drama terms Flashcards
Action
the movement or development of the plot or story in a play; the sense of forward movement created by the sense of time and/or the physical and psychological motivations of characters.
Monologue
- a long speech made by one actor; a monologue may be delivered alone or in the presence of others.
Spoken text
dialogue spoken by the characters
action text
the physical language of the play
Exposition
an explanation of what has happened before the play starts
suspense
uncertainty created by the playwright in the audience as it the action builds towards a climax – will Hamlet do something?
conflict
a term to use when characters are in tension with each other – There are at least three conflicts in Someday
rising action
The part of a play where the plot builds towards a climax – in Romeo and Juliet, this would be all of the play leading towards their marriage and the marriage itself
climax
a moment of great intensity in a play – the crucial moment where the various threads of the plot come together; when Othello kills Desdemona
falling action
the often brief period following a play’s climax where the drama reaches toward a conclusion• Everything that happens after Romeo and Juliet have killed themselves
character
a person in a play; also refers to their characteristics,
personality, motivations, and actions
setting
refers to both the time and place of a play and to the scenery
that is put on stage
dialogue
the verbal exchanges between characters – because there
is no narrator in a play, the dialogue must tell the whole story
movement
the physical movement of the characters on stage
theme
“The theme of a play is its message, its central concerns – in short, what the play is about. It is by no means a simple thing to decide what the theme of a play is, and many plays contain several themes rather than a single one. Often, the search for a theme tempts us to oversimplify, reducing a complex play to a relatively simple catchphrase”
