drama

Have you ever done a pretend play? Maybe playing a superhero, cooking in the kitchen, being a doctor, or selling candies. When you engage in a pretend play, you are actually doing a 'drama'. In this lesson, we will explore the meaning of the word 'drama'. 

Drama is basically a story acted out on stage in front of an audience. It is also known as 'play'. The word drama comes from the Greek word "draō" meaning "to do / to act" which is derived from "I do". The creators of drama are known as 'playwrights' or 'dramatists'. 

A drama can be serious or humorous, ancient or modern. It tells a story through characters in situations that imitate human life. Although plays may be created for the cinema, radio, or television, the word 'play' usually refers to a drama performed live by actors on the stage of a theater.

Think about the time you watched with your parents or friends a theater performance, play or musical show like Frozen, The Lion King, Aladdin, or Christmas and Halloween Plays? What did you enjoy the most? 

While watching a drama, you would be under the spell of fascinating scenes as the story unfolded before your eyes. Most of us forget ourselves and enter the lives of the characters. Laughing at the Genie Expressions in Aladdin or teary-eyed when Olaf melts in Frozen, a good drama stirs up emotions in us. The actors bring the play to life, creating an imaginary world that reflects and helps us understand the real world. 

Let's do a small research activity. 

Have you seen these two iconic masks shown below? Do you know what these mean? Do brief internet research and find out what these drama masks represent. 

(Answer given at the end of the lesson)

Drama is an ancient art, that we should preserve. Not only is it enjoyable to see, but also is delightful to perform. If you haven't already, ask your parents to take you to watch a drama in a theater or next time when there is a Christmas play or a musical show happening in your area, do go to watch it and share your experience with your friends. 

When you read from a book, only your visual sense is engaged. When you read aloud, visual and auditory senses get activated. But, when you perform a play an entire array of sensations come into action to help you embrace the subject. 

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is one of the most popular plays. It is a tragic story of two young people from two different households who fall in love. Despite the fighting between their families, the two central characters do everything they can to remain together.

Elements of drama

1. Cast of characters - These are the actors in a drama. They include a protagonist and an antagonist as well as other characters. 
2. Settings - This tells you when and where the story takes place giving you a time and a location. 
3. Dialogue - These are the lines spoken by the actors and form the conversations between characters. 
4. Stage Directions - The instructions that tell the actors what to do on stage. For instance, the stage directions may let the actor know where to stand or exactly how to deliver their lines. 
5. Acts and Scenes - The longer sections of a play, called “acts,” are made up in turn of smaller units, or “scenes.” Acts divide the play into smaller parts like chapters in a book; Scenes divide the acts each time the setting changes. The smaller unit within an act often signaled by the entrance or exit of a character or change in setting or focus of the action, is called a 'scene'. 

Language 

In drama, we express our ideas, our feelings, and our needs to each other by:

• the words we say
• the way we say them
• our body language

Spoken dialog forms an important part of the dramas

They inform the audience about the feelings, personalities, emotions, and plans of the characters. 

• A conversation between two or more characters is called dialogue. 
• When one character delivers a speech to convey his or her thoughts but other characters also remain on stage in the scene, it is called a monologue. 
• A speech made by one character but delivered when he or she is alone on stage is called a soliloquy. 

The subtleties between spoken dialogue and the impact created through other elements like scenery, costumes, props, and lighting are critical for interpreting the meaning of a given scene. 

Plot Structure

The plot structure of a drama usually develops in three basic stages: 

• The opening scenes introduce the central situation and characters, also giving the audience a sense of what has happened before the present action. 
• The middle scenes carry the action forward, usually amid trouble or complications. 
• The final scenes are when the conflict or confusion is resolved and the play comes to an end - though not always a happy ending. 

Comedies or Tragedies

Plays traditionally have been identified as either tragedies or comedies. The broad difference between the two is that comedies end happily, while tragedies end unhappily.

Tragic dramas can be classical or domestic, 

• A classical tragedy portrays a noble person who struggles and falls in a conflict with some superior force like fate, gods, or weakness in one's own character. 
• A domestic tragedy concerns the lives of ordinary people rather than heroic figures. 

Comedies may take many different forms like:

• A romantic comedy is a love story that ends with the main characters united. 
• Farce is a comedy featuring fun and clever silliness. 
• A comedy of manners is subtle, witty, and often poking fun at the insincere behavior of particular people. 
• Sentimental comedy mixes emotions with humor. 
• Melodrama has a plot filled with overblown emotion, extreme situations, and menacing threats by a villain, but it also includes comic relief and has a happy ending. 

Modern plays combine elements of both comedy and tragedy. 

Dramatic tension is the force that drives a drama

If you have watched the movie Toy Story, and remember the scene when Woody enacts a plan to free Buzz and as Andy's moving van pulls away from his house, Woody and Buzz race to catch up before they lose Andy forever.  

Did you feel anticipation to know what would happen next?

That's 'dramatic tension' - building the audience's feelings of tension and anticipation to keep them hooked to the story of your play. 

Well, are you still wondering what happened to Andy? Don't worry, Woody and Buzz fly into Andy's car and landed safely!

Opera versus Musicals

Who doesn’t love music, rarely anyone? An opera is primarily sung, whereas in a musical, the songs are interspersed with passages of dialogue. Both operas and musicals use librettos, i.e. texts, as their basis, but in the case of opera, the singing is continuous, whereas in musicals, much of the plot is shown through the spoken scenes around the individual songs. There can often be bigger dancing sequences in musicals. 

The Function of Drama

While reading a story is powerful, watching the story be performed by actors adds a level of realism to the work. Here are some functions of drama: 

• It enables us to learn about ourselves, our society, and life in general.
• It is a means of enlightening the people on the social and moral values of society.
• It teaches us to reflect on life’s actions and experiences.
• It teaches tolerance and cooperation among people.
• It gives important information about society from the past to the present.
• It helps in creating fun and relaxation.
• It helps to build and develop confidence in people. 

Research Activity Answer: The two iconic masks associated with drama - the laughing face and the crying face - represent the traditional generic division between comedy and tragedy. These are symbols of two of the ancient Greek Muses: Thalia, the Muse of comedy, and Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy.