Drama and Theatre Arts--How it all Began: An introduction

Drama and Theatre Arts--How it all Began: An introduction

Students are introduced to dramatic technique as a means of developing an appreciation for the movement (i.e. actions) of characters on stage and in the literary text. This includes the use of dialogue in conversation and actions and counteractions of characters in the text and on the stage. Additionally, students are introduced to the earliest forms of drama, namely: rituals, religion, storytelling, masquerading, festivals, magic, celebration, dance, song, human enactment (cave paintings) etc.

1. Performance Space: village, temple, street, arena, theatre, etc.
2. Terminology: drama, theatre, play, actor, character, script, stage, stage directions, performance, tragedy, comedy, tragic-comedy (combined), etc.
3. Text and Performance: the vital link: using Dr. Vincent Gillespie’s rewriting of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as outlined below:

LITERARY RELATIVITY

• Literary and Dramatic Technique:

dialogue, characters, conflict, plot, setting, language, structure of play, theme, soliloquy, stage, mood, symbol, irony, suspense, etc.

• The Nature of Drama:

realistic and nonrealistic, tragedy and comedy (tragic-comedy), traditional and modern.

• The Literary and Historical Context:

(a) 16th century drama (Elizabethan theatre and stage) 
(b) Shakespeare's language and Shakespearean tragedy and comedy (tragic-comedy), etc.

• Basic Definition/Interpretation:

(a) Drama is both text and performance. A play is complete only when it is performed.
(b) Drama is not what is but what may be (i.e. what is possible, through the eyes of the playwright and the reader/audience.)

Comedy:

A dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict. This usually involves the resolution of conflict(s) in the play through marriage between warring/fighting parties. Shakespearean or English comedies usually end in marriage and merriment.

Tragedy:

A drama or literary work dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person (i.e. the main character) who is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow because of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. This dramatic struggle between hero/heroine and villain usually results in the death of both parties. However, the audience is made to feel sympathy for the hero and contempt for the villain.

OOW
2013