Drama Concept
Literature The nature of drama
Drama utilizes plot and characters, develops a theme, arouses emotion or appeals to humor. It may be escapist or interpretive. Much drama is poetry. But drama has one characteristic, it is written primarily to be performed, not read. It presents its actions through actors, on a stage, and before an audience. Of the four major points of view open for a fiction writer, dramatists are limited to one- the objective, or dramatic. Dramatists cannot enter the minds of their character, although there are ways around these limitations through the conventions of soliloquy and aside. In soliloquies characters talk to themselves, they think out loud. In asides characters speak directly to the audience, and they let the audience know what they are really thinking. Both conventions can effectively be used in theatre but they interrupt action and it is inappropriate if the playwright is working in realistic mode. Because the play presents its action on a stage there are a lot of reasons it can forcefully attract the spectators attention, like the fact that the stage is lighted and the theatre is dark. Drama writers find it difficult to shift scenes rapidly than writers of prose fiction. The latter may whisk their readers from heaven to earth and back again very fast, but playwrights usually stick to one setting for a long period of time and may feel constrained to do so for the whole play. Playwrights cannot also present events too big for the stage, for example movement of armies and warfare. Plays are usually separated by an intermission, they are written so that its central meanings may be grasped in a single performance. Drama imposes sharp limitations on the writer but holds out the opportunity for extraordinary force.
Realistic and Non-realistic drama
Literary truth in drama is not the same as fidelity to fact. Because it is written to be performed drama adds still another dimension of possible
Drama utilizes plot and characters, develops a theme, arouses emotion or appeals to humor. It may be escapist or interpretive. Much drama is poetry. But drama has one characteristic, it is written primarily to be performed, not read. It presents its actions through actors, on a stage, and before an audience. Of the four major points of view open for a fiction writer, dramatists are limited to one- the objective, or dramatic. Dramatists cannot enter the minds of their character, although there are ways around these limitations through the conventions of soliloquy and aside. In soliloquies characters talk to themselves, they think out loud. In asides characters speak directly to the audience, and they let the audience know what they are really thinking. Both conventions can effectively be used in theatre but they interrupt action and it is inappropriate if the playwright is working in realistic mode. Because the play presents its action on a stage there are a lot of reasons it can forcefully attract the spectators attention, like the fact that the stage is lighted and the theatre is dark. Drama writers find it difficult to shift scenes rapidly than writers of prose fiction. The latter may whisk their readers from heaven to earth and back again very fast, but playwrights usually stick to one setting for a long period of time and may feel constrained to do so for the whole play. Playwrights cannot also present events too big for the stage, for example movement of armies and warfare. Plays are usually separated by an intermission, they are written so that its central meanings may be grasped in a single performance. Drama imposes sharp limitations on the writer but holds out the opportunity for extraordinary force.
Realistic and Non-realistic drama
Literary truth in drama is not the same as fidelity to fact. Because it is written to be performed drama adds still another dimension of possible