This document provides an overview of drama as a literary form, including the theories around the origins of drama, definitions of key drama terms like drama, theatre and play, and descriptions of different drama genres like tragedy, comedy, melodrama and more. It also discusses different theatre performance spaces and how they impact the staging of plays.

1. BIS 3043
CRITICAL APPRECIATION
OF DRAMA
 Name :Dr. Lajiman Janoory

 E-mail : lajiman @fbk.
upsi.edu.my

 Nombor Telefon : 05-450 5381

 No.bilik : FB 3-8

2. INTRODUCTION
Drama you will analyse:
 Greek tragedy- Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
 Shakespearean comedy- The Taming of
the Shrew
 Modern Drama- A Doll’s House by Henrik
Ibsen
 Theatre of the Absurd- Waiting for Godot
by Samuel Beckett
 Malaysian Drama- Jebat:The Death of a
Warrior by Usman Awang

3. A Brief History of Drama
Three theories about the origin of drama.
First theory:
 early humans’ perceptions of the forces that
appear to influence or control their lives
 attributed natural events that affected them
to supernatural or magical forces
 began to perform rituals to see if actions
would affect natural events

4. Second theory:
 through the activity of storytelling
 A narrator’s story of events being played by
different persons
Third theory:
 imitations of animals or out of narrative
forms of dances and songs

5. THINK
 Which of the theory above do you feel
best explains the early development of
drama? Give your reason.

6. Concerning the Drama, the
Theatre, and the Play
 What is drama?
 Theatre?
 Play ?
 Interchangeable meaning

7.  Drama:
 Written form
 Private rather than social experience
 Greek word “dran”- “to do”
 Aristotle: an imitation of an action as
opposed to represent an action in prose
 Only partially concluded

8.  Theatre:
 The performance of drama
 Greek word “theatron”- “to watch” or “a place
for seeing”
 Theatre not only a setting for “seeing”. Also
pretending, make-believe games.
 Human arena for understanding human
condition revealing human truths.
Physical feature of theatre has important effect
on audience, Ex: representational or
unrepresentational

9.  Play:
 The production of drama
 Involving efforts other than the dramatist. Ex:
director, creative artists, lighting technicians
etc
 A social experience rather than private
matter

10.  In general:
 Drama is a form of literary composition for
performance in the theatre, where the actors
take the role of characters, perform the
action indicated, and utter the written
dialogue.
 Drama + theatre= play

11. drama theatre play

12. THINK
 There are many dramas that have been
performed on stage. Have you read and
watch the same drama/play? Are there
differences in your experiences between
reading a drama and watching it
performed? What are the differences?

13. TYPES OF DRAMA
Tragedy
Social Comedy
Musical Melo-drama
DRAMA
Docu-mentary Farce
History Tragi-comedy
Dark
Comedy

14. A tragedy
 deals with serious human issues such as
suffering, downfall and more often than
not, death.
 normally involves the fall from grace of the
main protagonist who, in classical
tragedy, must be of noble birth.
 brings out pity and fear as it shows how
weak we are as mere mortals in the face of
a greater power.
 Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is acclaimed by
Aristotle as the perfect tragedy.

15. A comedy
 is the opposite of tragedy.
 A tragedy begins with the elevation of the
protagonist to a higher social or moral status
and ends with his or her downfall.
 A comedy begins with confusions and
conflicts and ends happily with the resolution
of the confusions and conflicts.
 usually followed with a marriage or marriages.
 less emotive and intense in theme since a
comedy does not attempt to evoke a deep
sense of pity and terror but more to elicit
laughter than shock.

16. A melodrama
 is a serious play with unimportant theme.
 The protagonists are more likeable than heroic
and the villains are too obvious in their
wickedness.
 presents to the audience a simplified version of life
of good versus evil and good against bad.
 seldom delves into the more complex human
issues as in a tragedy and a play of this genre
normally ends pleasantly.
 Intellectually a melodrama is empty but it is
compensated by pleasurable and amusing
endings.

17. A farce
 is a comical and humorous play on a trivial
theme.
 The most common plots will be mistaken
identity, illicit romance and elaborate
misunderstandings.
 Identical twins, lovers in closets, full stage
chases, switched potions, switched costumes
(often involving man and woman), and
misheard instructions are the often used
methods to produce outrageous situations and
uproarious response from audience.
 The Bear by Anton Chekov is an example of
farce.

18. Tragicomedy
 is often called a tragedy that ends
happily.
 As a subgenre it attempts to bridge
between tragedy and comedy.
 Tragicomedy maintains the serious
mood and tone throughout the play but it
always ends happily.

19. Dark comedy
 is the opposite of tragicomedy. If
tragicomedy ends happily, dark comedy
is a comedy that ends tragically.

20. The history play
 deals with dramatisation of historical
personalities and the events that surround
their lives.
 established by Shakespeare.
 normally deal with English kings especially
from 1377 to 1547 such as kings Richard
II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry IV, Richard
III, and Henry VIII.
 maintain a serious tone but with sprinklings
of humour thrown in.

21. The documentary
 recent subgenre.
 Plots taken from trial transcripts, news
reports, personal and official records.
 These materials are then brought on
stage to highlight particular issues and
points of view.

22. The musical play
 relies on extensive use of music and
songs.
 Usually the musical aspect is combined
with another genre to create musical
comedy, a musical documentary or a
musical history.

23. Social dramas
 sometimes called problem plays,
 evolved in nineteenth century and
dominated the stage through the early part
of the twentieth century.
 explores social problems and the
individual’s place in society.
 can be tragic, comic or mixed.
 Examples: Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, Arthur
Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Henrik
Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

24. THINK AND RECALL
DRAMA

25. PERFORMANCE SPACES
Ampitheatres
proscenium
open stage
arch theatre
theatre in-the-
thrust stage
round/arenas
promenade corridor/terrace
theatre theatre

26. Amphitheatres
 of Greek origin and were slightly
modified by the Romans.
 normally accommodate a large number
of audiences for large scale productions.
 Plays that are full of ceremony and
movement are suitable for these
theatres.

28. Proscenium arch theatre
 the most recognisable form of dramatic
performance space.
 is a space in front of the back scenery.
 The word proscenium now means the front
opening of the stage and the area around it.
 The arch is the frame surrounding the front of
the stage.
 normally constructed as a permanent
structure.
 As if audience is watching the play through a
picture frame.

30. Open stage
 has the audience facing the stage
whereby the stage is at one end of the
building.
 Modern and school theatres are open or
a mix between this and proscenium.
 Advantage-suits many kinds of
production with their simplicity in
conceptual framework.

32. Thrust stage
 This type of stage has a raised platform
that thrusts out into the audience, who
sits on all three sides.
 This theatrical set-up allows for excellent
actor-audience contact and which draws
in the audience into the action.

34. Theatre in-the-round/arenas
 no stage curtain, little scenery and allows
the audience to sit on all sides of the stage
 round, diamond, or triangular, with actors
entering and exiting through the audience
from different directions or from below the
stage
 problems since actors at all times have
their back facing some members of the
audience
 allows for interesting and realistic staging

36. Corridor/Traverse
 performance space is between two
parallel groups of audience.
 Normally, does not have a permanent
structure
 constructed to suit particular plays

37. audience stage audience

38. Promenade Stage
 there is no formal stage, both the audience
and the actors are placed in the same
space
 The performance starts when one of the
actors draws attention to himself or light is
pointed in such manner that draws
attention to a particular person.
 During the performance actors will
stimulate the audience to move around.

40. conclusion
 Performance stage depends on the type
of play presented

41. tutorial
 Imagine that you are a drama director
for your school. You are to stage a play
performance to raise funds for your
school. There are many theatres
available in the town where you can
perform the play. Choose the theatre
that you think best suits your play.
Explain your reason by stating the type
of play, budget available and expected
funds you wish to raise.