Introduction to Drama

من طرف **Admin** الخميس نوفمبر 04, 2010 8:55 am

Drama

Text and Theatre

When one deals with dramatic texts one has to bear in mind that drama differs considerably from poetry or narrative in that it is usually written for the purpose of being performed on stage. Although plays exist which were mainly written for a reading audience, dramatic texts are generally meant to be transformed into another mode of presentation or medium: the theatre.

For this reason, dramatic texts even look differently compared to poetic or narrative texts. One distinguishes between the primary text, i.e., the main body of the play spoken by the characters, and secondary text, i.e., all the text ‘surrounding’ or accompanying the main text: title, dramatis personae, scene descriptions, stage directions for acting and speaking, etc.

Depending on whether one reads a play or watches it on stage, one has different kinds of access to dramatic texts. As a reader, one receives first-hand written information (if it is mentioned in the secondary text) on what the characters look like, how they act and react in certain situations, how they speak, what sort of setting forms the background to a scene, etc. However, one also has to make a cognitive effort to imagine all these features and interpret them for oneself. Stage performances, on the other hand, are more or less ready-made instantiations of all these details. In other words: At the theatre one is presented with a version of the play which has already been interpreted by the director, actors, costume designers, make-up artists and all the other members of theatre staff, who bring the play to life. The difference, then, lies in divergent forms of perception. While we can actually see and hear actors play certain characters on stage, we first decipher a text about them when reading a play script and then at best ‘see’ them in our mind’s eye and ‘hear’ their imaginary voices. Put another way, stage performances offer a multi-sensory access to plays and they can make use of multimedia elements such as music, sound effects, lighting, stage props, etc., while reading is limited to the visual perception and thus draws upon one primary medium: the play as text. This needs to be kept in mind in discussions of dramatic texts, and the following introduction to the analysis of drama is largely based on the idea that plays are first and foremost written for the stage.

Information Flow

Since in drama there is usually no narrator who tells us what is going on in the story-world (except for narrator figures in the epic theatre and other mediators), the audience has to gain information directly from what can be seen and heard on stage. As far as the communication model for literary texts is concerned (see the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] in Basic Concepts), it can be adapted for communication in drama as follows:

Real author

Play

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author of sec. text

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Story-world
Character [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة] Character

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reader of secondary text

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Code / Message

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Real spectator

In comparison with narrative texts, the plane of narrator/narratee is left out, except for plays which deliberately employ narrative elements. Information can be conveyed both linguistically in the characters’ speech, for example, or non-linguistically as in stage props, costumes, the stage set, etc. Questions that arise in this context are: How much information is given, how is it conveyed and whose perspective is adopted?

Amount and Detail of Information

The question concerning the amount or detail of information given in a play is particularly important at the beginning of plays where the audience expects to learn something about the problem or conflict of the story, the main characters and also the time and place of the scene. In other words, the audience is informed about the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ of the story at the beginning of plays. This is called the exposition. Consider the first act of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The audience learns about where the play takes place (Athens and a nearby forest) and it is introduced to all the characters in the play. Moreover, we realise what the main conflicts are that will propel the plot (love triangle and unrequited love for Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius). Different variations of love immediately become obvious as the prominent topic in this play. Thus, we are confronted with Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s mature relationship, young love in Lysander and Hermia, and love sickness and jealousy in Helena. The audience learns about Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s approaching wedding and the workmen’s plan to rehearse a play for this occasion, about Lysander’s and Hermia’s plan to elope and Helena’s attempt to thwart their plan. Generally speaking, the audience is well-prepared for what is to follow after watching the first act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The audience is given answers to most of the wh-questions and all that remains for viewers to wonder about is how the plot is going to develop and what the results will be.

Sometimes, the information we get is not as detailed as that and leaves us with a lot of questions. Consider the following excerpt from the first scene of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s Saved:

LEN. This ain’ the bedroom.
PAM. Bed ain’ made.
LEN. Oo’s bothered?
PAM. It’s awful. ‘Ere’s nice.
LEN. Suit yourself. Yer don’t mind if I take me shoes off? [He kicks them off.] No one ‘ome?
PAM. No.
LEN. Live on yer tod?
PAM. No.
LEN. O.

[Pause. He sits back on the couch.]

Yer all right? Come over ‘ere.
PAM. In a minit.
LEN. Wass yer name?
PAM. Yer ain’ arf nosey.
(Bond, Saved, Scene 1)
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The characters’ conversation strikes one as being rather brief and uninformative. We are confronted with two characters who hardly seem to know each other but apparently have agreed on a one-night stand. We can conjecture that the scene takes place at Pam’s house and later in that scene we are given a hint that she must be living with her parents but apart from that, there is not much in the way of information. We do not really get to know the characters, e.g., what they do, what they think, and even their names are only abbreviations, which makes them more anonymous. Although we can draw inferences about Len’s and Pam’s social background from their speech style and vocabulary, their conversation as such is marked by a lack of real communication. After watching the first scene, the audience is left with a feeling of confusion: Who are these people, what do they want? What is the story going to be about? One is left with the impression that this is a very anonymous, unloving environment and that the characters’ impoverished communication skills somehow reflect a general emotional, educational and social poverty. This is reinforced by the barrenness of the living-room presented in the stage directions as follows:

The living-room. The front and the two side walls make a triangle that slopes to a door back centre.
Furniture: table down right, sofa left, TV set left front, armchair up right centre, two chairs close to the table.
Empty. (ibid)

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If one bears in mind that the empty stage is the first thing the audience sees, it becomes clear that information is conveyed visually first before the characters appear and start talking. This is obviously done on purpose to set the spectators’ minds going.

Dramatic Sub-Genres

Ever since [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s Poetics, one distinguishes at least between two sub-genres of drama: comedy and tragedy (see also [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] in Basic Concepts). While 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, 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). Both comedy and tragedy have, in the course of literary history, developed further sub-genres of which the following list provides only an initial overview.

Types of Comedy

Sometimes, scholars distinguish between high comedy, which appeals to the intellect (comedy of ideas) and has a serious purpose (for example, to criticise), and low comedy, where greater emphasis is placed on situation comedy, slapstick and farce. Further sub-genres of comedy include:

Romantic Comedy

A pair of lovers and their struggle to come together is usually at the centre of this type of comedy. Romantic comedies also involve some extraordinary circumstances, e.g., magic, dreams, the fairy-world, etc. Examples are [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It.

Satiric Comedy

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. An early writer of satirical comedies was Aristophanes (450-385 BC), later examples include [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s Volpone and The Alchemists.

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. Ancient representatives of this form of comedy are Terence and Plautus, and the form reached its peak with the Restoration comedies of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط].

Farce

The farce typically provokes viewers to hearty laughter. It presents highly exaggerated and caricatured types of characters and often has an unlikely plot. Farces employ sexual mix-ups, verbal humour and physical comedy, and they formed a central part of the Italian commedia dell’arte. In English plays, farce usually appears as episodes in larger comical pieces, e.g., in [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Comedy of Humours

Ben Jonson developed this type of comedy, which is based on the assumption that a person’s character or temperament is determined by the predominance of one of four humours (i.e., body liquids): blood (= sanguine), phlegm (= phlegmatic), yellow bile (= choleric), black bile (= melancholic). In the comedy of humours, characters are marked by one of these predispositions which cause their eccentricity or distorted personality. An example is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]’s Every Man in His Humour.

Melodrama

Melodrama is a type of stage play which became popular in the 19th century. It mixes romantic or sensational plots with musical elements. Characters are often depicted as unusually virtuous or excessively viscious. Later, the musical elements were no longer considered essential. Melodrama aims at a violent appeal to audience emotions and usually has a happy ending.

من طرف **سعد الدهيمي** الجمعة فبراير 25, 2011 2:34 am

thanks

من طرف **Master** الجمعة فبراير 25, 2011 4:54 am

welcome

Introduction to Drama

Introduction to Drama

رد: Introduction to Drama

رد: Introduction to Drama