrificing loved ones
Rivalry of superior and inferior
Adultery
Crimes of love
Discovery of loved one’s dishonor
Obstacles to love
An enemy loved
Ambition
Conflict with a god
Mistaken jealousy
Erroneous judgment
Remorse
Recovery of lost one

18. Characters
Characters in a play should be people who can hold the audience’s interest throughout the play.
In a well-written play, even minor characters are interesting and unique
Some plays (esp. 20th C), have group protagonists
Our Town
Must be vivid and varied in personality
Traits made evident through speech and action, and what others say about them

19. Character continued……
Actions must suit positions in life and past experience
Dialogue reflects:
Character’s time
Social class
Community
Experience
Character actions/speech must move plot forward
Cannot speak aimlessly like do in real life

20. Character Actions
Clever lines *Witty dialogue can hurt a play if not in harmony with overall aim of the playwright*
Soliloquies: speeches when actors talk alone
Vital part of drama until realistic plays became popular
Most important phase of characterization is understanding character motivation
Action/speech must have a reason behind it

21. Questions Playwrights Must Ask
What does the character want or need?
Who or what stands in the way of the character’s needs or wants?
What conditions affect the character’s thoughts, words, and actions?
Why does the character say or do certain things?

22. Theme The basic idea of the play
Dramatized through conflicts of characters
Often left to interpretation
Do not mistake a minor truth for the main theme
Theme is the specific idea that gives unity and purpose to everything that happens
Title of play
Key Line

23. Moral Moral is a lesson or a principle contained within a play
Although some plays make moral statements, many plays have no particular moral

24. Review Questions to Answer
Name and define the four narrative essentials of a play.
How are the essentials communicated by a playwright?
Who first expressed the principles of traditional drama? What did he identify as key elements of a play?
How does modern drama differ from traditional drama?

25. Review Questions to Answer
What are the narrative essentials of a written play?
What influence has Aristotle had on drama?
How does modern drama differ from traditional drama?
What does the exposition of a play reveal?
How is a plot divided into parts?
How do playwrights create characters?
What is the theme of a play?
How do playwrights use dialogue, action, and situation?

26. Review Questions to Answer
What are the five major parts of plot structure that follow the preliminary situation?
How does theme differ from moral?
Describe three methods of characterization playwrights use.
Identify the four narrative essentials present in a movie or a play. Discuss how the playwright presents each.
Describe how theme is conveyed in a play or a movie.