Drama Flashcards
Drama comes from the Greek word:
Dran - meaning “to do”
The earliest known plays were written:
around 5th BC
Produced for festivals to honor the Greek God of Win and Fertility
Dionysus
Drama
a story enacted onstage for a live audience
The plot of a play
involves characters who face a problem or a conflict
Exposition
characters and conflict are introduced
Complications
tension builds
Climax
highest point of action; action determines the conflict and resolution
Conflict is a struggle between
- characters who want different or the same things
- a character and their circumstances
- within a character who is torn by competing desires
Tragedy
a play that ends unhappily
Greek tragedies
right and wrong
justice and injustice
life and death
Tragedies pit human limitation against
the larger forces of destiny
The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a
tragic hero
The hero
is noble and in many ways admirable
and has a tragic flaw or opersonal failing that leads to a tragic ending
Compedy
a play that ends happily that centers on a romantic conflict
The main characters in a comedy could by anyone
nobility, townspeople, servants
theater artists include
actors, directors, lighting technicians, stage crew
Thrust stage
extends into the viewing area - audience surrounds the stage on three sides
In the Round Stage
surrounded by audience on all sides
Proscenium Staage
playing area extends behind an opening called a proscenium arch - the audience sits on one side looking into the action
Stages in Shakespeare’s time were
thrust stages
scene design consists of
sets
lighting
costumes
props
a stages set might be
realistic and detailed
or
abstract and minimal
a lighting gdirector
skillfully uses light to change the mood and appearance of the set
dialouge
conversations of characters onstage
monologue
long speech given by one character to others
asides
remarks made to the audience or to one character; the other characters onstage do not hear an aside
soliliquy
speech by a character along onstage to the self or the audeince
