Chapters 4 and 5 for Crowder College Intro to Theatre

1. CHAPTER 4 AND 5

2. STAGE DIRECTIONS
• When reading a play, it is important to visualize the action and be
aware of action suggested in the stage directions.
• Written descriptions of physical or emotional action or physical
appearance.
• SALLY. (Coming closer.) I swear, Matt Friedman, what in the devil
do you think you’re doing down here? (coming through the tall
weeds and willow.)

3. ARISTOTLE’S THE POETICS
• Plot (Structure) – The organization of the action of a play.
• Character – Persons that are created to perform the action of the
play.
• Thought – Ideas in a play
• Language (Diction)
• Music (Song/Melody)
• Spectacle

4. PLOT – STRUCTURE
• Linear – When the events of a drama progress forward and
sequentially in time.
• Causal – One event causes the next.

5. ELEMENTS OF PLOT
• Conflict – opposing forces.
• Point of attack – The point in the story at which the playwright
chooses to start dramatizing the action.
• Exposition – Back story.
• Inciting incident – The event in a play that destroys the uneasy
balance and sets off the major conflict of forces

6. ELEMENTS OF PLOT
• Rising action – Small units of action that build in emotional intensity.
• Climax – The emotional high point of the action
• Falling action – Emotional intensity drops.
• Discovery – Something found, learned, or realized during the action of a
play.
• Reversal – When the line of action veers around suddenly to it’s
opposite.

7. VARIATIONS
• Cliff hanger – A play that stops at the climax and does not show
the outcome of the conflict.
• Flashback – Occasional scenes dramatize events that occurred
before the point of attack.

8. CHARACTER: PERSONS CREATED INFORMATION IN A
PLAY
Character information in a play:
• What characters say about themselves
• What other characters say about them
• What the character does

9. CHARACTER: LEVELS OF CHARACTERIZATION
• Biological Traits – Species, sex, race, etc.
• Physical Traits – Stature, weight, hair, eye color, etc.
• Psychological and Emotional – Characters internal makeup.
• Social Traits – Job, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.
• Ethical Traits – Moral standards.

10. SOCIAL TRAITS
• The level of characterization that includes a character's job or
profession, socioeconomic status, or religious or political
affiliation.

11. THOUGHT – THE IDEAS
• Words, words, words.
• Visualization. “Your love is like a rose”
• Plot
• Allusion – References to previous art. (Tom Stoppard Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead.)

12. LANGUAGE (DICTION) – PLAYWRIGHT’S CHOICE OF
WORDS
• Contributes to character
• Establishes the mood

13. MUSIC
• At the time of Aristotle's righting much dialogue was chanted or
sung.
• Used to encourage emotional identification.
• Helps immerse the audience in the setting.
• Sound effects.

14. SPECTACLE – THE VISUAL EXPERIENCE
• Scenery
• Costumes
• Props
• Lighting
• Movement
• Actor physicality

15. CHAPTER 5 – GENRES

16. GENRE - THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE A PLAY CREATES IN THE
AUDIENCE.
• Tragedy – Serious, sad, sometimes evokes pity and fear.
• Comedy – basically humorous.
• Tragicomedy – tragic and comic tendencies seem equally mixed.
• Melodrama – The action of a play is serious but ends happily and
the focus is more on what happens than how it happens.

17. TRAGEDY
• Audience expects a certain magnitude.
• An ethical choice is frequently made by the protagonist.
• A way of explaining why bad things happen.
• Catharsis

18. COMEDY – BASICALLY HUMOROUS
• Lack of emotional involvement
• Can be used to render a serious problem less dangerous.
• Allows us to step back and laugh.

19. TYPES OF COMEDY
• Situation Comedy – emphasize humorous qualities of the situation
in which the characters find themselves. Shakespeare's Comedy of
Errors and the TV series Cheers.
• Farce – broad physical action. Slapstick.
• Comedy of character – Driven by the eccentricities of its major
figure.

20. TYPES OF COMEDY
• Comedy of idea – focused on thought rather than character or
situation.
• Comedy of manners – explores the behavior of a particular
segment of society.
• Romantic comedy – follows the attempts of lovers to get together.

21. TRAGICOMEDY
• Tragic and comic tendencies are equally mixed.
• A middle form that incorporates serious action, everyday
characters, and a happy ending.
• Mixed tone play.

22. MELODRAMA - THE ACTION OF A PLAY IS SERIOUS BUT ENDS
HAPPILY AND THE FOCUS IS MORE ON WHAT HAPPENS
THAN HOW IT HAPPENS.
• Fast paced action and suspense.
• Stimulate fear and hate.
• Conflict between good and evil.

23. ASSUMPTION MADE WHEN A PLAY IS WRITTEN
• How the play will be produced.
• Who will read or watch the play.
• How certain ideas will be received by the audience.

24. RESEARCH ON A PLAY INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
• Information on the playwright.
• Information on the society when the play was written.
• Theatre production at the time the play was written.