ELEMENTS OF DRAMA/PLAY

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA/PLAY

I. Setting; this refers to the place where the literary work is set and time referring to the story. Normally, the setting is real or imaginative in nature. The setting can be specific (e.g., Songea in 1993) or ambiguous (e.g., a large urban city during economic hard times).

Also refers directly to a description thereof.

ii. Characterization/dramatic personage: is a process of choosing characters/actors/actress and shape them to represent and portray the intended message. On the other hand, this is the author’s means of conveying to the reader a character’s personality, life history, values, physical attributes, etc. Also refers directly to a description thereof.

iii.                Plot: this is the arrangement (organization) or series of events/incidents in a narrative or play/drama. It is a superstructure of literary work specifically a novel or drama/play

iv.                 Plot is the interplay and sequence of events in a story artistically arranged so that the author may attain a specific aesthetic or artistic impact.

v.                   iv. Audience: these are the people who receive the desired message through listening, reading, observing or watching a drama/play

vi.                 . v. Diction: this is the choice and use of words in a literary work.

vii.               vi. Style/technique: refers to the way on how a literary work is structured or presented by the author/playwright.

viii.             vii. Theme: The main idea or message conveyed by the piece of writing. A theme is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase is called a motif.

ix.                 viii. Motif: A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or   fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence

x.                   . ix. Mime: dramatic action without words

xi.                 . x. Costumes: refers to the special kinds of attire clothes purposely for dramatic performance.

xii.               xi. Props: hand tools or instruments used to accompany the performance on the stage.

xiii.             xii. Makeups: these are kind of decorations that are prepared to accompany the performer during the dramatization. E.g. colour powder, lipsticks

xiv.             xiii. Enactment; is the situation of imitating according to the needs or demand of the story xiv.  Stage direction; it gives the actors and actress and the directors the instruction on how to perform the play. Stage direction must tell the actors where to move or speak and how to do so.

Functions of stage Direction

v  To show physical location setting

v  To indicate action done by characters

v  To show time to describe the stage voice

v  To show entrance and existence of characters

v  To show physical appearance of characters.

xv.               Catastrophe; is a final event in drama for instance death or marriage

xvi.             xvi. Nemesis; is an agent of retribution (a person who is thinking) way of letting audience know the characters mind.

xvii.           xvii. Soliloquies: a character in the stage thinking a loud (an intensive thinking) way of letting the audience know the characters mind.

xviii.         xviii. Dramatic irony: occurs when an audience know something which the character on the stage is not aware.

xix.             xix. Fore shadow: means forecasting the future or the coming events that must happen in the play of story.