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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

11. 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