Drama Analysis I Flashcards
Whats drama?
A drama tells the story of a fictional world. It is a multimedial narrative, written to be staged in public performance.
What is another word for drama?
Play
What is a drama not?
Not to be read
Why is it important to distinguish between 2 different text levels?
Because they have 2 different information levels.
What is the primary text?
Dialogue, verbal communication
What is the secondary text?
Stage directions, information about setting
The play is the mediation of the …..
Fictional world
What are the theatre codes? (How the play is emitted is a combination of these two)
Actor and stage
Theatre codes: ACTOR (visual)
- appearance
- costume
- body language
Theatre codes: ACTOR (acoustic)
- language
- tone
- voice
Theatre codes: STAGE (visual)
- set
- properties
- lighting
Theatre codes: STAGE (acoustic)
- noise
- music
What was a trend in the 16th century in the theatre?
Realistic stage set
What was a trend in the 19th century in the theatre?
Violent action
When we refer to Shakespearean theatre we also refer to…
… Elizabethean theatre (Elizabeth I)
… Jacobean theatre (James I)
What were performance conditions of the Elizabethean/Jacobean theatre? (7)
- outdoor, daylight or indoor
- no curtain
- lower and upper parts of stage
- fixed set (passe-partout scenery)
- designed like the universe
- surrounded by audience
- boy actors for female parts
Until were women not allowed to act?
Until 17th century
What were the possibilities of the Elizabethean stage?
- lots of possibilities for special effects (indoor even more)
- involving the audience (heating up the atmosphere in theatre)
What can be used to mark the end of a scene?
Rhyming couplet
Whats cross dressing?
Female character has disguised herself as male character (typical in Shakespears‘ plays) - women‘s roles played by men
What is an analytical play?
The exposition is delayed (f.e. Flashback)
What is a dramatic exposition?
Not introductive, but dramatic (introduction to the mood of the play)
Freytag‘s pyramid: Act I
exposition
Freytag‘s pyramid: Act II
Rising action
Freytag‘s pyramid: Act III
Climax/peripeteia
Freytag‘s pyramid: Act IV
Falling action
Freytag‘s pyramid: Act V
Catastrophe/dénounement
What are features of (Aristotelian) tragedy? (7)
- hero of high standing (fall)
- hamarita (tragic fall)
- conflict
- elevated language
- catastrophe
- terror and pity
- catharsis
Whats catharsis?
Emotional cleansing (having a good cry)
What are features of comedy? (5)
- protagonist of middle to low social standing possible
- humour, including witty of bawdy language
- stock characters (deriving from Roman comedy and Italian comedia d‘ell arte): innocent maiden, young romantic her, clumsy servant, lecherous old man, braggard
- typical plot elements: love, intrigue, mistaken identity, battle of the sexes, reunion after separation (lost child, lover, etc.)
- happy ending (marriage, family reunion) = closed ending
Whats a proscenium stage?
Creating a „picture frame“ through which the audience experiences the illusion of spying on characters behaving exactly as if they were unobserved.
Whats a thrust stage (apron stage)?
A stage consisting of a raised platform extending from one end of a theatre or from the proscenium, with audience seating on three sides
What are the six epic elements?
Derived from Greek drama
The narrator’s role is similar to an epic storyteller; the narrator informs the audience of the background information
