Introducing Drama

1. IntroducingDrama Academic Writing II – Narrative, Poetry and Drama

2. Partner activity • Charades • One person chooses a person, place or thing • Without words, the person has to act out what he/she choose • When you are guessing, ask: • Is it a person, place or thing • How many words is it? • Can you describe the first word? • Dialogue Activity: • I will show you a 1 minute clip of a movie, with no sound. • You need to create the dialogue for the clip. You will perform your dialogue in front of the class. Warm up Activities:

3. Group One: Albee, Eunice, Melinda, Mindy • Group Two: Violete, Wanda, Cassie, Emma, John • Group Three: Crystal, Anna, Vanessa, Phoebe, Sophia • Group Four: Jessica, George, Kimi, Sally, Vicky, • Group Five: Jenny, Brigitte, Richard, Fergus • Group Six: Rose, Sharon, Steffi, Michelle, Dean • Starting week 14, for our final dramas, we will be in room 304. *If you would like to perform your drama outside of the classroom, you must clear this with me ahead of time. You can send me an email or ask me after class. Class Two: Groups for the Play

4. Group One: Candy, Ming Doraemon, Carol, Sylvia Group Two: Wall, Evelyn, Amy, Iris, Andy Group Three: Alex, Theory, Lee, Emma, Dorita Group Four: Legolas, John, Anne, Wendy, May Group Five: Angel, Jessie, Jimmy, Vivid, Jack Group Six: Eagle, Leo, Ruby, Sunny, Joy • Starting week 14, for our final dramas, we will be in room 304. *If you would like to perform your drama outside of the classroom, you must clear this with me ahead of time. You can send me an email or ask me after class. Class One :Groups for the Play

5. According to Aristotle the purpose of Drama is to generate catharsisin the audience. • Catharsis refers to the process of creating strong emotions through artistic activities such as plays, music, or literature as a way of providing relief from anger, suffering or other strong emotional experiences. • Drama refers to the imitation by one or more actors of one or more events. • Drama can also refer to a genre of literature (poetic, narrative, drama) that is serious without necessarily being tragic. • “The Godfather is a popular drama in America.” Defining Drama

6. Some essential elements of drama are: • Character – plays revolve around a character or characters. • Plot – like narrative, dramas tell a story. Telling a story revolves around conflict. • Theme – some plays have an obvious theme; some have a hidden theme. • Dialogue – usually the key component of most dramas, dialogue progresses the plot. • Convention – refers to the parts of drama that are unrealistic but the audience accepts anyways. • Genre – refers to the style or type of play (comedy, tragedy, melodrama, farce, etc.). • Audience – a key consideration of playwrights, they usually create a given play based on an expected/intended audience • Music – music can play a key part in bringing forth emotion, but it should be relevant to the audience. • Visual element – props, costumes, make up – all of these can create visual elements that increase or improve dramatic presence. • Symbols – symbolism can often be used to convey greater depth of meaning through allusion. • *Choreography – refers to the rehearsed and developed patterns of movement, usually in terms of dance, but can also refer to fight choreography, or choreography of actions and words together. Essential Elements of Drama

7. Aside • Refers to any brief comment spoken directly to the audience but which other characters do not hear. • Dialogue • Any conversation between dramatic characters. In drama, the character name precedes their lines. • Monologue • A speech made by one character without any other character responding. • Soliloquy • A speech made by one character that is not intended to be heard by other characters; in effect, a monologue. • With no other characters present, the soliloquy represents the characters thoughts. Dramatic Terms – Speaking Conventions

8. Fool • The fool character is often introduced to provide unconventional wisdom to the main character in the play. • Narrator • The voice of the implied author of a fictional work rather than the actual author. • In drama, the narrator might give a voice over to explain events throughout the play (change of time, place, or introduce ironic elements to the audience). • Protagonist • The main character of a fictional work; often associated with the term “hero/heroine.” • Tragic Hero • A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering. Dramatic Terms – Character Conventions

9. Antagonist • The character or force that opposes the protagonist. Does not have to be evil. • E.g. Jacob vs. Edward in Twilight. • Comic Butt • Refers to the character who is the “butt” of the joke; often a foolish or exaggerated character introduced to make people laugh or provide a source of mockery. • Foil • Any character that contrasts and parallels the main character in the play. Dramatic Terms – Character Conventions

10. Principle Characters Stock Characters: stereotyped characters Black Knight Buffoon Canon Fodder Competent Person Confidant Contender Damsel in Distress Dork Everyman Family Guy Feral Child Femme Fatale Fop Free Spirit Grande Dame Handmaiden Hawksian Woman • Antagonist • Anti-hero • Boy/Girl Next-door • False Protagonist • Hero • Noble Savage • Reluctant Hero • Silent Protagonist • Swashbuckler • Tragic Hero Dramatic Terms – Character Conventions

11. Stock Characters Stock Characters Scene Stealer Sidekick Soubrette Southern Belle Super-soldier Token Tomboy Tormented Soul Town Bully Town Drunk Tragic Mulatto Tricky Slave Unseen Character Whiskey Priest Whiz Kid Yokel • Henchman • Hotshot • Ingenue • Jungle Boy / Girl • Killbot • Knight-errant • Know-it-all • LoathyLady • Lovers • Magical Negro • Miles Gloriosus • Military Man • Miser • Nerd • Sleuth • Redshirt • Romantic Interest • Sacrificial Lamb Dramatic Terms – Character Conventions

12. Comic Relief • The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments. • In some cases, a character can be referred to as the “comic relief” for always inserting humorous or witty commentary in tense moments. • Complication • An intensification of the conflict in a story or play. • Exposition • The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background information is provided. • Tragic Flaw or Hamartia (hah-mahr-tee-uh) • Hamartia means any quality in excess – perhaps even a virtue – that brings about the fall of the protagonist. • Hubris (hyoo-bris) • Hubris refers to the excessive pride, arrogance, of a character that brings about their downfall. The character believes they are beyond the power of the fates, or God and controls their own destiny. • E.g. Oedipus, Macbeth, Lear Dramatic Terms – Plot Conventions

13. There are two principle forms of Drama • Comedy • Comedy typically aims at entertaining the audience and making it laugh by reassuring them that no disaster will occur and that the outcome of possible conflicts will be positive for the characters involved • The purpose of comedy is to make us laugh and at the same time, help to illuminate human nature and human weaknesses. • Conventionally comedies have a happy ending. • Sub-genres of Comedy include: • Romantic Comedy (RomCom) • Satiric • Comedy of Manners • Farce • Comedy of Humours • Melodrama Comedy and tragedy Drama Terms – Genre Conventions

14. Romantic Comedy (RomCom) • A pair of lovers and their struggle to come together is usually at the centre of this type of comedy. • Satiric • This type of comedy has a critical purpose. It usually attacks philosophical notions or political practices as well as general deviations from social norms by ridiculing characters. In other words: The aim is not to make people ‘laugh with’ the characters but ‘laugh at’ them. • Comedy of Manners • The comedy of manners is also satirical in its outlook and it takes the artificial and sophisticated behaviour of the higher social classes under closer scrutiny. The plot usually revolves around love or some sort of amorous intrigue and the language is marked by witty repartees and cynicism. Drama Terms – Genre Conventions

15. Farce • The farce typically provokes viewers to hearty laughter. It presents highly exaggerated types of characters and often has an unlikely plot. Farces employ sexual mix-ups, verbal humour and physical comedy. • Comedy of Humours • characters are marked by one of these predispositions which cause their eccentricity or distorted personality. • blood = sanguine (cheerful and confident; optimistic) • phlegm = phlegmatic(not easily made angry or upset; easy going) • yellow bile = choleric (easily annoyed or made angry) • black bile = melancholic (sad, unhappy; depressed) • Melodrama • Melodrama mixes romantic or sensational plots with musical elements. Melodrama aims at a violent appeal to audience emotions and usually has a happy ending. Drama Terms – Genre Conventions

16. Tragedy is the second main form of drama. • Tragedy tries to raise the audience’s concern, to confront viewers with serious action and conflicts, which typically end in a catastrophe (usually involving the death of the protagonist and possibly others). • Aristotle's definition of tragedy: • A tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of an action that is serious and complete, with incidents arousing pity and fear where with it effects an emotional outpouring of such emotions. The chief characters are noble personages ("better than ourselves," says Aristotle) and the actions they perform are noble actions. • Like Comedy, Tragedy has sub-genres: • Revenge Tragedy/Tragedy of Blood • Bourgeois Tragedy • Tragicomedy Drama Terms – Genre Conventions

17. Revenge Tragedy/Tragedy of Blood • This type of tragedy makes extensive use of certain elements such as murder, revenge, mutilations and ghosts.  • Bourgeois Tragedy • Focus to protagonists from the middle or lower classes. The protagonist typically suffers a domestic disaster which is intended to arouse empathy rather than pity and fear in the audience.  • Tragicomedy • The boundaries of genres are often blurred in drama and occasionally they lead to the emergence of new sub-genres, e.g., the tragicomedy. • Plays with multiple plots which combine tragedy in one plot and comedy in the other are also occasionally referred to as tragicomedies. Drama Terms – Genre Conventions

18. Get with your group to develop your play! • Think about the following: • What genre will it fall into? • Sub-genre? • How many characters will it have? • What kind of characters will it have? • What is the plot? • Theme? • Music? • Visual Elements? • Props, Scenery, costumes? • Choreography • How much room do you have? How much room will you need? For the Rest of Class …