Drama Analysis I

Question 1

Whats drama?

Answer 1

A drama tells the story of a fictional world. It is a multimedial narrative, written to be staged in public performance.

Question 2

What is another word for drama?

Answer 2

Play

Question 3

What is a drama not?

Answer 3

Not to be read

Question 4

Why is it important to distinguish between 2 different text levels?

Answer 4

Because they have 2 different information levels.

Question 5

What is the primary text?

Answer 5

Dialogue, verbal communication

Question 6

What is the secondary text?

Answer 6

Stage directions, information about setting

Question 7

The play is the mediation of the …..

Answer 7

Fictional world

Question 8

What are the theatre codes? (How the play is emitted is a combination of these two)

Answer 8

Actor and stage

Question 9

Theatre codes: ACTOR (visual)

Answer 9

• appearance
• costume
• body language

Question 10

Theatre codes: ACTOR (acoustic)

Answer 10

• language
• tone
• voice

Question 11

Theatre codes: STAGE (visual)

Answer 11

• set
• properties
• lighting

Question 12

Theatre codes: STAGE (acoustic)

Answer 12

• noise
• music

Question 13

What was a trend in the 16th century in the theatre?

Answer 13

Realistic stage set

Question 14

What was a trend in the 19th century in the theatre?

Answer 14

Violent action

Question 15

When we refer to Shakespearean theatre we also refer to…

Answer 15

… Elizabethean theatre (Elizabeth I)
… Jacobean theatre (James I)

Question 16

What were performance conditions of the Elizabethean/Jacobean theatre? (7)

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

Until were women not allowed to act?

Answer 17

Until 17th century

Question 18

What were the possibilities of the Elizabethean stage?

Answer 18

• lots of possibilities for special effects (indoor even more)
• involving the audience (heating up the atmosphere in theatre)

Question 19

What can be used to mark the end of a scene?

Answer 19

Rhyming couplet

Question 20

Whats cross dressing?

Answer 20

Female character has disguised herself as male character (typical in Shakespears‘ plays) - women‘s roles played by men

Question 21

What is an analytical play?

Answer 21

The exposition is delayed (f.e. Flashback)

Question 22

What is a dramatic exposition?

Answer 22

Not introductive, but dramatic (introduction to the mood of the play)

Question 23

Freytag‘s pyramid: Act I

Answer 23

exposition

Question 24

Freytag‘s pyramid: Act II

Answer 24

Rising action

Question 25

Freytag‘s pyramid: Act III

Answer 25

Climax/peripeteia

Question 26

Freytag‘s pyramid: Act IV

Answer 26

Falling action

Question 27

Freytag‘s pyramid: Act V

Answer 27

Catastrophe/dénounement

Question 28

What are features of (Aristotelian) tragedy? (7)

Answer 28

• hero of high standing (fall)
• hamarita (tragic fall)
• conflict
• elevated language
• catastrophe
• terror and pity
• catharsis

Question 29

Whats catharsis?

Answer 29

Emotional cleansing (having a good cry)

Question 30

What are features of comedy? (5)

Answer 30

• 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

Question 31

Whats a proscenium stage?

Answer 31

Creating a „picture frame“ through which the audience experiences the illusion of spying on characters behaving exactly as if they were unobserved.

Question 32

Whats a thrust stage (apron stage)?

Answer 32

A stage consisting of a raised platform extending from one end of a theatre or from the proscenium, with audience seating on three sides

Question 33

What are the six epic elements?

Answer 33

Derived from Greek drama
The narrator’s role is similar to an epic storyteller; the narrator informs the audience of the background information