Drama is composition in prose form that presents a story

entirely told in dialogue and action and written with the

intention of its eventual performance before an audience.
The word drama is taken from the word “dran” which
means to move or to act. It is a kind of story composed in
dialogue not to be read but to be watched because it is acted
on stage.
Aristotle – was a Greek philosopher whose writings still
influence us today. He was the first to write about the
essential elements of drama more than 2, 000 years ago.
While ideas have changed slightly over the years, we still
discuss Aristotle’s list when talking about what makes the
best drama.
 Elements of Drama
Setting – identifies the times and place in which the
events occur. It consists of the historical period, the
moment, day and season in which the incidents take
place. It also includes the sceneries in the
performance which are usually found in the
preliminary descriptions.

Time Early in the morning,

midnight
Day Yesterday, Today
Season It’s rainy day, sunny day
Period Classical Period
Characters – are the people in the play and thus
considered as the principal material in the drama.
Character Aspects
Physical Social Psychological Moral
It identifies It embraces all It discloses the inner mechanism of It discloses
peripheral facts such aspects that can the mind of the characters as the decisions
as age, sexual be gleaned from exemplified by his habitual of the
category, size, race the character’s responses, attitudes, longings, characters,
and color. It deals world or purposes, likes and dislikes. It is either socially
with external environment as considered as the most acceptable or
attributes which may exemplified by indispensable level of the not exposing
be envisaged from the economic character categorization because it their
the description of the status, or routines emotions, thoughts, intentions,
playwright or occupation trade, attitudes and behavior enable the thus
deduced from what creed, familial readers to know the character projecting
the characters say or affiliation of the intrinsically. what is
what characters characters. upright or
verbalize about his not.
appearance.
Plot – lays out the series of events that form the
entirely of the play. It serves as structural framework
which brings the events to a cohesive form and sense.

Types of Plot
Natural Plot
It is a chronological
sequence of the events
arrangement where actions
continuously take place as
an end result of the previous
action.
Episodic Plot
Each episode independently
comprises a setting, climax,
and resolution: therefore, a
full story in itself is formed.
These are six stages in plot structure:
1. Initial incident: The event that “gets the story going”
2. Preliminary event: whatever takes place BEFORE the
action of the play that is directly related to the play.
3. Rising action: A series of events following the initial
incident and leading up to the dramatic climax.
4. Climax: The turning point or high point a story, when
events can go either way.
5. Falling action: the series of events following the climax.
6. Denouement : Another term for the conclusion from the
French word for :unraveling”
Theme is considered as the unifying
element that defines the dramatized
idea of the play. Also defined the
central idea of the play or story.
We also have here Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama – he considered these
six things to be essential to good drama:
•Characters – are the people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the
actors in the play. It is the characters who move the action, or plot, of the play
forward.
•Plot – this is what happens in the play. Plot refers to the action; the basic
storyline of the play.
•Theme – refers to the meaning of the play, theme is the main idea or lesson to
be learned from the play. In some cases, the theme of a play is obvious: other
times it is quite subtle.
•Dialogue – refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by the
characters I the play. The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.
•Music/Rhythm – while music is often featured in drama, in this case Aristotle
was referring to the rhythm of the actor’s voices as they speak.
•Spectacles – refers to the visual elements of a play: sets costumes, special
effects, etc. Spectacle is everything that the audience sees as they watch the
play.
The Modern Theater – In the modern theater, this list has changed
slightly, although you will notice that many of the elements remain the
same. The list of essential elements in modern theater is as follows.
Note: The first four characters, plot, theme, and dialogue remain the
same, but the following additions are now also considered essential
elements of drama
•Convention – these are techniques and methods used by the playwright
and director to create the desired stylistic effect.
•Genre – refers to the type of play. Some examples of different genres
include comedy, tragedy, mystery and historical play.
•Audience – This is the group of people who watch the play. Many
playwright and actors consider the audience to be the most element of
drama, as all of the effort put in to writing and producing a play is for the
enjoyment of the audience.
What are the Genres of Drama?
•Tragedy – is a type of drama that shows the downfall and
destruction of a noble or outstanding person, traditionally one
who possesses a character weakness called a tragic flaw. The
tragic hero, through choice or circumstance, is caught up in a
sequence of events that inevitably results in disaster.
•Comedy –is a type of drama intended to interest and amuse
the audience rather than make them deeply concerned about
events that happen. The characters overcome some difficulties,
but they always overcome their ill fortune and find happiness
in the end.
•Tragicomedy – is a play that does not adhere strictly
to the structure of tragedy. This is usually serious play
that also has some of the qualities of the comedy. It
arouses thought even with laughter.
•Farce – is a play that brings laughter for the sake of
laughter, usually making use grossly embellished
events and characters. It has very swift movements,
has ridiculous situations and does not stimulate
thought.
•Melodrama – shows events that follow each other
rapidly, but seems to be governed always by chance.
The characters are victims in the hands of merciless
fate.
Other forms of Theatrical Performance
•Skit – ranges from a one-minute to a ten-minute performance. It can be performed
anywhere: in-between- acts or at a cosplay (costume play) contest.
•Improv – is another short form of theatrical performance. Palanca hall-of-famer
Dr. Reuel Aguilla said the improvisation method does not use a formal script: just
an outline of the dramatic situation. While in the usual setup, only the director
interprets your script, the improve let the actors participate in the creation of the
play.
•Monologue – it does not have a specific length. Long form monologues can take
as long as two hours to perform. If an actor needs to perform a monologue for an
audition, he or she may choose a script that can be performed in three minutes,
with words that will showcase his or her acting process in less than a minute.
•Internal monologue – when the actor expresses his or her innermost thoughts and
feelings.
•Dramatic Monologue- when the actor is talking to another individual , may it be
an imaginary character or part of the audience.