ANALYSING DRAMA “Drama is something intended specifically for performance on stage in front of an audience”

OPENING SCENES The opening of a scene is intended to have impact! What is the intended impact on the audience? It creates a setting or background against which the play is set. It creates a mood or establishes tension. It introduces relationships, situations, characters Establishes main ideas of play.

PRESENTING CHARACTER A playwright does not have the luxury of a novelist. A playwright cannot provide background information or enter the mind of a character. They must use other methods

PRESENTING CHARACTER Character is presented through explicit stage directions. Characters are described by other characters. In some cases playwrights create stereotypical characters in order to achieve their particular effect. To give a sense of inner thoughts and feelings asides and soliloquies are used.

ISSUES AND THEMES Presented through character Presented through setting A major character will hold views or follow a philosophy counter to the message that the play as a whole conveys. Presented through asides and soliloquys. Presented via action surrounding human relationships and conflicts

CONFLICT At the centre of all drama is a sense of conflict. It may be physical or it may be over ideals and values. It may be within one character torn between certain courses of action It may be spiritual or moral. Which ever form it is – it creates the dramatic tension of the play. The conflict may be in the settings

REALISM Not all drama sets out to be ‘realistic’. However a certain realism is achieved through … Portrayal of ‘real life’ through the use of colloquial language. Psychological realism where the dramatist focuses on the feelings, thoughts, fears and desires of the character

PLOT AND STRUCTURE The way the plot develops is an essential part of the way the play is put together – STRUCTURE! EXPOSITION – This opens the play, often introduces the main characters and provides background information. DRAMATIC INCITMENT – This is an incident that provides the starting point for the main action of the play. CRISIS – This constitutes the climax of the play. RESOLUTION – This is the final section of the play, where things are worked out and some kind of conclusion is arrived at.

SUB - PLOTS Secondary plots, sometimes separate to the main action but often linked in some way. Sub-plots tend to echo themes explored by the main plot or shed more light on them. They contribute to the main interest of the play but do not detract.

ATMOSPHERE Created through language in the play. Emotive language can create the impression of the stage environment. Stage set and lighting

METALAGUAGE – THE LANGUAGE OF PLAYS… ANTAGONIST COMEDY MONOLOGUE SUBPLOT INTERTEXTUALITY SYMBOLISM METAPHOR JUXTAPOSITION REPETITION PARODY SLANG COMIC RELIEF MOTIVATION SUBTEXT ASIDE PLOT SUSPENSE AUDIENCE DIALOGUE PROTAGONIST FARCE RESOLUTION THEME CLIMAX SPACE PROP COSTUME FORESHADOWING MELODRAMA Mise en scene SOLILOQUY ATMOSPHERE STAGE DIRECTIONS SATIRE STEREO TYPE OFF-STAGE ENTRANCES AND EXITS TIMING OR PACE STRUCTURE