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Understanding Theatre and Drama Concepts

The document defines key terms related to theatre including drama, theatre, performance, audience, and dramatic genres. It distinguishes between drama, which refers to the written work, and theatre, which encompasses both the physical space and entire production. Performance is defined as the visible enactment of the play using acting, design, and direction. The audience is discussed as integral to theatre and how the relationship between audience and stage can influence the work. Finally, several dramatic genres are outlined such as tragedy, comedy, and more modern forms like absurdism.

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Paula Mena Arribas
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29 views4 pages

Understanding Theatre and Drama Concepts

The document defines key terms related to theatre including drama, theatre, performance, audience, and dramatic genres. It distinguishes between drama, which refers to the written work, and theatre, which encompasses both the physical space and entire production. Performance is defined as the visible enactment of the play using acting, design, and direction. The audience is discussed as integral to theatre and how the relationship between audience and stage can influence the work. Finally, several dramatic genres are outlined such as tragedy, comedy, and more modern forms like absurdism.

Uploaded by

Paula Mena Arribas
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

UNIT 1: DEFINING TERMS: THEATRE, DRAMA,

AUDIENCE, PERFORMANCE, AND DRAMATIC


GENRES

DRAMA VERSUS THEATRE

 Drama:
From the Greek word drama, which means action, deed.
It is the form of composition designed for performance in the theatre (Abrams
and Harpham, 95). Drama needs actors to perform the characters, a stage
design, and it's temporary - every performance is unique.

 Theatre:
From the Greek word theatron, which means a place to see, therefore, it refers
to the space.
1st meaning: the physical space where the performance takes place.
2nd meaning: the whole production of the drama play.

However, in recent years both terms tend to be synonymous and


interchangeable.
"Theatre occurs whenever someone crosses neutral space and is watched by
another person" (Peter Brook).
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ORIGINS OF THEATRE

- The origins of theatre are ritual and religious.


- When it ceased to be considered magical and religious, it became more and
more a tool for social denunciation.
- In the Western Tradition, theatre as we know it began with the Greek culture.
- Plato in the Republic and Aristotle in his Poetics described the dramatic art as
founded in the distinction between mimesis (imitation of action) and diegesis
(narration of action by a narrator).
- At its core is the action, enacted through actors playing characters, and
performed for an audience.
- Theatre uses all the artistic and technological resources of its time.
PERFORMANCE

o The general term for the visible part of the play, in opposition to the text. Other
names: mise-en-scene, staging, spectacle.
o The director is the official responsible for organizing the production.
o It refers to all the resources used for the stage performance: acting, costumes,
stage-design, lighting, music, digital media, etc.
o It's the concretization of the text, using actors and the stage space, an
explanation of the text. The audience has access to the play only through this
reading by the director.
o The same dramatic text may produce an infinite number of stagings which
cannot be predicted just from the text.

AUDIENCE/SPECTATOR

 The audience is the raison d'être of a performance, there cannot be theatre


without an audience.
 The individual spectator contains the ideological and psychological codes of
their group: however, the audience may form a single entity.
 In theatre, the spectator is conscious of the conventions (the fourth wall, the
characters, the setting, etc.) and can even intervene on stage.
 The audience's attitude and activity when faced with the performance are
studied in the aesthetics of reception.
 Reception studies analyse:
a) the way a play has been received, how it has been interpreted by each
group and period, not only at the moment of its opening, but also in
subsequent times - number of tickets sold, critics response, scholar
criticism, censorship, new readings, etc.
b) the mental, intellectual and emotional processes whereby the
performance is understood

RELATION BETWEEN THE AUDIENCE AND THE STAGE

 Stage design:

The placement of the audience and the playing area influences the transmission
and reception of the performance.

- picture-frame stage: the audience identifies with the fiction by projection


- theatre-in-the-round or Elizabethan stage: reproduces the idea of
community
- proscenium-arch theatre: emulates social hierarchy
- total environment theatre: presents a fragmented reality, stage space
and the audience organization is transformed in order to blur
distinctions
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what-are-the-types-of-theatre-stages-and-auditoria

 Psychological and social relationships between stage and audience:

- Identification
- critical distance

DRAMATIC GENRES

 Tragedy (Classical Greek): Deals with gods, demi-gods and heroes. Fate is
central: heroes fall because of a deed provoked by fate but in which the hero
had had some responsibility (hamartia or “tragic flaw”). Its aim is to produce
catharsis. It follows the three unities: unity of action (a main story and, if there
are sub-plots, they are organized around the main plot), unity of time
(everything happens in 24 hours) and unity of place (everything happens in one
place).

 Comedy (Classical Greek): Characters from the low and middle-class. Must end
happily. Its aim was to moralize, that is, to criticize some aspect of the society of
the time.

 Tragicomedy: Elizabethan and Jacobean genre. It has noble characters mixed


with servants and common peasants. It has serious and comic elements and it
can end happily or in disaster.

 Melodrama: Popular 19th century drama. A kind of tragedy but in a lower key.
The characters don’t belong to the high classes, and it is not about historical
events. It emphasizes action and suspense. Use of stock characters (characters
easily recognized by the audience as being archetypes – the miser, the vain
lady, the brave soldier, etc. They are either villains or heroes – goodies or
baddies ). It usually ends in disaster. The situations lack verisimilitude and are
always extreme: extreme unhappiness or unspeakable joy.

 Farce: A comedy in which we find unlikely and nonsensical situations,


mistaken identities, verbal and physical humour, and a fast-paced plot whose
speed usually increases, ending in a terrible mess. There might be a lot of
“doors” (through which characters keep appearing and disappearing, resulting
in countless misunderstandings). Characters are usually either stock, or
neurotic and irrational.

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 Comedy of Manners: Comic drama from the second half of the 17th century.
Witty dialogues and intention of ridiculing a society vice.

 Romantic Drama: Late 18th and early 19th centuries. Use of supernatural
elements. The Romantic hero is often an outcast.

 Well-made Play: Late 19th and early 20th centuries. Surface realism but a tightly
contrived plot with a perfectly logical arrangement of the action. It is based on
verisimilitude and identification. It must keep suspense all along the play until
the climax, where all the threads of action are brought together and profound
thoughts can be expressed. It influenced Shaw and Ibsen. Nowadays, it has
become the prototype of trivial dramaturgy.

 Problem Play: Late 19th and 20th centuries (even until today). The play is used
to discuss current moral or political issues. The characters embody the different
and usually controversial points of view. Documentary theatre is one example.

 Symbolism: Late 19th and early 20th centuries. Use of myths and symbols in an
attempt to reach beyond everyday reality. It can be influenced by Japanese Noh
theatre.

 Expressionism: The 1920’s. It tries to represent subjective states of mind with


the use of distorted and grotesque images, lyric and unrealistic dialogues.

 Theatre of Cruelty: Developed from Artaud’s ideas in the 1930’s, although an


important influence in later drama. It intends to free deep, violent and erotic
impulses by subjecting the audience to an emotional shock treatment with the
depiction of absurd and extremely violent characters. The text is offered in a
kind or ritual incantation, and the whole stage is used as in ritual. A modern
British version: In-yer-face theatre (end of the 1990’s).

 Dialectical Theatre/Epic Theatre: (Bertolt Brecht) Early to mid-20th century.


Aimed at the intellect, it seeks to make the audience aware of social and
political issues by producing a detachment from what is presented onstage.

 Theatre of the Absurd: Second half of 20th century. Nihilist, plot is absent and
dialogues are nonsensical and non sequitur. Characters are often stripped of
their humanity and their actions lack both meaning and direction. The story is
often circular, guided not by action but by word-play.

Common questions

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Theatre of Cruelty, inspired by Artaud, seeks to affect audiences through visceral, emotional experiences, contrasting with traditional theatre's intellectual engagement . It employs aggressive and shocking depictions of violence and raw emotion, ritualistic performances, and sensory bombardment to reach primal instincts and unleash deep, subconscious energies . By doing so, it aims to break conventional detachment, involving the audience in a cathartic process that challenges and transforms their perceptions .

Catharsis in Greek tragedy serves as the emotional purging and moral purification of the audience by evoking pity and fear through the protagonist's downfall due to a tragic flaw, known as hamartia . The aim is to allow the audience to experience a release of these emotions, leading to insight and reflection on human fragility and ethical considerations, thus fulfilling tragedy's intention of providing moral and existential contemplation .

Symbolism and Expressionism diverge from realistic representation by employing abstract elements. Symbolism uses myths and metaphors to reveal inner realities and existential themes beyond everyday life, emphasizing universal truths . Expressionism distorts visual and narrative elements to express subjective experiences, using grotesque imagery and lyrical dialogue to invoke emotional responses . Both movements aim to challenge conventional audience perceptions by provoking introspection and emphasizing meaning over form, encouraging deeper psychological engagement with performances .

Plato and Aristotle's distinction between mimesis and diegesis is vital to the dramatic arts as it differentiates between imitation (mimesis) and narration (diegesis) of action . Mimesis, being the enactment of action, forms the basis of drama where actors portray characters, creating a direct experience for the audience. Diegesis, on the other hand, involves a narrative that describes actions without performance, highlighting the philosophical underpinnings of representation in the arts .

Originally, 'drama' is derived from the Greek word for action and refers to the form of composition designed for performance . 'Theatre,' from the Greek theatron, originally referred to the physical place for performances . Over time, these terms have become nearly synonymous and interchangeable, often used to describe both the space and the production itself .

Classical Greek tragedy typically involves gods, demi-gods, and heroes, with fate playing a central role in the protagonist's downfall due to a tragic flaw (hamartia) and aims to evoke catharsis . Conversely, classical Greek comedy deals with lower and middle-class characters and aims to critique societal issues through humor, emphasizing a happy ending to moralize or satirize contemporary society . These differences highlight tragedy's focus on noble characters with predestined fates versus comedy's focus on common characters and societal improvement .

Melodrama focuses on heightened emotions and plot-driven narratives, often involving stock characters in extreme situations leading to disaster, engaging audiences through suspense and moral contrasts between heroes and villains . Farce, in contrast, relies on physical comedy, improbable situations, and fast-paced plots to provoke laughter, engaging through exaggerated characters, absurdities, and chaotic scenarios . While melodrama appeals to emotional involvement and moral values, farce engages through humor and social satire without grave consequences .

The spatial arrangement in theatre affects audience perception and interaction through various formats. Picture-frame stages encourage audience identification by creating a sense of separation and engagement through projection . Theatre-in-the-round fosters community by offering intimate proximity, while proscenium-arch stages reflect social hierarchies with structured views. Total environment theatres blur conventional distinctions, creating a fragmented reality and a more immersive experience . These setups shape the psychological and social dynamics between the performance and the audience, influencing engagement and interpretation .

Initially, theatre's ritualistic and religious roots emphasized mystical and spiritual experiences, which with time, shifted to a more secular focus, becoming a medium for social denunciation as it stopped being seen solely as magical or sacred . This change allowed theatre to evolve into a platform for social commentary, reflecting on societal issues and human behavior .

The 'well-made play' is characterized by a tightly constructed plot centered on verisimilitude and suspense leading to a climax that resolves the action logically . It focuses on surface realism and identification, influencing Shaw and Ibsen by providing a framework for developing characters and plots that maintain tension and engage audiences intellectually . Although considered a model of trivial dramaturgy today, its emphasis on structure and resolution has left a lasting impact on dramatic storytelling .

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