Ch.4 (7th Ed) Ch. 3 (8th Ed) -- Creating the Blueprint

2
A scene from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Royal Shakespeare Company
© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Theatre productions typically begin with
the script, or text
 Provides a plan for a production
3© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Selecting the specific Subject of the play
 Determine Focus and Emphasis
 Establish Purpose
 Develop Dramatic Structure
 Creating Dramatic Characters
 Establish Point of View (will discuss in
next chapter)

 Selecting the specific
subject of the play
 The subject matter
for drama is always
human beings
 Determine what
aspect of human
existence
to write about
5
Luis Valdez (center) author of Zoot Suit, with Edward James Olmos and his
brother and musician Daniel Valdez. Play is about racial violence in LA in 1943

 Determining focus
 Decide who and
what to focus on
 How to interpret the
characters and events
6
Playwright, David Mamet

 Establishing purpose
 Purpose may be:
▪ Casual or unconscious, or
▪ Conscious and deliberate

 Establishing purpose continued
 Different purposes:
▪ To entertain
▪ To probe the human condition
▪ To provide an escape
▪ To impart information (to teach)

 Developing dramatic structure
 Every work of art has some type of structure
▪ When does the play begin?
▪ How are the scenes put together?
▪ How does the action unfold?
▪ What is the high point of action?
▪ What is the conflict and tension?
 The structure of a play is analogous to that of a
building
© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 9

 Essentials of Dramatic Structure
 The story must be turned into a plot
 The plot involves action
 The plot includes conflict
 There are strongly opposed forces
 A reasonable balance is struck between the
opposed forces

 Story must be turned into a plot
 Story = full account of an event or series of
events, usually in chronological order
 Plot = selection and arrangement of scenes
from a story

 Plot involves action
 Action = the central, unifying conflict and
movement through the drama
▪ According to Greek philosopher, Aristotle, action is a
sequence of events linked by cause and effect, with
a beginning, middle and end.

Conflict –
 tension between two or more characters that
leads to crisis or a climax;
 a fundamental struggle or imbalance underlying a
play.
 Collision or opposition of persons or forces in a
drama that give rise to dramatic action

 There are strongly opposed forces
 Closely related to conflict
 Powerful adversaries for each other and each
character determined to achieve their goals
A reasonable balance is struck between
the opposed forces
 Must be equal or closely matched

 Sequence in Dramatic Structure
 Begin with the opening scene
▪ Starts the action and sets the tone and style
▪ Tells whether we are going to see a serious or a
comic play and whether the play will deal with affairs
of everyday life or with fantasy
 Obstacles and complications block
a character’s path
 Crises and Climaxes

 Obstacles and complications
▪ Obstacles - that which delays or prevents the
achieving of a goal by a character; an obstacle
creates complications and conflict
▪ Types of obstacles:
▪ Self
▪ Other People (always strongest)
▪ Nature
▪ Circumstance
▪ Complications – introduction of a new force that
creates a new balance of power and entails a delay
in reaching the climax

 Crises and Climax
 As a result of conflicts, obstacles and complications,
dramatic characters become involved in a series of
crises.
 Crises – a point within a play where the action
reaches an important confrontation or takes a critical
turn.

 Crises and Climax
 In the tradition of a well-made play, a drama includes
a series of crises that lead to the final crisis, known as
the climax
 Climax – Often defined as the high point in the action
or the final and most significant crisis in the action –
limited results – win or lose (not always so clear cut)

 Climactic Plot Construction (or Intensive)
 Dramatic structure in which there are few scenes, a short time
passes, there are few locations and the action begins
chronologically close to the climax
 Episodic Plot Construction (or Extensive)
 Dramatic structure in which there are many scenes, takes place
over a long period of time, in a number of locations, usually with
subplots

 Climactic Plot Construction
 First used in 5th century B.C.E. Greece
 Also called intensive
 The Plot Begins Late in the Story
 Scenes, Locales, and Characters Are Restricted
 Construction Is Tight

 The Plot Begins Late in the Story – toward the
very end or near climax
▪ Because the plot deals with a culmination of events, climactic
form is sometimes called “crises drama” or “drama of
catastrophe”

Because so much happens before the play begins, details about
past must be provided during course of the play. This is called:
Exposition – imparting of information necessary for an
understanding of the story but not covered by the action on
stage.

 Scenes, Locales and Characters are Restricted
▪ Limited Scenes – limited number of long scenes or perhaps
only one act, or three acts with each act being one long scene.
▪ Covers a short amount of time, perhaps a few hours or at most
a few days
▪ Limited Locations – one room or one house
▪ Limited Characters – usually 4 or 5 main characters

 Construction is Tight
▪ Events are ordered in an orderly compact way with no loose
ends. Plot is linear and moves in a single line
▪ A chain linked by cause and effect
▪ Aim of climactic structure is to make events so inevitable that
there is no escape, at least not until the last moment when
deus ex machina may intervene

Deus ex machina – Literally, “god from a
machine,” a resolution device in classic Greek
drama; hence, intervention of supernatural
force, usually at the last moment, to save the
action from its logical conclusion. In modern
drama, an arbitrary and coincidental solution.

 Episodic Plot Construction
▪ Emerged during the Renaissance in England and in
Spain
▪ Plot begins early in the story and moves through a
series of episodes
▪ Longer period of time - weeks, months even years.
▪ Many short, fragmented scenes; sometimes
alternates long and short

 Episodic Plot Construction Continued
 People, Places, and Events Proliferate
 There May Be a Parallel Plot or a Subplot
▪ Subplot – secondary plot that reinforces or runs parallel to the major
plot in an episodic play

 Episodic Plot Construction Continued
 Contrast and Juxtaposition Are Used
▪ Public scenes alternate with private; long scenes alternate with short
scenes; dramatic scenes alternate with comedic ones
 The Overall Effect Is Cumulative
 Combinations of Climactic and Episodic

 Other Forms of Dramatic Structure
 Ritual as Structure
▪ Ritual – specifically ordered ceremonial event, often
religious; some repetition or reenactment of an
event or transaction that has special meaning
 Patterns as Structure
 Cyclical Structure
 Serial Structure

 Other Forms of Dramatic Structure continued
 Avant-Garde and Experimental Structures
▪ Interest in ritual and ceremony
▪ Emphasis on nonverbal theatre
▪ Reliance on improvisation
▪ Stress on the physical environment of theatre
▪ Stress on each audience member’s developing
his or her own interpretation of the work being
presented
 Segments and Tableaux as Structure

32
Richard Foreman’s “Deep Trance Behavior in Potatoland”

 Types of Dramatic Characters
 Extraordinary Characters
▪ Heroes and heroines
▪ Larger than life
▪ Historically, have been kings, queens, generals,
members of nobility
▪ Present some form of extreme of human behavior

34
King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London

 Types of Dramatic Characters continued
 Representative or Quintessential Characters
▪ Three-dimensional, highly individual, ordinary
▪ Embody the characteristics of an entire group
 Stock Characters
▪ Symbolize a particular type of person to the
exclusion of virtually everyone else
▪ Appear particularly in comedy and melodrama
▪ Famous examples of stock characters are those in
Commedia dell’arte

 Commedia dell’arte – Form of comic theater,
originating in 16th
century Italy, in which dialogue
was improvised around a loose scenario calling
for a set of stock characters. Wore masks and
often same costumes.
 Capitano – Bragging soldier
 Dottore – Pompous character
 Pantalone – Elderly merchant
 Harlequin –Servant – most popular – cunning and
stupid – at heart of every plot complication

37
Commedia dell’arte

 Characters with a Dominant Trait
▪ One aspect of this character dominates, making for
an unbalanced, and often comic, personality
 Minor Characters
▪ Play a small part in overall action
▪ Appear briefly and serve to further the story or to
support more important characters

 Narrator or Chorus
▪ Generally, a narrator speaks directly to the audience
▪ Comments on the action
▪ Greek drama used a chorus that commented, in
song and dance, on the action
 Nonhuman Characters
▪ Often animals that are supposed to draw parallels
with the human experience

 Juxtaposition of Characters
 Protagonist: leading character, chief or
outstanding figure in the action
 Antagonist: character who opposes the
protagonist
 Foils or counterparts to the main characters

Ch.4 (7th Ed) Ch. 3 (8th Ed) -- Creating the Blueprint

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Ch.4 (7th Ed) Ch. 3 (8th Ed) -- Creating the Blueprint