CHAPTER 4 AND 5

STAGE DIRECTIONS

• When reading a play, it is important to visualize the action and be aware of action suggested in the stage directions.

• Written descriptions of physical or emotional action or physical appearance.

• SALLY. (Coming closer.) I swear, Matt Friedman, what in the devil do you think you’re doing down here? (coming through the tall weeds and willow.)

ARISTOTLE’S THE POETICS

• Plot (Structure) – The organization of the action of a play. • Character – Persons that are created to perform the action of the

play.• Thought – Ideas in a play• Language (Diction)• Music (Song/Melody)• Spectacle

PLOT – STRUCTURE

• Linear – When the events of a drama progress forward and sequentially in time.

• Causal – One event causes the next.

ELEMENTS OF PLOT

• Conflict – opposing forces.• Point of attack – The point in the story at which the playwright

chooses to start dramatizing the action.• Exposition – Back story. • Inciting incident – The event in a play that destroys the uneasy

balance and sets off the major conflict of forces

ELEMENTS OF PLOT

• Rising action – Small units of action that build in emotional intensity.• Climax – The emotional high point of the action • Falling action – Emotional intensity drops.• Discovery – Something found, learned, or realized during the action

of a play.• Reversal – When the line of action veers around suddenly to it’s

opposite.

VARIATIONS

• Cliff hanger – A play that stops at the climax and does not show the outcome of the conflict.

• Flashback – Occasional scenes dramatize events that occurred before the point of attack.

CHARACTER: PERSONS CREATED INFORMATION IN A PLAY

Character information in a play:• What characters say about themselves• What other characters say about them• What the character does

CHARACTER: LEVELS OF CHARACTERIZATION

• Biological Traits – Species, sex, race, etc.• Physical Traits – Stature, weight, hair, eye color, etc.• Psychological and Emotional – Characters internal makeup.• Social Traits – Job, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.• Ethical Traits – Moral standards.

SOCIAL TRAITS

• The level of characterization that includes a character's job or profession, socioeconomic status, or religious or political affiliation.

THOUGHT – THE IDEAS

• Words, words, words.• Visualization. “Your love is like a rose”• Plot• Allusion – References to previous art. (Tom Stoppard Rosencrantz

and Guildenstern are Dead.)

LANGUAGE (DICTION) – PLAYWRIGHT’S CHOICE OF WORDS

• Contributes to character• Establishes the mood

MUSIC

• At the time of Aristotle's righting much dialogue was chanted or sung.

• Used to encourage emotional identification.• Helps immerse the audience in the setting.• Sound effects.

SPECTACLE – THE VISUAL EXPERIENCE

• Scenery• Costumes• Props

• Lighting• Movement• Actor physicality

CHAPTER 5 – GENRES

GENRE - THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE A PLAY CREATES IN THE AUDIENCE.

• Tragedy – Serious, sad, sometimes evokes pity and fear.• Comedy – basically humorous.• Tragicomedy – tragic and comic tendencies seem equally mixed.• Melodrama – The action of a play is serious but ends happily and

the focus is more on what happens than how it happens.

TRAGEDY

• Audience expects a certain magnitude.• An ethical choice is frequently made by the protagonist.• A way of explaining why bad things happen.• Catharsis

COMEDY – BASICALLY HUMOROUS

• Lack of emotional involvement • Can be used to render a serious problem less dangerous.• Allows us to step back and laugh.

TYPES OF COMEDY

• Situation Comedy – emphasize humorous qualities of the situation in which the characters find themselves. Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and the TV series Cheers.

• Farce – broad physical action. Slapstick.• Comedy of character – Driven by the eccentricities of its major

figure.

TYPES OF COMEDY

• Comedy of idea – focused on thought rather than character or situation.

• Comedy of manners – explores the behavior of a particular segment of society.

• Romantic comedy – follows the attempts of lovers to get together.

TRAGICOMEDY

• Tragic and comic tendencies are equally mixed.• A middle form that incorporates serious action, everyday

characters, and a happy ending.• Mixed tone play.

MELODRAMA - THE ACTION OF A PLAY IS SERIOUS BUT ENDS HAPPILY AND THE FOCUS IS MORE ON WHAT HAPPENS THAN HOW IT HAPPENS. • Fast paced action and suspense.• Stimulate fear and hate.• Conflict between good and evil.

ASSUMPTION MADE WHEN A PLAY IS WRITTEN

• How the play will be produced.• Who will read or watch the play.• How certain ideas will be received by the audience.

RESEARCH ON A PLAY INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:

• Information on the playwright.• Information on the society when the play was written.• Theatre production at the time the play was written.