Elements of Drama (The Filipino Drama) PDF

SH1903 The Filipino Drama I. Elements of Drama A. Six (6) Aristotelean Elements of Drama (Lynch, n.d.) 1. Plot This contains the story that the play narrates. The events in the play should be clear to the audience and have a logical...

SH1903 The Filipino Drama I. Elements of Drama A. Six (6) Aristotelean Elements of Drama (Lynch, n.d.) 1. Plot This contains the story that the play narrates. The events in the play should be clear to the audience and have a logical connection with each other. The action and movement in the play begin from the initial entanglement or conflict, through rising action, climax, and falling action to resolution. 2. Characters Characters are interwoven with the plot, and they are the ones that move the action of the play forward. Each character should have their own distinct personality, age, appearance, beliefs, socio-economic background, and language. 3. Theme/Thought It refers to the central idea of the play. The theme also contains the message that the play gives to the audience. It may be clearly stated in the title, through dialogue or action, or it may be inferred after watching and analyzing the entire performance. 4. Language/Diction It is the word choices made by the playwright and how the actors enunciate the language. Language and dialog delivered by the characters move the plot and action along, provide exposition, and define the distinct characters. Each playwright can create their own specific style in relationship to language choices they use in establishing character and dialogue. 5. Music/Rhythm Music can encompass the rhythm of dialogue and speeches in a play or can also mean the aspects of the melody and music compositions as with musical theatre. Each theatrical presentation delivers music, rhythm and melody in its own distinctive manner. Music is not a part of every play. But, music can be included to mean all sounds in a production. Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor’s voices, songs, and instrumental music played as underscore in a play. Music creates patterns and establishes tempo in theatre. In the aspects of musical, songs are used to push the plot forward and move the story to a higher level of intensity. Composers and lyricists work together with playwrights to strengthen the themes and ideas of the play. Character’s wants and desires can be strengthened for the audience through lyrics and music. 6. Spectacle The spectacle in the theatre can involve all of the aspects of scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production. It also refers to the visual elements of the play created for theatrical event and the qualities determined by the playwright that create the world and atmosphere of the play for the audience’s eye. II. Analyzing a Drama A. Approaches to Analyzing a Drama A paper that contains a formal, written discussion of a performance of a play or musical is called a theater critique. However, the process of analyzing a piece, whether it is a prose or a poem, is called literary criticism. These are the several approaches to literary criticism: 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 4  SH1903 Formalistic Stresses items like symbols, images, and structure and how one part of the work relates to other parts and to the whole Philosophical Focuses on themes, view of the world, moral statements, and author’s philosophy Biographical Aims to find the connection between the piece and the author's personal experiences Historical Focuses on the connection of work to the historical period in which it was written; literary historians attempt to connect the historical background of the work to specific aspects of the work. Psychological Focuses on the psychology of characters Sociological Focuses on man’s relationship with others in society, politics, religion, and business Archetypal Focuses on connections to other literature, mythological/biblical allusions, archetypal images, symbols, characters, and themes Feminist Examines images of women and concepts of the feminine in myth and literature; uses the psychological, archetypal, and sociological approaches; often focuses on female characters who have been neglected in previous criticism. (Feminist critics attempt to correct or supplement what they regard as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective.) B. Guidelines in Analyzing a Drama (Clevelandplayhouse.com, n.d.) For nascent critiques Script analysis often starts with identifying the “given circumstances” or the characteristics of the world of the play explicitly or implicitly found in the script. These given circumstances place the action of the play in context for actors, designers, and audience members. Some of these are clarified in stage directions, while others are inferred from characters’ lines. As you read the script, each of the following should be identified: Time The specific time the scene takes place. Time of day, time of week time of year. For example, how would a scene that takes place in the middle of a winter night compare to a scene that takes place on a hot afternoon minutes before summer vacation? Period The general or historical time period in which the play is set (e.g., the Dark Ages, the 1950s, or in the faraway future.) How might the period influence the dialogue? How might the costumes or set pieces reflect the period? Place The specific place on stage where the action occurs. (e.g., a fancy living room, a sterile doctor’s office, or a ravaged battlefield). Is it an interior or exterior location? What sort of set pieces could suggest the place for the audience? How would characters feel or behave in this place compared to other places? Locale The general region where the play is set (e.g., New York City, the rural American South, under the sea.) What makes this locale unique compared to other locales? Mood The atmosphere, or feeling of a scene. (e.g., suspenseful, humorous, chaotic) What about the scene that causes this mood? Caution: Avoid having actors “play the mood,” but instead focus on their objective. For example, many 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 4  SH1903 humorous scenes are funny because characters are not getting what they want. The humor of the scene rings more authentically when the actors are not focused on “being funny,” but are focused on their character’s objective in the scene. Theme What ideas does this play make you think about? Does it have a question that it sets out to answer or explore? How do the events of the play develop these ideas? Once you have identified the given circumstances, keep them in mind as you work on scenes. How might they influence what happens in a scene? Do they change from scene to scene or stay constant throughout the play? How can you communicate these ideas through the actors, the costumes, and the set pieces? For intermediate critiques What distinguishes drama from other forms of writing is that it is made primarily of dialogue—characters speaking to each other (or to the audience), with some actions indicated through stage directions. Unlike prose, drama largely does not include narration, unless the playwright has included a narrator character. Because dialogue is the primary medium of drama, all dialogue should serve two purposes: revealing character and furthering the plot. When analyzing a scene, it is helpful to think about it in terms of text, context, and subtext: Text The actual words written by the playwright and spoken by the actors. As you analyze the text, look up any words, expressions, or references that are unfamiliar. Context The situation surrounding the characters, which influences the decisions they make. Where are the characters? Why are they there? Where were they before the beginning of this scene? Where are they going after this scene? Subtext The underlying meaning of what the characters say. For example, suppose a character says, “Everything is fine.” The meaning, or subtext, of this phrase changes depending on their tone and body language. Are they being serious, or sarcastic? To look for the subtext within dialogue, consider what each character wants and what obstacles they face. Why do they say the words they do? Does it help them move toward their objectives? For advance critiques All plays can be reduced to a few basic ideas: a character wants something, something hinders the character from achieving what they want, and the character tries different tactics to get what he or she wants. There may be all manner of variations on this formula, but all drama stems from conflict arising from characters pursuing what they want despite obstacles. As you reread the script, the following ideas must be identified: Objective What the characters want or need within the given moment. It helps actors to frame their objective in statements beginning with “I want” or “I need.” All characters should have objectives, not just the protagonist. Super- The broad overall objective a character has throughout the play, rather Objective than in specific scenes. For example, Hamlet’s super-objective is to avenge his father’s murder, but his objective changes in scenes 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 4  SH1903 throughout the play. Obstacle The person, event, or thing that gets in the way of a character achieving his or her objective. Sometimes the obstacle is that two characters have exact opposite objectives. The obstacles create conflict within the story. Once an obstacle is overcome, a character gets a new objective, or the play is over. Tactic An action a character makes in an attempt to achieve his or her objective. Tactics can be actual actions a character takes, or they can be spoken. For example, if a character’s objective is to make another character leave the room, the character’s tactics to achieve this objective can be anything between asking them politely to using physical force. Beat Change The moment a character decides to switch tactics, or takes on a new objective. These can be subtle moments or incredibly dramatic moments, depending on the scene. Either way, it is important to make these beat changes clear. What causes the character to change tactics? What causes the character to change objectives? References: Bair, A. (2018). The six Aristotelian elements of drama. https://www.revenueriver.co/thecuttingedge/the-6- aristotelian-elements-of-drama. Lynch, T. (n.d.). The basic elements of theater. http://homepage.smc.edu/adair-lynch_terrin/ta%205/elements.htm. Oak, M. (2018). Elements of drama. https://entertainism.com/elements-of-drama. Script analysis - Cleveland Play House. (n.d.). https://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/files/assets/ch04scriptanalysis.pdf. 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 4