This course "Literary Studies in English" (TSLB1124) is offered in the second semester of the preparatory programme for the students of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) in the Institute of Teacher Education in Malaysia. Topic 5 introduces: - Types of Play: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy and melodrama - Elements of Play: literary, technical and performance

1. Introduction to Play
Lecturer:
Dr. Yee Bee Choo
IPGKTHO
TOPIC 5a

2. Types of Play
Comedy
Tragedy
Tragicomedy
Melodrama
Elements of Play
Literary
Technical
Performance
COURSE CONTENTS

3. • Drama is a composition in prose form that
presents a story entirely told in dialogue.
• It´s a story enacted onstage for a live
audience.
What Is Play?

4. • The word drama comes from the
Greek verb dran, which means
“to do” or “to act”
• The earliest known plays...
– were written around the
fifth century B.C.
– produced for festivals to
honor Dionysus, the god
of wine and fertility
Origins of Drama/Play

5. TYPES OF PLAY

6. Tragedy
• A tragedy is a play that
ends unhappily.
• Most classic Greek
tragedies deal with
serious, universal
themes such as
• right and wrong
• justice and injustice
• life and death
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet -
Shakespeare’s Globe Theater (2009)

7. • The protagonist of
most classical
tragedies is a tragic
hero.
• This hero is noble and
in many ways
admirable has a tragic
flaw, a personal
failing that leads to a
tragic end.
pride
jealousy
rebelliousness
Tragedy

8. Comedy
• It is a type of drama intended to
interest and amuse the audience
rather than make them deeply
concerned about events that
happen.
• The plot usually centers on a
romantic conflict.
• Comic complications always
occur before the conflict is
resolved.
• In most cases, the play ends
happily, e.g. a wedding.
Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong

9. Tragicomedy
• It is a play a tragic play
which contains enough comic
elements to lighten the
overall mood or a serious play
with a happy ending.
• It invokes the intended
response of both the tragedy
and the comedy in the
audience, the former being a
genre based on human
suffering that invokes an
accompanying catharsis and
the latter being a genre
intended to be humorous or
amusing by inducing laughter.
The Tragicomedy of Errors
By Pentas Project Theatre Production
18-21 October 2018
Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
https://www.criticsrepublic.com/2019/06/18/plays-within-a-
better-play-a-review-of-the-tragicomedy-of-errors/

10. Melodrama
• A modern melodrama is a dramatic
work in which the plot, typically
sensationalized and for a strong
emotional appeal, takes precedence
over detailed characterization.
• Melodramas typically concentrate on
dialogue that is often bombastic or
excessively sentimental rather than
action.
• Characters are often flat, and
written to fulfil stereotypes.
• Melodramas are typically set in the
private sphere of the home, focusing
on morality and family issues, love,
and marriage,
Melodrama--You Must Pay the Rent (2010)
Olde Coloma Theatre, Coloma,
California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzDZRMVZ63M

11. Musical Drama
• In musical theater, the story is told not only through
dialogue and acting but through music and dance.
• Musicals are often comedies, although many do involve
serious subject matter.

12. Elements of Play

13. Elements of Play
•Script
•Plot
•Character
•Story Organization
•Setting
•Dialogue
•Monologue
/soliloquy/aside
•Conflict
Literary Elements
•Scenery
•Costumes
•Props
•Sound and Music
•Make-up
Technical Elements
•Acting
•Speaking
•Non-verbal Expression
Performance ELements

14. 1. Literary Elements
Script
• A script is the written words and
directions of a play.

15. 1. Literary Elements
Plot
• The plot is the storyline or
arrangement of action.

16. Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves characters
who face a problem or conflict.
Climax
point of highest tension;
action determines how the conflict
will be resolved
Resolution
conflict is resolved;
play ends
Plot
Sequence of events that
develop the drama
(complications)
Exposition
characters and conflicts are
introduced
1. Literary Elements
Plot

17. 1. Literary Elements
Character
• A character is a person portrayed
in a drama.

18. 1. Literary Elements
Story Organization
• The story organization is how a
story is told – the beginning,
middle and end.

19. 1. Literary Elements
Setting
• The setting is where the action takes
place.

20. 1. Literary Elements
Dialogue
• A dialogue is a spoken conversation
between two characters.

21. 1. Literary Elements
Monologue
• A monologue is a long speech made by
one person.
Soliloquy
• A character alone on stage reveals
private thoughts.
Aside
• A character briefly expresses private
thoughts to the audience that other
characters on stage cannot hear.

22. 1. Literary Elements
Conflict
• The internal or external struggle
between opposing forces, ideas, or
interests that create dramatic
tension.

23. 1. Literary Elements
• Conflict is a struggle or clash
between opposing characters or
forces. A conflict may develop
• between characters who
want different things or
the same thing
• between a character and
his or her circumstances
• within a character who is
torn by competing desires
Conflict

24. 2. Technical Elements
Scenery
• The scenery is theatrical
equipment such as curtains,
backdrops, and platforms to
communicate the environment. An
example might be trees to show a
forest environment.

25. 2. Technical Elements
Props
• Props are any article other than
costumes or scenery used as part
of a dramatic production. An
example might be a table on the
stage.

26. 2. Technical Elements
Sound and Music
• Sound is the effect an audience hears
during a show, like the sound of rain. And
music – well, you know what music is!

27. 2. Technical Elements
Costume
• Costume is the setoff clothes typical of a
particular country or period of history, or
suitable for a particular activity.

28. 2. Technical Elements
Make-up
• Make-up is the use of costumes, wigs and
body paint to transform an actor into a
character.

29. 3. Performance Elements
Acting
• Acting is how speaking and moving
help to create characters.

30. 3. Performance Elements
Non-verbal Expression
• Non-expression includes gestures,
facial expressions, and movement.

31. 3. Performance Elements
Speaking
• Speaking is vocal expression,
projection, speaking style and
diction.

32. All the 3 elements of play combine to make a
good production. They are all important. Some
demonstrate more of one element than others.
Literary
elements
Performance
elements
Technical
elements

33. Tutorial 5A
1. Individually, choose one of the types of plays:
• Tragedy
• Comedy
• Tragicomedy
• Melodrama
2. Find a YouTube video for the type of play.
3. Embed the video link in Google Slides.
4. Write the name, type, producer and the year of
the play in the Google Slides.

34. Tutorial 5B
1. In groups, choose one of the five plays:
• Home by Maurice Maeterlinck
• Living hours by Arthur Schnitzler
• The Game by Louise Bryant
• The People by Susan Glaspell
• The Stepmother by Arnold Bennett
2. Do a PowerPoint presentation on the following
elements:
• Type/Structure
• Plot
• Theme
• Characterisation

35. Tutorial 5C
1. In groups, choose one of the five plays:
• Home by Maurice Maeterlinck
• Living hours by Arthur Schnitzler
• The Game by Louise Bryant
• The People by Susan Glaspell
• The Stepmother by Arnold Bennett
2. Do a Reader's Theatre for the selected play.
3. Record the reader's theatre and submit the video.