Types and Stages of Dramatic Action
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ScribdTranslationsTypes and Stages of Dramatic Action
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsTHEME: LES CARACTÉRISTIQUES DE L'ACTION DRAMATIQUE
INTRODUCTION
I- THE TYPES OF DRAMAS
1- The satirical drama
2- The Elizabethan drama
3- The heroic drama
The lyrical drama
5- The romantic drama
6- The spiritual drama
The bourgeois drama
8- The liturgical drama
II - THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF DRAMATIC ACTION
1- The dramatic progression
a- The exposition scene
b- The dramatic knot
c- The twists and turns or theatrical cost
d- The resolution
2- The classic structure
the time
b- The place
c- The action
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The drama (from Latin drama, borrowed from ancient Greek, which means
<action (Theater), play> etymologically designates any
scenic action. It can therefore refer broadly to any work
dramatic. In a more restricted sense, it can refer to a certain
name of types of plays, such as liturgical drama, the
historical drama, bourgeois drama, romantic drama, drama
symbolists. Furthermore, the drama distinguishes itself from the two great
traditional dramatic genres, tragedy and comedy, it is the point
who separates the distance of the comic genre from the tragic genre.
The term "dramatic" refers here to anything related to theater and
not what ends badly. The word 'theater' comes from the Greek theôria which
means 'action to examine'.
The dramatic text is therefore, above all, the support of a performance, which
based on the physical presence of the actors who bring the text to life
interpreting in front of an audience. In our analysis, we will focus on
on the characteristics of dramatic action.
I- THE TYPES OF DRAMAS
1- The satirical drama
The satirical drama is a literary and theatrical genre of ancient Greece,
closely associated with tragedy, which features satyrs. At the time
classical, in Athens, the authors must present three for the competition
tragedies and a satirical drama, the four plays being performed by the
same actors. According to tradition, a certain Pratinas of Philonte (end of
VI and the beginning of the 5th century BC) is the inventor of the genre.
2- The Elizabethan drama
The Elizabethan theater refers to the plays written and performed
in England, mainly in London, from 1562 until
the prohibition of theatrical performances by Parliament in 1642, which
led to the closure and abandonment of theaters. This period encompasses
the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), hence the name of the theater
Elizabethan, that of James I (1603-1625), and finally that of Charles
Ier (1625-1649). In these last two cases, theater is sometimes specified.
Jacobean and Carolean theater.
3- The heroic drama
The heroic drama (Heroic drama in English) is a theatrical genre that
was very fashionable in England in the 1670s and is distinguished
both by the structure of the versification and by the chosen themes. The
the term was invented by John Dryden for his play THE CONQUEST OF
GRENADE (1670). In the preface to the printed edition of this play,
Dryden advances that tragedy is a variety of epic applied to the
scene, and just as the epic is a kind of poetry, the drama
Heroic is simultaneously a kind of theater. Dryden drew a series from it.
of specific rules related to gender.
The lyrical drama
The lyrical drama is a terminology used to qualify a work.
can belong to different genres of opera or sometimes simply
musical.
According to the authors, the expression is used to designate:
inappropriately, works of <musical theater> in
of which singing is not the main element and whose interludes
musical works and sometimes the work itself are more accurately named
melodrama
rightly, <sung plays> qualified in Italian;
• Without true justification, < musical tragedies>,
French term more commonly used to translate the Italian opera
series or drama per music.
The genre is particularly distinguished from the <grand opera> in the French style or from the
Wagnerian music by its intimate character.
5- The romantic drama
The romantic drama is a literary form belonging to the genre of
theater, born in the early 19th century in the wake of bourgeois drama
from the 18th century and influenced by the development of melodramas.
Victor Hugo, the theorist of this new genre.
This form is characterized by its break with Aristotelian rules.
from classical tragedy: there is no unity of time and place, even if
An unit of action is preserved.
6- The spiritual drama
The spiritual drama offers a plot centered around the dilemma opposing
the sinful and corrupt nature of man in his aspiration for purity.
Its characters are plagued by sin and torment before being
guided by renunciation towards grace and the spiritual.
The bourgeois drama
The bourgeois drama is a theatrical genre that originated in the 18th century about a
principle developed by Marivaux, Diderot, and Beaumarchais. The drama
bourgeois acts as an intermediary between comedy and the
tragedy. It features characters from the bourgeoisie. The drama
the bourgeois seeks nature at the expense of verisimilitude such as
which was erected by classicism.
8- The liturgical drama
The liturgical drama appears in churches around the year 1000. These are
first, prompts in the liturgy, followed by short responses,
also in Latin, or of tropes (dialogued antiphons) introduced into
masses to make them more lively and more accessible to the faithful.
Then short pieces are interspersed, the subjects of which are borrowed from
the Old and New Testament or the lives of the saints. Evolving little in
little, the liturgical drama unfolds, in the middle of the 12th century, on the forecourt of
the church, in its own decor. The actors are now laypeople
belonging to brotherhoods, the most famous of which is the Brotherhood of the
Passion, and Latin is replaced by French. The drama born from
religious ceremonies become entertainment.
In 1514, an absolute form of liturgical drama is found in Bolzano with
near a certain <actors>.
II- THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF DRAMATIC ACTION
1- The dramatic progression
Divided into acts and scenes, the dramatic action often relates,
all events that allow for a transition from an initial situation,
exposed in the exhibition, to a situation of arrival: the denouement. We
distinguishes four stages in this progression.
a- The exposition scene
The exposition scene is the first scene of a play that provides in
general, all the necessary information for its understanding and
concerning the setting, the time, the characters, and the plot.
b- The dramatic knot
The conflicts that hinder the progress of the action reach their
paroxysm during the dramatic climax.
c- The adventures or cost of theater
The ups and downs or twists of fate are all the unexpected events that
occur and modify the course of action.
d- The outcome
The climax is the moment when all conflicts are resolved, when all
obstacles and all difficulties are overcome; it is also the end of the
piece. The outcome provides clues about the genre
to which the play belongs: a happy ending is the hallmark of comedy,
a cruel ending, that of the tragedy.
2- The classic structure
In the 17th century, theater is governed by strict rules. The playwright
must submit to these writing constraints or risk seeing their work
censored.
The rule of three unities concerns three elements:
the time
The action is supposed to last 24 hours. All the plots and the
The events must therefore take place in a single day.
b- The place
The plot takes place in a unique location, most often in a palace;
but we have regularly expanded to an entire city. This somewhat
narrow.
c- The action
The play must be composed of a unique plot.
The rule of propriety dictates not to shock the public. All the
elements that are too violent (fights, character deaths, etc.) must be
told by a character and not shown. Or rather, specify that
the plot must not exceed the limits of plausibility: none of the
events taking place on the stage should be considered as
improbable or impossible.
CONCLUSION
At the end of our analysis, let us note that the dramatic action allows for
define a character according to several criteria. He is also unique, in
this should be considered as text, even though we tend to
consider that his representation.