Drama Terms Flashcards
(22 cards)
Drama
a story written to be performed by actors
Comedy
A play that has a happy ending
Tragedy
a work of literature that results in a catastrophe (normally death) for the main character
Comic Relief
A humorous scene, incident, or remark within a serious or tragic drama. It evokes laughter as a release from the tension of the serious action and usually follows scenes of intense emotion.
Prologue
Like a short story’s exposition, this is the opening speech that introduces the play’s main characters, plot, and setting
Act
A large division within a play
•May include several scenes
•Shakespeare’s plays always have five acts and are noted with a large Roman numeral.
Scene
A division of action within an act
•The acts in Shakespeare’s plays have a varying number of scenes, and the scenes are noted with a small Roman numeral.
Stage Directions
Direction by the playwright to the director, actors or crew in a play.
•Can indicate how an actor should speak, move, or where props should be located.
•Almost always written in italics
Dramatic Irony
when the audience knows something that the characters don’t yet know
Situational Irony
When the unexpected happens
•The opposite of what you expect to happen occurs
Verbal Irony (Sarcasm)
When you say one thing, but mean another
Dialogue
a conversation between two or more characters
Monologue
A speech by one character in a play to others
Soliloquy
a long speech expressing the thoughts/feelings of a character alone on stage
Aside
a short speech that the audience is intended to hear but other actors on stage do not
Chorus
Group of actors who serve as major participants in, commentators on, or as a supplement to the main action of a drama
Iambic Pentameter
A line of poetry 10 syllables in length consisting of 5 “feet”
•Iam: one unaccented (or unstressed) syllable with one accented syllable
•Each IAM of two syllables is called a foot
•The rhythm is bum-BUM bum-BUM (think heartbeat)
•Penta = 5, Meter = sound
Exposition
the part of the story that introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation (the prologue in R & J)
Rising Action
all events leading to the climax/turning point, which provide optimism and hope
Climax/Turning Point
a drama’s high point of interest or suspense that causes the shift from rising action to falling action
Falling Action
the downward spiral of events that follows the climax/turning point
Resolution
when the conflicts unravel, a general insight or change occurs, and the story comes to an end
