Elements of Drama
- Drama – A story written to be performed by actors.
- There are several different forms of presenting a drama; each has a very specific format. Plays have a very simple format; teleplays, for television shows, or screenplays, for movies, have more complex and strict rules for formatting.
- The first dramas to be written for the express purpose of being performed were created by the Greeks. Many of our modern drama terms derive from Greek origins.
- Comedy – In the Greek sense, a play that doesn’t end in death. In modern usage, refers to a play that is humorous.
- Tragedy – In the Greek sense, a play that ends with the death of at least one of the main characters. In modern usage, refers to a play that doesn’t have a happy ending.
- Irony – general name for moments in literature that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions
- Dramatic irony – a contradiction between what the character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true
- Script – the written text of a play. Usually includes a list of characters that appear in the play with a brief description of what the character is like (Dramatis Personae), brief descriptions of the sets or setting, and the lines the characters will speak.
- Character - as in a story, people or creatures that appear in a script by speaking or doing something (the "something" may be as simple as walking on stage, then walking off again); someone in a script who is involved with a plot
- Dialogue – the lines spoken by the actors; in the script, preceded by the name of the character that is to speak the words
- Monologue – A speech given by a single character while that character is alone on stage; also called a soliloquy
- Soliloquy – In drama (especially Elizabethan [Shakespearean]), an extended speech by a solitary character expressing inner thoughts aloud to him-or herself and to the audience; a monologue
- Exposition – A speech or discussion presented in a very straight-forward manner that is designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand
- Stage directions – a description (as of a character or setting) or direction (as to indicate stage business) provided in the text of a play, usually indicated with italics and/or parentheses. May indicate where the scene takes place, what a character is supposed to do, or how a character should deliver certain lines.
- Enter – A stage direction – tells the character(s) to come onto the stage. Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional information about how characters are to enter the scene.
- Exit – A stage direction – tells the character(s) to leave the stage and the scene. Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional information about how characters are to leave the scene.
- Act – A major section of a play, similar to a chapter in a book; an act is usually made up of several scenes
- Scene – a subdivision of an act; usually, a scene indicates a specific location or time, and changes if another location or time is supposed to be presented. A scene usually ends when all the characters in the scene leave the stage.
- Line – Shakespeare’s plays were written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter, 10 syllables per line); as in a poem, a line might end though the sentence continues. Current copies of Shakespeare’s scripts usually have numbers listed in the margins of the pages so readers can find lines quickly.
- Chorus – a character or group in a drama who speaks the prologue and epilogue and comments on the action
- Extra – a minor character who doesn’t have many or any lines; usually, extras don’t have names, but are identified by what they do (“servant,” “boy,” “policeman”) and sometimes a number if there are more than one of that type of extra
Full video of "Sleepy Hollow"
drama.ppt | |
File Size: | 1287 kb |
File Type: | ppt |