Drama: A Simple Introduction

    Drama came from the Greek word “dran” which means “to do.” Roughly described, it means it is an art form dealing with beauty particularly as it is found in the imitation of human action from nature. It is also defined as a story presented on the stage by actors impersonating characters in a given situation.

            This story, written in the form of dialogue, is called the play. Unlike other literary works, the drama involves three other elements aside from the playwright and his play, namely: a theater, actors (and director), and an audience.

Components of Drama

            Under the theatrical element lie the symbols that increase the meaning of the play. Most often, it is through the symbolic representation of its meaning that we later understand its theme and value, not just merely by hearing out the words written by the playwright, the author of the play. Two of the most powerful aspects of the theatrical elements are the following:

Stagecraft

Stage production creates its effects in spite of, and in part because of, definite physical limitations. Setting and action tend to be suggestive rather than panoramic or colossal. Both setting and action may be little more than hints for the spectator to fill out.

Stagecraft also employs music as well as the incorporation of the “silent technique.” Music means three major concepts: the background effect, the score, and the speech itself.

Background effects are the typical sound effects that help in portraying a realistic feel of the environment, much like in creating atmosphere and tone. Imagine yourself standing by a busy sidewalk, listening to the sound of blaring horns, shouting pedestrians and vendors, the roar of engines and some other music coming from every side. Transporting this feeling upon a stage will make a scene on a sidewalk believable up to a certain extent. Unless the effect is overdone, a production can make real the environment by using merely these recorded or live-produced sounds.

The Score are the instrumental background that heightens the emotional effect. Music itself produced by a composer for a certain scene is often employed by the production as means of adding tension to an already intensified conflict. To give an idea, in movies, they are pretty much commonly used.

The finality of stagecraft can be called as a “spectacle,” wherein much of the visual and auditory production process is in harmonious work.

Convention

This is the starting point of the theatrical performance. This element is considered as the domain of the playwright in theatre. It is the pure process by which the playwright`s work is brought to realization by the director, actors, designers, technicians, dancers, musicians and any other collaborators that come together on the script, scenario, or plan. This is the works in progress stage.

            Drama can also be written either in poetry, prose, or even in the combination of both. Most drama coming from the ancient times up to the nineteenth century are generally in poetic form. It was only during the modern and contemporary scene that the drama was widely written in prose, though there are times when some writers prefer to write in verse.

The Dramatic Styles

       Basically, there are only two major dramatic styles. At first, distinguishing one from the other may be confusing, but by looking at them closely, one can easily and immediately spot the type of drama that is being shown, simply by the way the set is created.

Realistic

This is known as the representational play. It presents a play that is close to reality as possible. The players or actors perform as though they are set up in what is termed as “four-walled-stage,” wherein ordinary events happen and yet the fourth wall is the invisible wall where the audience looks into their lives. Exact furniture is often set up as backdrop placed about on the stage.

One of the basic characteristics of this type of play is that it does not always have an explicit, clear ending. The curtain may fall, but the life depicted in the play gives an impression that it goes on, for better or worse. Most modern plays are like this and good examples can be found in most plays written by Henrik Ibsen.

Illusionary

The play immediately dispels the illusion of reality by including the participation of the audience in its performance. In other words, there may be a lot of experiments that may be done that can either directly address an audience or make the audience participate. Some examples of these can be found in the plays of Jean Genet or others.

Two kinds of Drama

            The traditional division of drama falls under two classification, tragedy and comedy. Of course, many other genres in drama have their own unique division, but mainly they all fall under these two major divisions.

Tragedy

            It was in ancient Greece that the discovery for this dramatic form was made. It is believed, as according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, that tragedy is the imitation of an action which is serious, complete and with a certain magnitude. In other words, its aim is for the audience to achieve catharsis, or a very humanistic realization and appreciation of life. Not only does the audience feel sympathy towards a character, but also a sensation of empathy.

            There is a character known as the tragic hero who is usually a man of high estate, and the action usually culminates unhappily in his death, or in some catastrophe or disaster; but somehow the struggle of the protagonist or hero against the conflict (which arises from nature, from other people, or from himself) is such that it affirms his capacity for greatness.

            Modern tragedies have however changed the literal position of the tragic hero by not giving him such a high social status but on how he carries himself through his “nobility of character” in the midst of the conflict and in its usually unhappy conclusions.

            The hero always has a tragic flaw that may manifest itself as pride, rashness of judgment, indecision, or some such similar imperfection; or he may make a wrong choice which will play a large part of his downfall. Sometimes these kinds of tragedies are called pure or true tragedy.

            Examples of the tragedy are your “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles; “Macbeth”, “King Lear”, “Othello”, and “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. There are other examples out in the open, including a few rare films that have used the elements in tragedy.

In tragedy, other kinds have been given birth to. They are the serious drama, tragicomedy, and the melodrama.

Serious Drama

It refers to a drama that has tragic overtones and details a general tone of seriousness, but which may somehow not end in a catastrophe for the protagonist. It may also have a hopeful ending. The protagonists are ordinary men and women, as contrasted to the pure tragic plays. Serious drama, usually written in prose, is a fitting description for many modern non-comic plays written in the realistic style. One example for this can be “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.

Tragicomedy

This is a combination of the tragic and the comic. At present, the term is implied for plays belonging to the category of serious drama.

Melodrama

This may somewhat have seriousness in tone, but it is largely characterized by the sensational and the theatrical. Characters and situations are often exaggerated to produce excessive appeal to the emotions of the audience. Characterizations are usually superficial: Heroes are virtually good, while Villains are a hundred percent pure evil. There is also a predominance of physical movement, and it generally ends in a contrived triumph over unlikely circumstances. In later generations, the melodrama can be identified more commonly to television and cinema.

Comedy

This type of drama portrays a lighter and brighter aspect of life and is usually meant to evoke laughter. It deals with human folly and foibles which are neither painful nor destructive. There is always a happy ending in the end of every play.

Comic interest may originate from the following:

1. Comedy of Character – where laughter is evoked from specific traits of a character.
2. Comedy of Situation – where laughter can be gotten from a situation.
3. Comedy of Manners 
4. Farce – an exaggeration of either one or all three other categories. Highly exaggerated characters are placed in ridiculous and improbable situations intended to produce broad and boisterous laughter. And there is what is called as a slapstick or a predominance of physical action and the dialogue may often be contrived, rude or just plain vulgar.

The Art of Drama

   As drama is most often difficult to understand, most especially those studying Shakespeare, my only advice to those who want to know further is for them to experience it, both by watching and participating in dramatic performances. This way, one can know both side of the coin.