Drama is a story enacted on stage through dialogue and action that involves characters facing conflicts. It aims to engage audiences emotionally by making them believe in and feel for characters. A drama uses literary elements like scripts, plots, characters, settings and dialogue, technical elements like scenery, costumes and props, and performance elements like acting, speaking and expression to develop conflicts and resolve them. Common drama forms include tragedies featuring noble tragic heroes facing downfalls, comedies with romantic conflicts ending happily, and musicals combining stories, music and dance.

1. Drama

2. What Is Drama?
A drama is a story enacted onstage for a live audience.
A drama tells a story, usually of human conflict, through
dialogue and action.
“A story in dramatic form, typically emphasising conflict in
key characters and written to be performed by actors”
(from Harris, et al. The Literacy Dictionary, IRA, 1995)
“…three necessary elements in drama: (1) a story (2) told
in action (3) by characters who impersonate the
characters of the story” (Thrall and Hibbert, A Handbook
to Literature, Odyssey Press,1960)

3. What does drama do?
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Plays on your emotions.
Asks you to believe and be involved in it.
Makes you feel for the hero and the heroine.
Subject matter: reflection of the drama of
everyday life – concentrates life, focuses it and
holds it up for examination.

4. Dramatic Structure
– Like the plot of a story,
the plot of a play involves
characters who face a
problem or conflict.

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

6. Dramatic Structure
• 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

7. FORMS OF DRAMA

8. TRAGEDY
A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily.
Most classic Greek tragedies deal with serious, universal themes
such as
• Tragedies pit human limitations against the larger forces
of destiny.
• right and wrong
• justice and injustice
• life and death

9. tragedy
The protagonist of most
classical tragedies is a
tragic hero. This hero

10. MELODRAMA
It shows events that follow each other rapidly, but
seems to be governed always by chance.
The characters are victims in the hands of merciless
fate.

11. COMEDY
A comedy is a play that ends happily. The plot
usually centers on a romantic conflict.

12. FARCE
Farce is a sub-category of
comedy, characterized by greatly
exaggerated characters and
situations.
Farces typically involve mistaken
identities, lots of physical
comedy and outrageous plot
twists.

13. MusiCAl
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.

14. TRAGiCOMEDY
It is a play that does not adhere
strictly to the
structure of tragedy. There is a
mix of comedy and
Tragedy side by side in these
types of plays.
It focuses on character
relationships and shows
society
in a state of continuous flux.

15. Types of charactors
– 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.

16. • Theme: the basic idea of a play; the
idea, point of view, or perception that
binds together a work of art.
Style: the shaping of
dramatic material,
settings, or costumes
in a deliberately
nonrealistic manner.

17. Elements of Drama

18. There are three types of Drama
Elements.
• Literary
• Technical
• Performance

19. Literary Elements
(What is needed to write a script or story?)
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Script
Plot
Character
Story Organization
Setting
Dialogue
Monologue /soliloquy/aside
Conflict

20. Technical Elements
(What is needed to produce a play?)
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Scenery
Costumes
Props
Sound and Music
Make-up

21. Performance Elements
(What do the actors do on stage to make a character come alive?)
• Acting
• Speaking
• Non-verbal Expression

22. But…what do all these
words mean?

23. All the elements of drama combine
to make a good production. They
are all important. Some
demonstrate more of one element
than others.

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

25. Literary Elements
• Plot?
• Drama uses the resources of the theater to show
human actions in such a way that we gain a deeper
understanding of the human experience.
• Structured story which develops the action of the
play
– More than a story – involves causes & results, interactions
of characters and a development in time
– Allows story to develop logically, presenting characters in
an unfolding situation

26. Literary Elements
• Character?
• A character is a person portrayed in a drama.

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

28. Literary Elements
• Setting?
• The setting is where the action takes place.

29. Literary Elements
• Dialogue?
• A dialogue is a spoken conversation between
two characters.

30. 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.

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

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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!

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

36. Performance Elements
• Acting?
Acting is how speaking and moving help to
create characters.

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

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

39. Conclusion
A comedy ends happily after an amusing
series of problem.
Tragedy stresses human greatness, but
comedy emphasizes human faults and the
weaknesses of society