Reading Drama

1
Reading Drama
30
2

• I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art
  forms, the most immediate way in which a human
  being can share with another the sense of what it
  is to be a human being.
• ? Oscar Wilde

3
Introduction to Drama

• Like poetry and fiction, plays present the
  authors perceptions of the world.
• Like a poem or short story, a play offers us a
  mirror with which we can compare our own
  perceptions and experiences while bringing us to
  a deeper understanding of our own lives and
  worlds.
• Plays are almost always written to be performed.
  Only closet dramas are written to be read aloud
  rather than performed.

4
Writing for the Stage

• Consider the differences between writing a play
  and writing in another genre.
• Length is generally more of a concern to a
  playwright than to a poet or fiction writer.
  Producers are less apt to stage very short (say,
  twenty minutes) or very long plays (say, four
  hours).
• Because of legal restrictions and
  unpredictability, producers (not to mention many
  adult actors) would prefer that the stage
  presence of children and animals be limited, if
  not excluded entirely. What would happen if Poe
  conceived The Black Cat as a play or Marquez in
  A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings insisted on
  staging the infants relationship with the old
  man?

5
Writing for the Stage continued

• Depending upon the theaters budget and
  expertise, special effects and settings might
  need to be compromised. Consider the logistical
  difficulties of staging the flight of the hot air
  balloon in Ana Menendezs Traveling Madness or
  the crowded street scenes of Naguib Mahfouzs
  The Conjurer Made Off with the Dish. And how
  convincing would a car chase be in a small
  theater of fewer than seventy-five seats?
• Dont forget, too, that dramatists must tell
  their story and communicate theme primarily
  through dialogue.

6
Active Reading

• These differences and others emphasize that
  reading drama is a different experience from that
  of reading poetry or fiction. Readers,
  generally, are less accustomed to reading drama
  and may need to adapt.
• Read as an armchair director. Consider the
  dramatic text as a script and yourself as the
  director just prior to the beginning of
  rehearsals.
• How do you see the play on stage? How do you
  hear it performed? How do the characters move
  and react? Who is the protagonist? What does
  he/she want? What obstacles are in his/her way?
  What part of the play is the climax? What
  especially do you want this play to communicate?

7
Types of Drama

• The two major dramatic modes are tragedy and
  comedy. Both forms have evolved through the
  years, demonstrating the ongoing dynamism and
  meaningfulness of the stage.
• Aristotle described tragedy as an imitation of
  an action that is serious, complete in itself,
  and of a certain magnitude.
• Aristotle suggests that tragedies are solemn
  occasions concerned with grave human actions and
  their consequences.

8
Types of Drama

• In traditional tragedy the protagonists destiny
  was tied to
• the state and national affairs. Hamlets
  actions, for
• instance, have a significant impact on
  Denmark.
• In modern tragedies, the protagonist tends be a
  member of
• the lower or middle class. His actions may
  not have national
• implications, but deep personal ones that
  affect his family
• and perhaps his community and resonate on a
  more
• personal level with the audience. Willy Loman
  struggles
• with his family, his career, and his inner
  stability.

9
Comedy

• Comedies concern light or humorous subject
  matters,
• strive to provoke laughter, and conclude with
  a happy
• ending. There are many types of comedy. A
  few
• examples
• A Romantic Comedy usually concerns two
  would-be/
• should-be lovers who find each other after a
  series of
• misunderstandings and false starts.
  Shakespeares A
• Midsummer Nights Dream is a romantic comedy.
• A Comedy of Manners is a work of satire that
  ridicules
• human behavior and social institutions. See
  Oscar
• Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest.

10
Comedy continued

• A Farce is a lighthearted play that uses physical
  comedy, exaggerated characters, absurd
  situations, and improbable plot twists. See
  Chekhovs The Marriage Proposal and, on film, The
  Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers.
• A Tragicomedy has the elements of tragedy but, at
  times, will provoke laughter, and generally end
  happily (Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice) or
  inconclusively (Becketts Waiting for Godot).
• Some plays will draw elements from more than one
  type. The Merchant of Venice can be considered a
  romantic comedy and The Importance of Being
  Earnest a farce.

11

• Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things
  up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage
  magician. He gives you illusion that has the
  appearance of truth. I give you truth in the
  pleasant disguise of illusion.
• ? Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie
• by Tennessee Williams

12
Elements of Drama

• Protagonist the main character.
• Objective the protagonists overarching goal.
  The plot hinges on the protagonists effort to
  reach this objective.
• Antagonist the main obstacle in the way of the
  protagonists goal. The antagonist could be
  another character, natural elements, a physical
  condition, cultural institutions, social law, or
  the protagonist himself/herself.
• Tension as with a good sporting contest,
  tension and suspense increases when the
  protagonist and antagonist are evenly matched and
  the outcome is in doubt until the climax.

Hamlet Shows His Mother the Ghost of His Father
(ca. 1778) by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard
13
Elements of Drama continued

• Plot the artful arrangement of incidents in a
  drama, with each incident building on the next in
  a series of causes and effects, with smaller
  crises and climaxes leading to the large crisis
  and climax.
• Exposition necessary background information
  about the characters, setting, or the
  historical/social context.
• Rising Action story events that increase
  tension and move the plot toward the climax
• Climax the highest point of conflict in the
  drama. During the climax, the dramatic question
  is answered Does the protagonist reach his
  goal?

14
Elements of Drama continued

• Denouement The denouement or resolution follows
  the climax and ties up any loose ends or
  questions that the dramatist would like to
  answer. In modern drama, the denouement tends to
  be brief. The Exodus in Oedipus the King is
  devoted to the denouement whereas in the A Dolls
  House, the denouement is Helmers final line.
  Modern and contemporary dramatists prefer open
  endings without all loose ends tied and questions
  and conflicts resolved.
• Subplot a plot that is not the central plot of
  the work, but coexists or parallels the main
  plot. The story of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
  forms a subplot within the overall plot of
  Hamlet.

15
Gustav Freytags TriangleA diagram of a typical
dramatic structure
16
Dialogue

• Dialogue is at the heart of a play and must
  accomplish much.
• It must characterize the speaker and perhaps the
  person being addressed.
• It must maintain the individuality of each
  character.
• While retaining individuality, it must be clear
  and comprehensible to the audience.

17
Dialogue continued

• Dialogue must reveal the speakers motivation
  often without being direct. Realistic dramatists
  cannot rely on monologues or soliloquies the way
  non-realistic playwrights can.
• Dialogue must advance the plot.
• It must be connective in that it grows out of the
  preceding speech or action and lead to another.

18
Dialogue continued

• Dialogue must often convey subtext, the indirect
  statement or the implication of the works.
  Characters, like people, do not always say
  specifically what they mean.
• It establishes the pace of the play.
• It must provide exposition and foreshadow.
• It must contribute to the development of the
  theme.
• It must be lively and imaginative.

19
Other Elements

• Dramatic Irony a situation in which authors
  give the audience information that they withhold
  from the characters on stage. Consider the
  importance of dramatic irony to Oedipus the King
  or Othello. Authors often need to decide whether
  to inform the audience of certain information or
  keep them in suspense.
• Symbol any object, image, character, or action
  that suggests meaning beyond the everyday literal
  level. Dramatists use symbols just as other
  fiction writers do.
• Foreshadowing a hint about plot elements to
  come that will advance the plot and build
  suspense.
• Staging The spectacle a play presents in
  performance, including the position of actors on
  the stage, scenic background, props, costumes,
  lighting, and sound effects. Some playwrights,
  like Tennessee Williams in The Glass Menagerie
  and Arthur Kopit in Wings, provide very specific
  directions about staging. Consider how staging
  contributes to the overall meaning of the play.

20

• The purpose of the theatre, as Stanislavski
  said, is to bring light to the life of the human
  soul and theatre posses this potential. Alone
  among community institutions, the theatre
  possesses the power to differentiate between
  truth and garbage.
• ? David Mamet

21
Theme

• Themes are the central or underlying meanings of
  a play. Themes are the ideas or issues that the
  dramatist raises through the play.
• Be careful of reducing a complex work of art to a
  simple message. Like, for instance, Romeo and
  Juliet teaches us how dangerous our petty
  rivalries can be, or Macbeth teaches us not to
  be too ambitious or greedy.
• Such simplistic interpretations limit a more
  complete understanding of a play, particularly
  its psychological depth, cultural revelations,
  and artistic significance.
• Hamlet raises questions concerning various
  themes, including political corruption, service
  to the state, revenge, courage, integrity,
  spirituality, the mystery of death, the
  uncertainty of life, misogyny and men-women
  relationships, and the importance of theater
  itself.
• Theme will usually be implicit in the text and
  all the dramas elements. Our great dramatists,
  like our other great artists, resist preaching to
  us.

22
Thoughts about Theme

• Shakespeare is too good a showman to force a
  sermon down our throats, and too experienced a
  theatre man to do less than provide us with
  entrancing entertainment, leaving us to draw the
  moral for ourselves.
• ? Margaret Webster
• If you are going to write what is called a
  propaganda play, dont let any character know in
  the play what the propaganda is.
• ? Howard Lindsay
• A good way to destroy a play is to force it to
  prove something.
• ? Walter Kerr

23
Remember while Reading

• Read with a pen or pencil in your hand.
• Be forthright. Are you enjoying the play? What
  elements of the play make for enjoyment?
  Characters? Plot?
• Analyze the action and the motives of the
  characters. What are they seeking at the
  beginning of the play?
• Examine the relationship between the characters
  and the plot. How do the plays events grow out
  of the characters decisions and actions?

24
Remember while Reading

• What is the plays tone? How does the dialogue
  sound in your ear?
• Be attentive to dress, gestures, scenery, and
  lighting. What do they communicate about the
  characters and theme?
• Are there any symbols?
• Read the stage directions.

25
For Further Consideration

• Write a one act play or a scene based on a short
  story or a poem. After you complete the script,
  discuss the difficulties you had with transposing
  the work to the stage.
• Rewrite one scene from a pre-twentieth-century
  play in the text and re-stage it in a
  contemporary setting with contemporary
  characters. Where did you set the play? How did
  you dress the characters? How old are they?
  Paraphrase the dialogue. Retain only the names.
• Write notes about one of the plays in the text as
  if your were to direct it. How would you stage
  it? What actors or types of actors do you see in
  the lead roles? How would you dress the
  characters? Would you cut some parts of the
  script? How would you use lighting? etc.
• Read one of the plays as a first-night reviewer
  might. Write a review of the play as if you had
  seen it. Comment on the characters, the plot,
  the setting, the language, and so forth. Make a
  recommendation for others to read the play or not.