LESSON NINE

READING A DRAMA

A.WHAT IS DRAMA?
Drama is an English word derived from the Greek word DRAN which
means TO DO . In literature it is a name given to a story composed in dialogues
and meant to be acted on stage.

B. TYPES OF DRAMA
A drama is either a TRAGEDY or a COMEDY. A tragedy is the drama
identified with a sad ending while comedy is one identified with a happy ending.
1. Tragedy
This is about the serious side of life, defecting that which is great in man.
But, in the course of life, the limitation of this greatness comes out, the so-called
character flaw and is made to be the cause of a misfortune for the character. The
coming out of the character flaw amounts to saying that a man no matter how
great or strong has somehow his own share of weakness that if not guarded
properly can be the cause of his doom or tragic end . Or, this may be a story of a
struggle in life that ends up in failure.
2. Comedy
On the other hand, this drama is concerned with the lighter side usually with
the weakness of a man, that may be enough to stir laughter. This human weakness
reveals that the fun is gives is only at the surface because under or behind this fun
is something really serious to think about.
3. Other Types
If not tragedy or comedy, a drama may simply be a drama that which gives
neither a sad or a happy story but rather any story of struggle in life that gets
resolved without any casualty.
In addition, a drama may also be called according to the number of acts it is
composed. Thus, it may also be called a One-Act drama, a Two-Act drama, a
Three-Act drama, a Four-Act drama or a Five-Act drama.
C. ELEMENTS OF A DRAMA
The building up of this elements however differs somehow. The drama’s
dialog form, limited in the use of description and narration, makes this difference
which can be described as follows:
1. Setting
If in a short story, this is build up implicitly throughout, in a drama, this is
given at the beginning before the running of the dialogue. However, it uses several
scenes, changing with change of setting.
2.Character
`This is the life-giving element of the drama. This may be flat character or a
round character; a static character or dynamic character. Depending on the role or
exposure given any one of them, it may be a major character or a minor character;
or a hero or antihero.
A flat character is basically a one-dimensional character. This means a
character of only one role in the story, that is, if he is a father, he comes out only as
a father of a son or daughter and does not develop any further into let’s say, a
husband to a wife in the drama or a neighbor to possible other characters with him.
A round character, on the other hand, is a multi-dimensional character.
This means that one character with one major role is able to evolve into several
beings in relation to his/her co-characters in the drama. Thus, a character who is a
father in his major role can at the same time be a husband, a community leader, a
friend; or a character who is serious most of the time can also be funny at times.
A static character is an unmotivated character. What he/she is at the
beginning, is also what he/she is at the end, showing no change in his nature. He
seems never affected by all the events around him/her.
A dynamic character, on the other hand, is one that is motivated. He/she is
affected by the events around him/her; thus, comes out a different character at the
end. He turns out a character transformed either from bad to good, or vise versa; or
from being an introvert to being an extrovert, or vise versa.
Depending on the role or exposure given any ones of them, it may be
major character or a minor character, or a hero or an anti-hero.
 A major character is the lead role player. Thus, the one with the longest
exposure in the drama. This is the one made to go through a crisis – physically,
emotionally, mentally, morally – that at the end, would make him/her either
overcome it or overtaken by it.
A minor character, on the other hand, is the support role player. Thus, with
only a shorter exposure in the drama. This is the one usually made as the sidekick
or alter ego of the major character.
A hero is a major character or protagonist made to go through a serious
problem or a big adventure which is made for him to hurdle usually to uphold the
good against the evil, or to boost the morale of the weak in times of trouble, or to
lead people from humdrumness of life to greater heights of ideals.
An antihero is a minor character or an antagonist that makes a hero or
protagonist. This is the one that gives the problem and adventure that a hero or
protagonist is made to overcome to make him come out the upholder of the good
against evil, or the morale booster of the weak in times of trouble, or the leader of t
he people from humdrumness of life to greater heights of ideals.
3.Characterization
This is the manner by which a character is revealed physically, emotionally,
mentally, morally, aesthetically, and the like. If in a short story this element is
given directly by telling or indirectly by showing, in a drama, it is always done
both ways. The characterized directly as to the roles they portray and their
relationship with one another. After this direct characterization, more about their
characters are given indirectly by their dialogues. To get deeper into the character
of each “persona” you need to observe closely what he or she said and what are
said to him or her.
4. Plot
In a drama, this also means a sequence of events but the sequencing is
presented in acts divided into scenes. There are some which even use a prologue as
beginning and an epilogue as ending.
Some parts may be even be set up as a monologue or as a drama within a
drama.
5. Theme
As this is the central message of any story, so is this in a drama. Its hope for
development in a drama also lies in the dialogue. At times, this is a line delivered
by one of the characters at any moment of realization of mistakes or evil that grips
him or her and from which he or she likes to get out or about which he or she likes
to make amends.
6. Dialogue
Being a composition in dialogue, a drama is limited in the use of narration,
description and exposition that other stories are free enough to use. That is why it
is in the power of this dialogue that the creation of the setting, the building up of
character/s, the development of the theme and the directing of the plot greatly lie.
The dialogue reveals the style of the drama. This style gives a picture of the
drama in its language; its choice of words and expressions in the character’s
exchange of feelings and thoughts.
D. SCANNING A DRAMA
Again, you can do this by looking for any information you want from it. And
this information may be the title, subtitle, playwright, cast of characters.
Or you may want to look for a dialogue, strange word, a figurative
expression, idiomatic expression, and the like
E. SKIMMING A DRAMA
1. To preview
a. Read the title.
b. Read the author.
Gloria: (A small woman about Mario’s age, with long hair and a scrawny
body, comes out wiping her hands on her dress); I am glad your home
early.
Mario: How is Tita? (Without waiting for an answer, he enters the dwelling).
Gloria: (Crosses to the bench); Don’t wake her up, Mario. She’s tired. She
cried the whole day.
Mario: (Reappears and crosses to the bench and sits an one and): Has she
been eating well?
Gloria: She wouldn’t eat even a mouthful of lugao. But I’ll buy her some
biscuits. Maybe she’ll eat them. (She slips her fingers into his breast pocket.)
I’ll take some of the money---
Mario: (Rises, annoyed): Gloria! Can’t you wait a minute?
Gloria: (Taken a back): Hey, what’s that matter? Why are you suddenly
touchy?
Mario: Who would’t be? I’m talking to you about the child and you bother
me by ransacking my pocket! I wish you’d think more of your daughter.
Gloria: (Crosses to the center): My God! Wasn’t I thinking of her? Why do
you think I need some money? To buy me a pretty dress? Or see a movie?
Mario: Tone down your voice. You’ll wake the child up.
Gloria: (Low but intense): All I want is a little money to buy her something to
eat! She hasn’t eaten anything all day! That was why I was “bothering” you!
Mario: (Repetant): I’m sorry, Gloria. . . (Grips her arm and turns away).
Gloria: It’s all right, Mario. Now, may I have some of the money?
Mario: (Turns to her): Money? I . . . I don’t have any . . . not right now.
Gloria: Today is pay day, Mario.
Mario: Yes. . . but . . .
Gloria: But what? Where’s your pay for the week?
Mario: I don’t . . . have it.
Gloria: What? I waited for you the whole day and you tell me---
Mario: (Angry). ---that I have nothing! Nothing! What do you want me to do
--- steal?
Gloria: I’m not asking you to do a thing like that! All I want to know is what
you did your pay.
Mario: (Sits on the bench): Nothing is left of it.
Gloria: Nothing? What happened?
Mario: Oh, I had a few drinks with my friends. Before I knew it, I had spent
every centavo of it.
Gloria: (Eyeing him intently): Mario, do you thin you can make a fool of me?
Haven’t I seen you drunk before? Crawling home like a wounded snake
and reeking of alcohol like a hospital? You don’t smell or look drunk.
Mario: All right, so I didn’t go drinking.
Gloria: But your pay --- what happened to it?
Mario: It’s better if you don’t know, Gloria.
Gloria: Look, Mario, I’m your wife. I have the right to half of everything you
get. If I can’t have my share, I have the right to know atleast where it went!
Mario: Gloria, you’ll feel better if you don’t know.
Gloria: I must know!
Mario: All right. (Rises.) I spent it all on another woman.
Gloria: Another woman? I don’t believe it. I know you wouldn’t do such a
thing.
Mario: I didn’t know you had so much faith in me.
Gloria: No, Mario, what I mean is --- you wouldn’t spend all your money
when you know your daughter may need some of it. You love her too much
to do that.
(Mario sits down and buries his head on his hands. Gloria crosses to
him and lays a hand on his shoulder)
Gloria: What’s wrong, Mario?
Mario: (Turns his face away): Nothing Gloria,.nothing.
Gloria: (Sits beside him): I know something is wrong. Mario I can feel it. Tell
me what it is.
Mario: (Stares at the ground) Gloria, I’ve lost my job.
Gloria: (Rises shocked): Oh, no!
Mario: (Looks up at her): It is true, Gloria.
Gloria: What about your pay for the whole week?
Mario: I lost my job a week ago.
Gloria: And you never even told me!
Mario: I thought I could get another, without making you worry.
Gloria: Do you think you can get another in five months? It took you that long
to get the last one.
Mario: It won’t take me as long to get another.
Gloria: But how did you lose it?
Mario: (Rises and turns away): What’s the use of talking about it? That won’t
bring it back.
Gloria: (Suddenly in an agonized voice): Mario!
Mario: (Turns around): Yes?
Gloria: Have your sinful fingers brought you trouble again?
Mario: Now, now, Gloria! Don’t try to accuse me, as they did!
Gloria: What did they accuse you of?
Mario: Just what you meant to say. Pilfering, they call it.
Gloria: What else would you like to call it? (Pause): What, according to them,
did you steal?
Mario: (Low): It was nothing much, really nothing at all.
Gloria: What was it?
Mario: It was --- an apple.
Gloria: An apple! You mean ---
Mario: An apple! Don’t you know what an apple is?
Gloria: You mean, you took one apple ---
Mario: Yes, and they kicked me out for it; for taking one, single apple. Not a
dozen, not a crate ---
Gloria: That’s what you get for not stopping to think before you do
something.
Mario: (Sits down): Could I have guessed they would do that for one apple?
When there were millions of them? (Pause). We were hauling them to the
warehouse. I saw one roll out of a broken crate. It was that big.
(Demonstrates). It looked so delicious. Suddenly, I found myself putting it in
my lunch bag.
Gloria: That’s the trouble with you: when you think of your own stomach,
you think of nothing else!
Mario: I was not thinking of myself!
Gloria: Whom were you thinking of – me? Did I ever ask you to bring home
apples? I am not crazy as that.
Mario: I was thinking of our child.
Gloria: Tita? Why? Did she ever ask for apples?
Mario: Yes, she did. (Pause). Do you remember that day I took her out for a
walk? On our way home we passed a grocery store that sold “delicious”
apples at seventy centavos each. She wanted me to buy one for her, but I did
not have seventy centavos. What I did was to buy her one of those small
green apples they sell on the sidewalk, but she just threw it away, saying it
was not a real apple. Then she cried. (Pause). So . . . when I saw this apple
roll out of the broken crate, I thought that Tita would love to have it.
Gloria: You should have tried to bring home pan-de-sal, or rice, or milk – and
not those “delicious” apples. We’re not rich. We can live without apples.
Mario: Why? Did God create apple trees to bear fruit for the rich alone?
Didn’t he create the whole world for everyone? That’s why I tried to bring
 the apple home for tita. When we brought her into this world we sort of
promised her everything she had a right to have in life.
Gloria: So, for me measly apple, you lost a job you needed so much –
Mario: I wouldn’t mind losing a thousand jobs for an apple for my daughter!
Gloria: Where is this apple you prized so much? Is it here? (Crosses to the
bench to get the lunch bag.)
Mario: No, It isn’t there. They kept it --- as evidence. (Sits down.)
Gloria: See? You lost your job trying to filch an apple and you even lost the
apple for which you lost your job.
(Gloria puts away the shoes and the lunch bag. She sits on the steps and
they remain silent for a time.)
Gloria: Filching an apple --- that’s too small a reason to kick a poor man out
of work. You should ask them to give you a second chance, Mario.
Mario: They won’t do that.
Gloria: Why not?
Mario: (Rises): Can’t you see they had been waiting for me to make a slip
like that? They’ve wanted to throw me out for any reason, so they may bring
their own men in.
Gloria: You should complain ---
Mario: Suppose I did? What would they do? They would dig up my police
record.
Gloria: (Crosses to him): But, Mario, that was so long ago! Why would they
try to dig that thing up?
Mario: They’ll do anything to keep me out. (Holds her arm.) But don’t worry.
I’ll find another job nowadays . (From this point he avoids her eyes.) You
know, I’ve been job-hunting for a week now. And I think I have found a
good job.
Gloria: There you go, lying again.
Mario: Believe me. I’m not lying this time.
Gloria: (Crosses to the center): You’re always lying --- I can’t tell when
you’re telling the truth.
Mario: In fact I’ll see someone tonight who knows the company that needs a
night watchman.
Gloria: (Holds his arm): Aren’t you only trying to make me feel better, Mario
Mario: No, Gloria.
Gloria: Honest?
Mario: (Avoids her eyes): Honest! (Sits down).
Gloria: (Sighs happily, looks up): I knew god wouldn’t let us down. He never
lets anybody down. I’ll pray tonight and ask Him to let you have that job.
(Looks at Mario): But, Mario, would it mean that you’d have to stay out all
night?
Mario: That would be all right. I can always sleep during the day.
Gloria: (Brushes against him like a cat): What I mean is, it will be different
when you aren’t by my side at night. (Walks away from him): But, oh, I
think I’ll get used to it. (Crosses to the center and turns around): Why don’t
you go and see this friend of yours right now? Anyway you don’t have
anything to do tonight. Don’t you think it’s wise to see him as early as you
can?
Mario: (After a pause): Yes, I think I’ll do that.
(Gloria crosses to the steps to get his hoes, followed by Mario.)
Gloria: (Hands him the shoes): Here, Mario, put these on and go. I’ll stay up
and wait for you. (Sits on the steps and watches him).
Mario: (Putting on the shoes): No, Gloria, you must not wait for me. I may be
back quite late.
Gloria: All right. But I doubt if I can sleep a wink until you return.
(Gloria comes up to him after he finishes and tries to hug him, but he
pushes her away. Suddenly confused, he sits on the steps. Gloria sits
beside him and plays with his hands.)
Gloria: Mother was wrong. You know, before we got married, she used to tell
me: “Gloria, you’ll commit the greatest mistake of your life if you marry
that good-for-nothing loafer! You can’t make him any straighter than you
could crooked wire with your bare hands.” Oh, I wish she were alive now.
She would have seen how much you’ve changed. (She sees someone behind
the trees: Pablo. He has been watching them for a time. He is older than
Mario, sinister-looking, and well-dressed).
Pablo: (Sarcastic): Hmmmmmm. How romantic!