Creating theatre : the playwright (chapter 3)

Question 1

What are the 6 aspects of a script the playwright must address and make
choices about?

Answer 1

1. Selecting the specific subject of the play
2. Determining focus
3. Establishing purpose
4. Developing dramatic structure
5. Creating dramatic characters
6. Establishing point of view

acronym (SaDiE went to the DR Chris’ to Eat.)

Question 2

What is the subject matter in plays?

Answer 2

The subject matter of drama is always human beings.

Question 3

What is focus ?

Answer 3

By means of focus, then, the playwright lets us know whom the play is about—the main character or characters—and how we are to view the characters: whether we are to look at them favorably or unfavorably.

Question 4

What is the meaning of dramatic purpose?

Answer 4

A purpose may be casual or unconscious or quite conscious and deliberate, but every theatre event is intended to serve some purpose.

Throughout theatre history, plays have served different purposes: to entertain, to impart information, to probe the human condition, to provide an escape.

Question 5

What is ‘structure’ in drama?

Answer 5

The structure of a play is analogous to that of a building.

A playwright develops a dramatic structure. The playwright introduces various stresses and strains in
the form of conflicts; sets boundaries and outer limits.

Question 6

What are the essentials of dramatic structure?

Answer 6

First, the story on which a drama is based must be turned into a plot.

Second, the plot involves action.

Third, the plot includes conflict.

Fourth, a play requires characters who are strongly opposed to one another.

Fifth, a reasonable balance is struck between the opposed forces

Question 7

Define plot.

Answer 7

Plot : As distinct from story, the patterned arrangement in a drama of events and characters, with incidents selected and arranged for maximum dramatic impact

Question 8

How is a plot different from a story?

Answer 8

A story is a full account of an event or series
of events, usually in chronological order; a plot is a selection and arrangement of scenes from a story for presentation onstage. The plot is what actually happens onstage, not what is talked about.

Question 9

Define Action.

Answer 9

Action :According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle,
a sequence of events linked by cause and effect, with a beginning, middle, and end. Said by Aristotle to be the best way to unify a play. More generally, the central, unifying conflict and movement through a
drama.

Question 10

Define conflict.

Answer 10

Conflict Tension between two or more characters that leads to crisis or a climax; a fundamental struggle or imbalance—involving ideologies, actions, personalities, etc.—underlying a play.

Question 11

Define ‘strongly opposed forces’.

Answer 11

The people in conflict in a play are fiercely determined to achieve their goals; moreover, they are powerful adversaries for one another.

The conflicting characters have clear, strong goals or objectives; that is, they have goals they want desperately to achieve, and they will go to any length to achieve them

Question 12

What does ‘balance of the forces ‘ indicate?

Answer 12

“Balance between the opposed forces” is, the people or forces in conflict must be more or less evenly matched.

In almost every case, one side eventually wins, but before this final outcome, the opposing forces must be roughly equal in strength and determination.

Question 13

What are the sequences of events in dramatic structure?

Answer 13

1. Opening scene
2. Obstacles and complications
3. Crisis and climaxes

Question 14

What is the purpose of an ‘opening scene’?

Answer 14

1. The first scene of a drama starts the action and sets the tone and style for everything that follows.
2. It tells us 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.
3. The opening scene also sets the action in motion, giving the characters a shove and hurtling them toward their destination.

Question 15

Define obstacle.

Answer 15

Obstacle :That which delays or prevents the achieving of a goal by a character. An obstacle creates complication and conflict.

Question 16

Define ‘complication’

Answer 16

Complication :Introduction in a play of a new force that creates a new balance of power and entails a delay in reaching the climax.

Question 17

Define ‘crisis’

Answer 17

Crisis : Point within a play when the action reaches an
important confrontation or takes a critical turn.

Question 18

Define ‘climax’

Answer 18

Climax is Often defined as the high point in the action or the final and most significant crisis in the action.

Question 19

What are the two basic forms of structure?

Answer 19

(1) climactic, or intensive, structure

(2) episodic, or extensive, structure

Question 20

What is an ‘exposition’?

Answer 20

Exposition :Imparting of information necessary for
an understanding of the story but not covered by the
action onstage; events or knowledge from the past, or occurring outside the play, which must be introduced for the audience to understand the
characters or plot.

Question 21

What is a ‘‘dénouement’’?

Answer 21

Often, after the final climax of a drama, there
will be a dénouement, a French word meaning the
untying of the knot or the winding down of the plot

Question 22

Define “ Deus ex machina”

Answer 22

Deus ex machina : a resolution device in classic Greek
drama; hence, intervention of supernatural forces—
usually at the last moment—to save the action from its logical conclusion.

In modern drama, an arbitrary and coincidental solution

Question 23

Define subplot.

Answer 23

Subplot: Secondary plot that reinforces or runs
parallel to the major plot in an episodic play.

Question 24

What is contrast or juxtaposition?

Answer 24

A technique of episodic drama is juxtaposition or contrast. Rather than moving in linear fashion, the action alternates between different kinds of elements.

Short scenes may alternate with longer scenes or public scenes alternate with private scenes

Question 25

Differentiate between climatic and episodic structure.

Answer 25

Climactic
1. Plot begins late in the story, toward the very end or
climax.
2. Covers a short space of time, perhaps a few hours
or, at most, a few days.
3. Contains a few solid, extended scenes, such as
three acts with each act comprising one long scene.
4. Occurs in a restricted locale, such as one room or
one house.
5. Number of characters is severely limited—usually no more than six or eight.
6. Plot is linear and moves in a single line with few
subplots or counterplots.
7. Line of action proceeds in a cause-and-effect
chain. The characters and events are closely linked
in a sequence of logical, almost inevitable,
development.

Episodic
1. Plot begins relatively early in the story and moves
through a series of episodes.
2. Covers a longer period of time: weeks, months, and
sometimes many years.
3. Has many short, fragmented scenes; sometimes
alternates short and long scenes.
4. May range over an entire city or even several
countries.
5. Has a profusion of characters, sometimes several
dozen.
6. Is frequently marked by several threads of action,
such as two parallel plots, or scenes of comic relief
in a serious play.
7. Scenes are juxtaposed to one another. An event
may result from several causes or from no apparent
cause, but arises in a network or web of
circumstances

Question 26

What are some other forms of dramatic structure?

Answer 26

1. Ritual as a structure
2. Patterns as a structure
3. Feminist and cyclical strucuture
4. Serial structure
5. Avant garde and experimental
6. Segments and tableaux as structure

(RiP FEMINIST SAS)

Question 27

Define ‘dialogue’.

Answer 27

Dialogue : Conversation between characters in a play

Question 28

What are the types of ‘dramatic characters’?

Answer 28

1. Extraordinary characters
2. Representative or Quintessential Characters
3. Stock characters
4. Characters with a dominant trait
5. Minor Characters
6. Narrator or chorus
7. Non human characters

(Ellis grey ReSponded to Chief when she had a Minor surgery which was Nothing)

Question 29

What does ‘extraordinary character ‘ mean?

Answer 29

Extraordinary characters are hero’s and heroines from most important dramatic works of the past which are extraordinary in some ways eg. Kings, queens, military offices etc.

Question 30

Who are ‘representative characters’?

Answer 30

Representative characters : Characters in a play who embody characteristics that represent an entire group.

Question 31

what is a ‘stock character’?

Answer 31

Stock character : Character who has one outstanding trait of human behavior to the exclusion of virtually all other attributes.

These characters often seem like stereotypes and are most often used in comedy and melodrama (ex: dumb blond waitress)

Question 32

What was “Commedia dell’arte”?

Answer 32

Commedia dell’arte, a form of comic improvisational theatre that flourished in Italy from the late sixteenth century to the eighteenth century.

In commedia dell’arte, there were no scripts; there was only an outline of the action, and the performers
supplied the words.

Question 33

What is a ‘dominant trait’?

Answer 33

Dominant trait : Found in certain theatrical characters, one paramount trait or tendency that
overshadows all others and appears to control the
conduct of the character.

Question 34

Who are ‘minor characters’?

Answer 34

Minor character in a drama, those characters who have small, secondary, or supporting roles. These could include soldiers and servants.

Question 35

What is a “Chorus”?

Answer 35

Chorus : In ancient Greek drama, a group of performers who sang and danced, sometimes participating in the action but usually simply commenting on it. In modern times, performers
in a musical play who sing and dance as a group

Question 36

Explain the different combinations or juxtapositions of characters.

Answer 36

1. A protagonist and an antagonist
2. Side by side rather than in
   opposition