University of Kordofan

Standard Faculty of Education

Department of English Language

DRAMA
En. 3032 - En. 3052

The 5th Semester Accomplished by

Ustaz: Mujtaba Mohamed Sal'lam Ahmed

January 2017

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 First Part Production of a play
History of Drama 1. The audiences (spectators)
The 19th Century Drama 2. The actors (Performers)
1. Realism 3. The structure of the script
2. Naturalism 4. Production
Types of theatre Elements of Drama
1. The proscenium stage: a. Themes:
2. The Arena theatre b. Plot/Action
3. The thrust stage. Elements of Plot:
4. Found spaces. (2) Conflict
What is drama? (3) Climax
Other definition (4) Resolution / Denouement:
Overview bout drama C. Characters
The term drama used the following three different levels; D. Language
1. Performance E. Music
2. Composition F. Spectacle
3. Branch of literature An Outline for Play Analysis
Types of Drama
1. Comedy Second Part
2. Tragedy
3. Tragic Comedy The analyses of Shakespeare play (Julius Caesar)
4. Farce 1. Plot
5. Melodrama 2. Themes
6. Pantomime 3. Character
7. Fantasy 4. Setting
8. Opera 5. Language and style
Types of English classical Drama "plays":
1. Miracle plays:
2. Mystery plays
3. Morality plays
4. The interlude

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History of Drama travelled from town to town performing these for their audience in
return for money and hospitality.
The word drama comes from the great verb dran meaning "to do" or
"to act", it refers to action or deeds performed in a theatrical setting for One of the greatest playwrights that worth mentioning here is William
the benefit of the spectators. Shakespeare (1564 -1616) who has gained recognition as an actor and
playwright, his 37 plays Vary in type; historical romances, light,
It is generally believed that drama emerged from religious ritual. At fantastic comedies, some are tragedies, all including the comical and
what precise point ritual become drama is uncertain, but formal drama farcical.
is first known from ancient Greece. Ritual drama was performed to
placate the gods and secure a society's survival the plots were derived Comedies Tragedies Histories
from the myths of the god in whose honor the ritual was performed, All's well that end well Antony and Cleopatra Henry IV, Part
there were four major celebrations, in honor of the Greek god 1
As you like it Coriolanus Henry IV, part
Dionysus. Three of these celebrations – the city Dionysian in the
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spring and Lenaia and Rural Dionysian in the winter would involve Comedy of Errors Cymbeline Henry V
drama. Love's labor's lost Julius Caesar Henry VI, Part I
Measure for measure Hamlet Henry VI Part II
Theatrical is a civic and social event which features an entertaining Merchant of Venice king Lear Henry VI Part
performance in front of audience. An audience is necessary for drama III
to be considered true theater. Some dramatic rituals, like many of those Merry Wives of Macbeth Henry VIII
performed in Egypt are not true theatre because only the king and Windsor Romeo and Juliet Pericles
priests were allowed to participate or observe. Dream Timon of Athens Richard II
Much ado about nothing Titus Andronicus Richard III
Concerning English literature drama was introduced to England from Nothing Troilus and Cressida
Europe by Romans and auditoriums were constructed across the Taming of the shrew
country for this purpose. By the medieval period, the mummers plays Tempest
Twelfth night
had developed, a form of early street theatre associated with the Morris
Two gentlemen of Verona
dance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George and the Dragon Winter's tale
and Robin Hood. These folk tales retelling old stories and the actors

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The 19th Century Drama
The drama in the 19th century was much affected, as drama always
must be, by social conditions, and by theatrical conditions which social
development brought about. When the earlier years of the century had
passed and the fall of Napoleon had relived England of much danger
and anxiety, the least educated and the uneducated part of the
population began to improve in manners and in mind; and one of the
means of refinement of which they showed a desire to avail themselves
was the drama. Hitherto to a very extent, the theatre had been the
amusement of educated classes only. The pit was still occupied by the
acutest critics, members of the professional or the higher commercial
classes.
The people had not yet begun to take any wide or keen interest in the
drama. The 19th century saw the influx of the populace into theatre and
the populace, though ready to have its taste improved brought with it
its love of sensational incident and of broad humour. Not for it the
elegant, if rather bloodless, tragedy, and fine comedy, of high life,
which had been the educated theatre-goers' staple fare. Caring nothing
for poetry or for the subtler shades of feeling, it needed a hearty kind
of play, full of excitement and written in expressive, high flown
language; it needed stories of passion or terror, or lively fun. And little
by little the demand created the supply. The 19th century saw the
drama become for the first time since the days of Queen Elizabeth, a
popular amusement. For the most part educated classes and the higher
ranks of society ceased to attend the theatre. It needed the attraction of
some famous actor – Kemble, the two keans, or Macready to draw
them back to what had been their special province and until some years
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later than the middle of the century, the creation of nay drama of high
quality was dependent upon the fame of some great actor who could
draw refined and educated people to witness it. Drama is dominated by
to movements which represent the legacy of the 19th century drama
and thus constitute a dramatic background to the 20th century drama;
these are Realism and Naturalism
1. Realism
Theatre can be divided into two general groups, Realism and Non-
Realism. Realism tries to be as close to reality as possible while Non-
Realism (Absurdism, Surrealism, Dadaism etc.) introduces highly un-
traditional stories, characters, setting, acting styles etc.
Realism is a very popular theatre movement during the 19th and early
20th centuries. It revolved around making the stories and character
reflected real life instead of the usual romanticist and escapist plays
performed. This was brought to the extreme by the naturalist
movement. While Realism reflects people as they really are Naturalism
tends to try and explain what determines their personalities and actions
especially focusing on things like social environment and heredity.
Realism and Naturalism tended to focus on the reality of life.
One of the most well known realist works is Look Back In Anger,
which is a British play about a love triangle between Jimmy, his wife
Alison, and her friend Helena.
2. Naturalism
Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that
developed in the late 19th century and early 19th centuries. It refers to
theatre that attempts in create an illusion of reality through a range of
dramatic and theatrical strategies.
Interest in naturalism especially flourished with the French playwrights
of the time, but the most successful example is Strindberg's plays, Miss
Julie, which was written with the intention to abide by the theories
both his own particular version of naturalism and also the version
described by the French novelist and literary theoretician Emile Zola.
Naturalism emphasizes everyday speech forms, plausibility in the
writing (no ghosts, spirits or gods intervening in the human action), a
choice of subjects are contemporary and reasonable (no exotic,
otherworldly or fantastic locales, nor historical or mythic time
periods); an extension of the social range of characters portrayed (not
only the aristocrats of classical drama, to include bourgeois and
working – class protagonists) and social conflicts; and a style of acting
that attempts to recreate the impression of reality. Both realism and
naturalism adopt the illusion of reality, which is a false sense of reality.
Terms of illusion of reality drama can be divided into:
o Illusory drama: is drama which adopts the illusion of reality.
Here the audiences are made to believe that they are watching
reality. Realism and naturalism are examples of the illusory
drama.
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o Anti-illusory drama: the drama here tends to break the
illusion of reality. Examples of these are the dramatic
movement in the 20th c.
a. Theatre of the Absurd – French
it is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a
number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as
one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their
work expressed what happens when human existence has no meaning
or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down, in fact
alerting their audience to pursue the opposite. Logical construction and
argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its
ultimate conclusion, silence.
b. The poor Theatre – Polish:
it creates theatre that strives to eliminate the obstacles between the
spectator and the performance, exposing the honest and spontaneous
connection of actors on the stage.
c. The theatre of Cruelty – French:
It is a type of theatre that seeks to communicate to it audience a sense
of pain, suffering, and evil, using gesture, movement, sound, and
symbolism rather than language.
d. The Epic theatre – German:
Form of didactic drama presenting a series of loosely connected scenes
that avoid illusion and often interrupt the story line to address the
audience directly with analysis, argument, or documentation
Types of theatre
There are a number of different types of theatre stages. Some are
intimate and good for small audiences while others are better for large
scale musicals.
1. The proscenium stage:
The proscenium stage is a traditional form of theatre; the audience
views the stage through an opening in one direction. The stage is
surrounded by three walls and the fourth is a curtain. When the curtain
is raised the stage will be in full view of the audience, when it is
lowered it will conceal the stage form the audiences. The audiences are
physically separated from the stage and view it in one direction.
The numerous advantages of the proscenium stage have led to its
popularity in the west. Backdrops, curtains and lighting can be used to
greater effect without risk of rigging being visible to the audience.
Entrances and exits can be making more graceful; surprise becomes
possible. The actors only concentrate on playing to the audience in one
direction.
One of the main disadvantages of the proscenium is that, action can
only be viewed from one side. This creates a barrier (the fourth wall)
between actors and the audience.
2. The Arena theatre
The arena stage is often referred to as 'theatre in the round' because the
audience sits around the central stage. The stage itself in this
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arrangement is typically round, square, or triangle with actors entering
and exiting through the audience from different directions or from
below the stage.
The advantages of theatre in the round
 The audience feels included in the play, and equally the actors
on stage feel included in the audience.
 There is less division between actors and audience.
Disadvantages of the theatre in the round
 It is very intimidating having all those people completely
surrounding the actors; it is kind of giving feeling of
claustrophobia, because there is no where the actors can
onstage to be away from audience.
 The actors have to be much more careful about how they
structure their piece, because they have to think of if they will
be able to be seen by the audience.
 The actors have to be in diagonals rather than straight lines,
and they will always have their backs to one side of the
audience.
3. The thrust stage.
It is a compromise between the proscenium and the arena. The
audience seated in a semi-circle. Exits and entrances of actors are
made from the back stage. The arrangement of this stage combines the
good features of the proscenium and arena. With thrust staging
(audience on two or three sides) the action is brought closer to the
audience and sometime into the audience allowing for less of a barrier
and more interesting stage pictures.
A thrust sage has its advantages and disadvantages, some of the basic
obvious advantages are the intimacy of semi-circle seating, the close
audience relationship to the performance, and the fact that many
famous plays and scripts were make for the thrust stage.
The disadvantages are rare; the obvious one is that many audiences
couldn't watch the play because seating arrangement did not go all the
way around the stage.
4. Found spaces.
A found space is a non-theatrical space which used for production,.
Typically the space is chosen because of its context to the play. Here
one needs an effort to modify and rearrange some places such as a
football pitch, a school, a street..etc. to suit his purpose.
A found space can also refer to a building that has been altered from its
original purpose to support ongoing theatre production.
What is drama?
It is a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or
pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character,
especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play, The branch of
literature having such compositions as its subject; dramatic art or
representation.
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Other definition
- A drama, or a play, is a piece of writing that is presented almost
exclusively through dialogue. Like a short story or novel, it has
a setting, characters, plot and even symbolism. However, the
way in which they are presented to the audience is different,
because unlike a short story or novel, the play is meant to be
performed in front of an audience, not read.
- Drama is a type of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended
to be more serious than humorous in tone,[1] focusing on in-
depth development of realistic characters who must deal with
realistic emotional struggles. A drama in this context is
commonly considered the opposite of a comedy, but may also
be considered distinct from other works of some broad types of
literature, such as a fantasy.
- Drama is literature written for performance--or at least written
in a style that would allow for stage performance. As a text
form, drama can be thought of as story told though spoken
remarks and stage directions.
- A situation or succession of events in real life having the
dramatic progression or emotional effect characteristics of a
play; the drama of prisoner's escape and recapture
- A serious narrative work or program for television, radio or the
cinema.
- The literary genre of works intended for the theatre.
Drama Overview
Drama as a literary genre is realized in performance. As a literary
from, it is designed for the theatre because characters are assigned
roles and they act out their roles as the action is enacted on stage.
These character can be human beings, dead or spiritual beings,
animals, or abstract qualities. Drama is an adaptation, recreation and
reflection of reality on stage. Generally, the word, dramatist is used for
any artist who is involved in any dramatic composition either in
writing or in performance.
Drama is different from other genres of literature. It has unique
characteristics that have come about in response to its peculiar nature.
Really, it is difficult to separate drama from performance because
during, the stage performance of a play, drama brings life experience
realistically to the audience. It is the most concrete of all genres of
literature. When you are reading a novel, you read a story as told by
the novelist. The poems message in most cases is not direct because it
is presented in a compact form or in a condensed language. The
playwright does not tell the story instead you get the story as the
characters interact and live out their experiences on stage. in drama the
character /actors talk to themselves and react to issues according to the
impulse of the moment. Drama therefore presented in dialogue.
The dramatic is used for any situation or action which creates a sense
of an abnormality or the unexpected. Sometimes we use it to describe
an action that is demonstrated or exaggerated, what then drama?
Drama is an imitation of life drama is different from other forms of
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literature because of its unique characteristics. It is read but basically,
it is composed to be performed, so the ultimate aim of dramatic
composition is for it to be presented on stage before an audience. This
implies that it is a medium of communications. It has a message to
communicate to audience. It uses actors to convey this message. This
brings us to the issue of mimesis or imitation. We say that that drama
is mimetic which means that it imitates life. You may have heard
people say that drama mirrors life. Yes, it is the only branch of
literature which tries to imitate life and presents it realistically to the
people. It is this mimetic impulse of drama that makes it appeal to
people. Drama thrives on action.
The term drama used the following three different levels;
1. Performance
2. Composition
3. Branch of literature
(1) Performance
Drama is used for plays that are acted on stage or screen. These
plays are different from musical performance because they must tell
stories which are different from musical performances because they
must tell stories which are acted out by actors and actresses. These
actors and actresses must be playing roles by imitating other
characters. It means therefore, that they must assume other people's
personalities by bearing different names, ages, occupation,
nationalities, etc. finally, they must be conscious of themselves as
actors by trying hard to pretend that they are the characters they are
representing.
(2) Composition
Drama is used to describe a dramatic composition which employs
language and pantomime to present a story or series of events intended
to be performed. Sometimes especially with written compositions, they
may not be present on stage but this does not stop it from being drama.
In as much as a play is enjoyed more when it is performed, you can
still read a play and be entertained by it.
(3) Branch of literature
Drama is a term used for that branch of literature that covers dramatic
composition. You may already know that drama is a literary art. The
basic difference between drama and other forms of literature (prose
and poetry) is that drama present in dialogue from the beginning to the
end and acted in sage under playwright direction. We have dialogue in
prose and poetry but they are interjected in the course of the story.
Types of Drama
There are different kind of drama; comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy,
farce, melodrama, pantomime, fantasy and opera.
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1. Comedy
Comedy comes from the Greek word (komos) which means a revel (a
sort of rough country party, usually noisy and made in honor of
Dionysus. (The god of vegetation and wine). A play written in a kindly
or humorous, perhaps bitter or satiric vein, in which the problems or
difficulties of the characters are resolved satisfactorily i.e. have happy
end, and intended to make audience laugh.
2. Tragedy
A play written in a serious, sometimes impressive or elevated style, in
which things go wrong (death of one or more character) and cannot be
set right except at great cost or sacrifice. Aristotle said that tragedy
should purge our emotions by evoking pity and fear (or compassion
and awe) in us, the spectators. In ancient times, a tragedy was a
historical drama featuring the downfall of a great man.
The Tragic pattern:
1. A theme of fatal passion (excluding love) as a primary motive
2. An outstanding personality as center of conflict (classical
tragedy demanded a ―noble‖ character)
3. A vital weakness within the hero’s character (his tragic flaw
which precipitates the tragedy)
4. The conflict within the hero is the source of tragedy. However,
since Nietzsche, the tragic flaw is often found to be in the
universe itself, or in man’s relationship to it, rather than in the
hero himself.
3. Tragic Comedy
A play with the sincerity and earnestness of tragedy but without its
inevitability of impending disaster, and with the kindly and tolerant
attitude of comedy but without its underlying spirit of humour; uses
tense situations and moments of extreme conflict, but the tragedy is
averted and transcended. This is also serious play has some of the
qualities of comedy. It arouses thought even with laughter.
4. Farce
A comedy in which story, character, and especially situations are
exaggerated to the point of improbability; the situation begins with a
highly improbable premise, but when that is accepted everything that
follows is completely logical. Fast moving; uses such theatrical
devices as duplications, reversals, repetitions, surprises, disguises,
chance encounters, often many doors and closets.
5. Melodrama
A play in which the characters are types rather than individuals, the
story and situations exaggerated to the point of improbability or
sensationalism and the language and emotion over-emphasized. The
formulaic storyline of the classic melodrama typically involves a
villain a heroine, and a hero must rescue the heroine from the villain.
6. Pantomime
Pantomime is the art of using movement and facial expressions rather
than primarily the spoken word to communicate. A play in which
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performers express ideas and actions by movements only, The name of
pantomime was originally given to actors who act in a dumb how, but
later was attached to the performance itself.
7. Fantasy
Fantasy is a complete fictional work where characters virtually display
supernatural skills. It is more appealing to children as fairies, angles,
superheroes, etc., are embedded in the plot Use of magic, pseudo
science, horror, and spooky themes through various kinds of technical
devices create a perfect world of fantasy.
8. Opera
It is theatrical presentation in which dramatic performance is set to
music. It is a staged drama set to music in its entirety, made up of
vocal pieces with instrumental accompaniment and usually with
orchestral overtures and interludes. In some operas the music is
continuous through an act.
Types of English classical Drama "plays":
1. Miracle plays:
Scared drama was introduced to England by the Normans plays
about the Gospel and the miracles of the saints became more elaborate,
demanded more stage managing, eventually turned into complete
presentations divorced from the ritual of the church.
In fact, the term of miracle plays cover all religious plays of the middle
ages but it is best to apply it to those plays that came out of the church
into towns thus the process of secularization (i.e. the control and
participation of non-religious in the plays) began, but as soon these
plays became divorced from the service of the church, the church itself
began to frown on them and for forbid clerical participation in them.
2. Mystery plays
The term "Mystery" means here a craft, a skill or trade. Like métier in
French and mestiere in Italian. In 1264 Pope Urban instituted the feast
of "Corpus Christ" which means the "body of Christ" this feast never
observed until 1311 when a church council decreed that it should be
celebrated with all due to ceremony. Accordingly, trade Guilds
(organizations of skilled men) started performing a cycle of plays
based on incidents from the bible. Thus mystery plays representing the
feast of "Corpus Christi" started.
3. Morality plays
The miracle and mystery plays were of religious nature taking their
themes from Christianity. Later on a kind of semi-religious plays made
their way into drama. The morality was not a guild play and it did not
take its subject from the bible. Instead, it tried to teach moral lesson
through allegory (i.e. presenting abstract ideas as though they were real
people. Like piers plowman and 'everyman' which is a Dutch play.
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4. The interlude
It is a kind of a short play performed in the middle of something else.
Some interludes have instructive purpose like "interlude of God
promises" which argues about free will and grace. (Man cannot
achieve salvation through good works only but he needs to believe in
the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ), other interlude have no
instructive purpose at all; like the interludes of John Heywood. (e.g. in
one of his interludes called the four Ps which stands for the four
characters of the play; each character name starts with the letter 'P'
Palmer, Pardoner, Pothecary, and Pedlar) – The four characters or the
four Ps talk in this interlude without any serious purpose; they just
want to see who can tell the biggest lie.
Production of a play
Talking about plays, productions, and performance can be difficult,
especially since there's so much overlap in the uses of these terms.
Although there are some exceptions, usually plays are what's on the
written page. A production of a play is a series of performances, each
of which may have its own idiosyncratic features.
1. The audiences (spectators)
Drama depends on the concept of audience, if the audience do not go
to the theatre, no work of drama will be engaged. When a playwright
wants to make a play he writes for a particular type of audience. In
traditional drama, the audiences are made to believe that they are all
involved. They watch with their hearts rather than their minds. So they
are considered of reason. On other hand the contemporary audiences
are considered to be active participants because they intellectually
involved. They watch with their minds rather than their heart. This will
lead to the development of the theatre. For this reason contemporary
drama is considered to be non-illusory drama because it tends to
eliminate or reduce the illusion of reality and increase the audience
critical awareness.
2. The actors (Performers)
In realistic and naturalistic drama actors are trained to represent
characters from both inside and outside. In Greek drama, the actor is
called a hypocrite because he conceals his own identity and adopts the
identity of the character he is impersonating; however, in
contemporary drama the actor represent the character from outside
only in order to reduce the illusion of reality. There is physical
interaction between the actors and the audience. The audience may
replace the actor. The contemporary actor must be talented and highly
skilful and should have the ability to improvise (depart from the
written text).
3. The structure of the script
A script is a piece of writing in the form of drama, drama is different
from prose forms of writing like novels and short stories because it is
intended to be performed, either on stage, radio, television or film.
This means that it has to sound effective when it is read out loud. It
also means that it has to be written in a special form.
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The written text in traditional drama is written in verse, this is of
course during the Elizabethan Jacobean drama (the time of
Shakespeare), but modern drama is written in prose. In contemporary
drama the text is the least stable element; sometimes in the 20th
century, drama is not text based at all. The text like the theatre itself is
something ephemeral.
4. Production
Several participants are involved in a play production; producers,
lighting designer, costume designer and publicity man.
a. Producers: a theatrical producer is typically the only person
involved in a stage play from concept to finish, he is
responsible for all financial aspects of the production and also
oversees and manages other areas of the project. Some
producers move beyond the local sphere of influence conduct
regional and national stage play tours.
b. Lighting designer: Lighting designer knows how to make the
best use of the subtle and powerful medium of light, creating
effects that can be changed at will to match the mood of the
action.
At its most basic, stage lighting functions to make the actors and their
environs visible to the audience. But can also be used to:
 Evoke the appropriate mood
 Indicate time of day and location
 Shift emphasis from one stage area to another
  Reinforce the style of the production
 Make objects on stage appear flat or three dimensional
 Blend the visual elements on stage into a unified whole.
c. Costume designer: costume designer is the most personal
aspect of design and must create clothes for character that, on
the one hand, reflect the ideas and goals of the play, but on the
other hand should look like the character chose the clothing in
the same way you choose yours every day. Similarly, because
we all wear clothes but probably don’t design houses,
audiences and actors will make strong, personal associations
with what a character is wearing on stage. the costume
designer's goals are similar to the set designers goals. These
goals can be broken into five categories. Costume should help
establish tone and style, time and place, and character
information, and costumes should aid the performer and co-
ordinate with the director's and other designer's concepts.
d. Publicity man: there are many, ways to publicize a play:
newspapers, magazines, radio, the internet (websites, email and
social media) even television in some cases, as well as posters,
flyers, postcards and good, old fashioned word of mouth.
Elements of Drama
In his works the poetics Aristotle outlined the six elements of drama
which involve: theme, action or plot, characters, language, music and
spectacle.
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a. Themes:
This element refers to what the play means as opposed to what
happens (the plot). Sometimes the theme is clearly stated in the title. It
may be stated through dialogue by a character acting as the
playwright's voice or it may be the theme is less obvious and emerges
only after some study or thought.
b. Plot/Action
The events of a play, the story as opposed to the theme, what happens
rather than what it means? The plot must have some sort of unity rather
than standing alone without connection to what came before it or what
follows. In the plot of a play, characters are involved in conflict that
has a pattern of movement. The action and movement in the play
begins from the initial entanglement, through rising action, climax and
falling action to resolution.
Elements of Plot:
Rising Action
(1) Exposition
Everything the audience needs to know to understand the play. [Can
occur throughout the play...]
What is the "antecedent action" (everything that has happened before
the play begins)? and how is it revealed?
What is the "point of attack" -- (where does the play begin in relation
to the story?) Is it an early or late point of attack? (W/G discuss the late
point of attack in climactic dramatic structure...)
* Foreshadowing
It is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is
to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the
beginning of a story or a chapter and helps the reader develop
expectations about the coming events in a story.
What's the difference between a soliloquy and a monologue?
A monologue:
from the Greek monos ("single") and legein ("to speak") — is a
speech given by a single person to an audience. Marc Antony delivers
a well-known monologue to the people of Rome in Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar. You probably know how it starts:
A monologue might be delivered to an audience within a play, as it is
with Antony's speech, or it might be delivered directly to the audience
sitting in the theater and watching the play.
Soliloquy:
From the Latin solus ("alone") and loqui ("to speak") — is a speech
that one gives to oneself. In a play, a character delivering a soliloquy
talks to herself — thinking out loud, as it were — so that the audience
better understands what is happening to the character internally.
(2) Conflict
The clash of opposing forces: man vs. self, vs. man, vs. environment,
vs. natural forces, vs. group, vs. God, or group vs. group.
(3) Climax
The point at which one or the other of the forces is favored; the point at
which events must turn in one direction or another. Not necessarily the
"high point"
(4) Resolution / Denouement:
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Whatever comes after the climax, not always resolved satisfactorily:
C. Characters
These are the people presented in the play that are involved in the
perusing plot. Each character should have his/her own distinct
personality, age, appearance.
D. Language
The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the
actors of the language. Language and dialogue delivered by the
characters move the plot and action along, provide exposition and
define the relationship to language choices they use in establishing
character and dialogue.
E. Music
Music can encompass the rhythm of dialogue and speeches in 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 n a
production. Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor's voices,
songs, and instrumental music played as underscore in a play. In the
aspects of musical the songs are sued to push the plot forward and
move the story to higher level of intensity. Composers and lyricist
work together with playwrights to strengthen the themes and ideas of
the play. Character's wants and desires can be strengthening for the
audience though lyrics and music.
F. Spectacle Exposition demanded by the text: lighting
Initiating incident costumes
The spectacle in the theatre can involve all of the aspects of scenery, Obstacles or conflicts music
costume, and special effects in a production. The visual elements of the Crisis dance
Climax sound effects
play created for theatrical event. The qualities determined by the
Resolution or denouement important props
playwright that create the world and atmosphere of the play for the 4. Use of dramatic devices: irony, foreshadowing, suspense, surprises
audience's eye. 5. Language: realistic, heroic, archaic, poetic, incantatory, orghast

An Outline for Play Analysis 6. Setting: period of style

Name of play Scene changes or changes within single set as play progresses
Date of play mood
The author and his social milieu essential scenic elements
Type of theatre for which the play was written symbolism
Genre: tragedy, comedy, drama, farce, melodrama
Author’s purpose
1. Theme: major theme
minor themes

2. Character:
The end
Protagonist: character analysis

motivation
fatal flaw or comic weakness
character evolvement
Antagonist
Other characters: their function in relation to protagonist
Their function within structure of play
3. Plot: main action
Subplots

Other production requirements

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