Drama

Drama

Drama

• Prose or verse telling a story intended for

representation by actors through dialogue

or action

Origin of Drama

• The word drama comes from the Greek

meaning “to act, do or perform”, and it is

inthe several subtle and diverse meanings

of “to perform” that drama can be said to

have begun

Origin of drama

o Many say drama originated in Greece over 2,500 years ago as an outgrowth of the worship of the god Dionysus.

• During Dionysian festivals, a group of 50 citizens of Athens, known as a chorus, would perform hymns of praise to the god. These were known as dithyrambic poetry.

• Trivia: Thespis introduced dialogue, spoken lines representing conversation

Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves

characters who face a problem or conflict.

Climax

point of highest tension;

action determines how the

conflict will be resolved

Resolution

conflict is resolved;

play ends

Complications

tension builds

Exposition

characters and conflict are

introduced

Dramatic Structure

5

Drama?

DRAMA

Drama is a

composition in prose

form that presents a

story entirely told in

dialogue and action

and written with the

intention of its eventual

performance before an

audience.

DRAMA

Drama has a two-fold nature: LITERATURE and THEATRE.

THEATRE

Setting identifies the time and place in which

the events occur. It consists of the historical

period, the moment, day and season in which

the incidents take place. It also includes the

sceneries in the performance which are usually

found in the preliminary descriptions.

Characters are the people in the play and thus

considered as the principal material in a drama.

Character Aspects

PhysicalSocial• Physical identifies

peripheral facts such as

age, sexual category,

size, race and color. It

deals with external

attributes which may be

envisaged from the

description of the

playwright or deduced

from what the characters

say or what other

characters verbalize

about his appearance.

• Social embraces all

aspects that can be

gleaned from the

character’s world or

environment as

exemplified by the

economic status,

occupation or trade,

creed, familial affiliation of

the characters.

Character Aspects

Psychological Moral

• Psychological discloses the inner mechanism of the mind of the character as exemplified by his habitual responses, attitudes, longings, purposes, likes and dislikes. It is considered as the most indispensable level of character categorization because routines and emotions, thoughts, attitude and behavior enable the readers to know the character intrinsically.

• Moral discloses the

decisions of the

characters, either socially

acceptable or not,

exposing their intentions,

thus projecting what is

upright or not.

Plot lays out the series of events that form the

entirety of the play. It serves as a structural

framework which brings the events to a

cohesive form and sense.

Types of Plot

Natural Plot Episodic Plot

• Natural Plot is a

chronological sequence

of events arrangement

where actions

continuously take place

as an end result of the

previous action

• Episodic Plot – each

episode independently

comprises a setting,

climax, and resolution;

therefore, a full story in

itself is formed.

FRAMEWORK OF A PLOT

Beginning

Middle

Ending

Beginning identifies information about the place, such as

geographical location, social, cultural, political background or period

when the event took place.

Exposition

• Exposition is the point

where the playwright

commences his story. It

reveals the identity of

story’s initial crisis.

Middle is composed of a series of difficulties:

Complications Crisis

• Complications bring

changes and alterations

in the movement of the

action which take place

when discovery of novel

information, unexpected

alteration of plan,

choosing between two

courses of action or

preface of new ideas are

revealed.

• Crisis reveals the peak of

anticipation in the series

of incidents.

Middle is composed of a series of difficulties:

Obligatory Scene Discovery

• Obligatory Scene

identifies the open

collision between two

opposing characters or

forces.

• Discovery discloses

points which are

previously unknown,

characterized as

something mysterious,

strange, unfamiliar and

thus revealed through

objects, persons, facts,

values, or self-

discovered.

Ending is the final major component of the story which

brings the condition back to its stability. This part brings

satisfaction to the audience which extends to the final curtain as

peace is completely restored.

Theme is considered as the unifying element that defines the dramatized idea of the play. It is the over-all sense or implication of the action. It

defines the problem, emphasizes the ethical judgment and suggest attitude or course of

action that eliminates the crisis is an acceptable way.

Style refers to the mode of expression or

presentation of the play which points out the

playwright’s position or viewpoint in life.

Major Dramatic Attitude

Realism Non-realism

• Realism is an accurate

detailed, and life-like

description in a play

where things are

presented as real as can

be set in actual life, with

dialogues sounding like

day-to-day conversation.

• Non-realism is method of

presentation identified as

something stylized or

theatricalized whereby

artist uses his feral

imagination in projecting

his ideas.

TRAGEDYTragedy is a type of drama that shows the downfall and

destruction of a noble or outstanding person,

traditionally one who possesses a character weakness

called a tragic flaw. The tragic hero, through choice or

circumstance, is caught up in a sequence of events that

inevitably results in disaster.

COMEDY

Comedy is a type of drama intended to interest and

amuse the audience rather than make them deeply

concerned about events that happen. The characters

overcome some difficulties, but they always overcome

their ill fortune and find happiness in the end.

TRAGICOMEDY

Tragicomedy is a play that does not adhere strictly to

the structure of tragedy. This is usually serious play that

also has some of the qualities of comedy. It arouses

thought even with laughter.

FARCE

Farce is a play that brings laughter for the sake of

laughter, usually making use grossly embellished

events and characters. It has very swift movements, has

ridiculous situations, and does not stimulate thought.

MELODRAMAMelodrama shows events that follow each other rapidly, but seems

to be governed always by chance. The characters are victims in the

hands of merciless fate.

Greek Drama

The Greek Theater

• 5th Century B. C.

• Golden Age of Greek Drama

• Dramatic festivals were

popular

• People witnessed tragic and

comic plays

Types of Greek Drama

Tragedy: character is confronted with a

difficult moral choice and usually ends

in his or her death.

Comedy: a humorous entertaining

performance with a happy ending.

Overview of Greek Theatre• The land

The myths

The stage

The Land

• Greece has thousands of inhabited

islands and dramatic mountain ranges

• Greece has a rich culture and history

• Democracy was founded in Greece

• Patriarchal (male dominated) society

• Philosophy, as a practice, began in

Greece (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)

The LandLocated in Europe in the Aegean Sea

The Land

Overview of Greek Theatre

The landThe myths

The stage

The Stage

The StageThree Main

Portions of Greek

Theatre:

Skene – Portion of

stage where actors

performed

(included 1-3 doors

in and out)

Orchestra –

“Dancing Place”where chorus sang

to the audience

Theatron – Seating

for audience

The Stage

The Stage

• Greek plays were performed during

religious ceremonies held in honor of

Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and

revelry (altars generally on stage)

• Banks would shut down for days, people

would travel from all around to see the

drama competitions—even prisoners were

temporarily released to see the plays

• Tragedy means “goat song” (relates to

Dionysian rituals)

The Stage

Where and how were the dramas

performed?

…In an amphitheatre

…With a chorus who

described most of the

action.

…With masks

…With all the fighting

and movement going

on off stage.

….With tragedy first,

then comedy later.

Masks of Greek Theater

The masks were worn for many

reason including:

1. Visibility

2. Acoustic Assistance

3. Few Actors, Many Roles

4. Characterization

Some general categories of masks

1. OLD MENSmooth-Faced, White, Grizzled, Black-Haired, Flaxen and More Flaxen2. YOUNG MENCommon, Curled, More Curled, Graceful, Horrid, Pale and Less Pale3. SLAVESLeathern, Peaked-Beard, Flat Nose4. WOMENFreed Old Woman, Old Domestic, Middle Aged, Leathern, Pale-Disheveled, Pale Middle Aged, Whorish-Disheveled, Virgin, Girl5. SPECIALIST MASKSSome made for specific characters, others for: Mourning, Blindness, Deceit, Drunkenness...etc. (The comic masks, those especially of old comedy, were as like as possible to true persons they represented, or made to appear more ridiculous)

Masks of Greek Theater

Masks of

Greek Theater

Modern-day replicas

Hero-King

Comedy (Servant or

Herald )

Tragedy (Weeping

Chorus)

Theater at Epidaurus

Theater at Epidaurus

Major Greek Dramatists

Aeschylus 524 B.C. Seven Against

Thebes

Sophocles 496 B.C. Antigone

Oedipus

Euripides 480 B.C. Medea

Dramatist Born Wrote

Sophocles’ Antigone• Set in Thebes (a city in ancient

Greece)

• Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta

• Antigone’s brothers, Eteokles and Polyneces, took opposite sides in a war

• Eteokles and Polyneces killed each other in battle

• Antigone’s uncle, Kreon, became king of Thebes

Sophocles

Greek Comedy and Aristophanes

Euripides’ Medea• Medea is a princess from Colchis

• Medea marries Jason, who is in Colchis on a quest for the Golden Fleece

• Medea betrays her father and murders her brother for her love of Jason

• Medea has magical powers

• Jason takes Medea back to his homeland, Corinth, where they have children

• Jason takes another wife, the king of Corinth’s daughter

Jason’s Voyage on the Argo

Jason and

Medea meet

Corinth: Where Jason

and Medea settle down

Overview of Greek Theatre• The land

The myths

The stage

Myths played a key role

in Greek drama

The Myths – Why they were written

1. Explained the unexplainable

2. Justified religious practices

3. Gave credibility to leaders

4. Gave hope

5. Polytheistic (more than one god)

6. Centered around the twelve

Olympians (primary Greek gods)

Explained the Unexplainable

• When Echo tried to get

Narcissus to love her, she

was denied.

• Saddened, she shriveled to

nothing, her existence

melting into a rock.

• Only her voice remained.

• Hence, the echo!

To justify religious practices

• Dionysian cults in ancient Greece

were founded to worship

Dionysus, god of grapes,

vegetation, and wine.

Roots in Worship of Dionysus

God of wine and revelry

Theater of Dionysus

• Dionysia was an annual festival in honor of the god Dionysus

• Theater of Dionysus was an open-air Theater with room for fifteen thousand spectators

Theater of Dionysus

• carved out of a stone

hillside

• looked like a semicircle

with steeply rising tiers of

seats

Theater of Dionysus

Theater of Dionysus

• At the bottom was the

rounded orchestra or

performance area where

the chorus sang and

danced

Dionysus Theater in Athens

Theater of Dionysus

• Behind the orchestra was

an open, almost bare,

stage where actors spoke

their lines from behind

huge masks



Theater of Dionysus

• Male actors performed all the

roles

• Actors switched masks to

play a number of roles – both

female and male

Dionysus and Satyrs

To give credibility to leaders

Used myths to create

family trees for

their leaders,

enforcing the

made-up idea that

the emperors were

related to the gods

and were, then,

demigods.

To give hope

• The ancient citizens of

Greece would sacrifice

and pray to an ORACLE.

• An oracle was a priest or

priestess who would

send a message to the

gods from mortals who

brought their requests.Where DID hope come from?

After unleashing suffering, famine, disease,

and many other evils, the last thing Pandora let

out was HOPE.

Oracle of Delphi

Oracle of Delphi

Delphi

Delphi

Mount Olympus……Where the

Olympians

lived.

Who are the Olympians?

The

Olympian

s Are the

12 Main

Gods

The Olympians

Zeus

• King of gods

• Heaven

• Storms

• Thunder

• lightning

Poseidon

Zeus’s brother

King of the sea

Earthquakes

Horses

Hades

Brother to Zeus and

Poseidon

King of the Underworld

(Tartarus)

Husband of Persphone

AresGod of war

Hephaestus

God of fire

Craftspeople

Metalworkers

Artisans

Apollo

God of the sun

Music

Poetry

Fine arts

Medicine

Hermes

• Messenger to the

gods

• Trade

• Commerce

• Travelers

• Thieves & scoundrels

Dionysus

God of Wine

Partying

(Revelry)

Hera

Queen of gods

Women

Marriage

Childbirth

Demeter

Goddess of

Harvest

Agriculture

Fertility

Fruitfulness

Mom to

Persephone

Hestia

Goddess of

Hearth

Home

Community

Athena

Goddess of

wisdom

Practical arts

War

Aphrodite

Goddess of love and

beauty

Artemis

Goddess of

hunting and the

moon.

ROMAN THEATRE

Brief Roman History

509 B.C

• Etruscan (from Etruria) ruler was expelled, and Rome became a republic (just as Athens became a democracy).

• Roman theatre and festivals highly influenced by Etruscan practices

by 345 B.C• There were over 175 festivals a year

240 B.C• The beginnings of Roman theatre

recorded

• The first record of drama at the

ludi Romani (Roman Festival or

Roman Games).

Brief Roman History

55 B.C

• First stone theatre built in Rome by order of Julius Caesar.

Brief Roman History

Roman Theatre

• Borrowed Greek ideas and improved (?) upon them

• Topics less philosophical

• Entertainment tended to be grandiose, sentimental, diversionary

• Included more than drama :

• acrobatics

• gladiators

• jugglers

• athletics

• chariots races

• naumachia (sea battles)

• boxing

• venationes (animal fights)

Roman Theatre

3 Major Influences

• Greek Drama

• Etruscan influences, which emphasized circus-like elements

• Fabula Atellana – which introduced FARCE (Atella was near Naples).

Roman Theatre

Roman Theatre

Farce

• Short improvised farces, with stock characters, similar costumes and masks

• based on domestic life or mythology

• burlesque, parody

• Most popular during the 1st century B.C., then frequency declined

Roman TheatreFarce

• Probably was the foundation for

commedia dell ‘Arte

• Productions included “stock”characters:

• Bucco: braggart, boisterous

• Pappas: foolish old man

• Dossenus: swindler, drunk, hunchback

Roman TheatrePantomime

• solo dance, with music (lutes, pipes, cymbals) and a chorus.

• Used masks

• The story-telling was usually mythology or historical stories, usually serious but sometimes comic.

Roman TheatreMime

• overtook after 2nd century A.D.

• The Church did not like Mime

• Most common attributes of mime:

• Spoken

• Usually short

• Sometimes elaborate casts and spectacle

Roman Theatre

• Serious or comic (satiric)

• No masks

• Had women

• Violence and sex depicted literally (Heliogabalus, ruled 218-222 A.D., ordered realistic sex)

• Scoffed at Christianity

Roman Festivals

ludi = official religious festivals

these were preceded by pompa = religious procession

Roman Tragedy

Characteristics of Roman Tragedy

• 5 acts/episodes divided by choral odes

• included elaborate speeches

• interested in morality

• unlike Greeks, they depicted violence on stage

Roman TragedyCharacteristics of Roman

Tragedy

• characters dominated by a single passion which drives them to doom (ex: obsessiveness or revenge)

• developed technical devices such as: soliloquies, asides, confidants

• interest in supernatural and human connections

Roman TragedySeneca (5 or 4 B.C. – 65 A.D.)

• only playwright of tragedy whose plays survived

• Nine extant tragedies, five adapted from Euripides (Gr.)

• Though considered to be inferior, Seneca had a strong effect on later dramatists.

Roman Tragedy

Seneca (5 or 4 B.C. – 65 A.D.)

• WroteThe Trojan Women, Media, Oedipus, Agamemnon, etc., which were all based on Greek originals

• His plays were probably closet dramas—never presented, or even expected to be.

Roman Comedy

Characteristics of Roman Comedy

• Chorus was abandoned

• No act or scene divisions

• Concerned everyday, domestic affairs

• Action placed in the street

Roman Comedy

Material from only 2 playwrights survived

• Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)

• Terence (195 or 185-159 B.C.)

Roman Comedy

Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)

• Very popular.

• Plays include: Pot of Gold, The Menaechmi, Braggart Warrior

• All based on Greek New Comedies, probably, none of which has survived

Roman Comedy

Platus (c. 254-184 B.C.)

• Added Roman allusions, Latin dialog, witty jokes

• varied poetic meters

• Developed Slapstick & Songs

Roman Theatre Design


• First permanent Roman theatre built 54 A.D. (100 years after the last surviving comedy)


General Characteristics

• Built on level ground with stadium-style seating (audience raised)


General Characteristics• Stage raised to five feet

• Stages were

large –

20-40 ft deep

100-300 ft long

Roman Theatre DesignGeneral Characteristics

• Theatre could seat 10-15,000 people

• dressing rooms

in side wings

• stage was

covered with

a room


General Characteristics

• trap doors were common

• cooling system – air blowing over streams of water

• awning over the audience to protect them from the sun

Roman Theatre DesignScaena

• “stage house”

• joined with

audience to

form one

architectural

unit


Scaena frons

• front/façade of the stage house

• was painted and

had columns,

niches,

porticoes,

statues


Orchestra

• becomes half-circle

• was probably used for gladiators and for the display and killing of wild animals

• if entertainment permitted, people were sat here


Vomitoria

• corridors under the seats that lead onto the orchestra


Pulpitum

• the stage

Cavea

• the auditorium


Other structures included:

Circus Maximus

Ampitheatres


Circus Maximus

• Primarily for Chariot racing

• Permitted 12 chariots to race at once


Ampitheatres• For gladiator contests, wild animal

fights, and occasionally naumachia

• Had space with elevators below to bvring up animals, etc.

Roman Acting

• Referred to as histriones, cantores (means declaimers), and mimes – later primarily histriones

• Mostly male – women were in mimes

Roman Acting

• Mimes were considered inferior; some believed they were slaves.

• In the 1st century B.C., a "star" performer seems to have been emphasized

Roman Acting

Style of Acting

• Mostly Greek traditions – masks, doubling of roles

• Tragedy – slow, stately,

• Comedy—more rapid and conversational

Roman Actors

Style of Acting

• Movements likely enlarged

• Actors probably specialized in one type of drama, but did others

• Encores if favorite speeches given (no attempt at "realism")

Roman Actors

Style of Acting

• Mimes – no masks

• Used Greek or Roman costumes

• Lots of music

Egyptian and Hebrew Drama

History of Drama

Drama Origins

• Drama “to do or act”

• Originating through primitive dance revolving

around religion

• Eventually a speaking actor emerged, hence

drama was born

• Can still be seen in hula dances, sun dances,

corn dances, etc.

Egyptian Drama

• Egyptian drama dates

to 3000 B.C.

• Main concern was life

after death

• Pyramids were built as

tombs for the afterlife

• Drama revolved

around life after death

5 Types of Egyptian Plays

1. Pyramid Plays

• written on tomb walls, included characters, plot &

stage directions

• Showed resurrection of body

• Done to ensure safe passage to the afterlife

2. Coronation Festival

• Play performed at the crowning of a new pharaoh

• Performed by priests

5 Types of Egyptian Plays

3. Heb Sed

• Celebrated pharaoh's 30th year on the throne

• Reenacted events from his reign

4. Medicinal Play

• Evolved around magical healing

5 Types of Egyptian Play

5. Abydos “Passion” Play

• Earliest scripted drama

presentation recorded

• Characters:

Set (or Seth): god of

evil

Osiris: Set’s brother

Isis: Osiris’s wife

Plot: Abydos “Passion” PlaySet is jealous of Osiris, tricks

him into a coffin, nails it shut and throws it in the Nile.

Isis finds the coffin and brings Osiris to life so they can conceive a child. Osiris becomes King of the Dead. Their child grows up and defeats Set to avenge his father’s death.

video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhxQKx-oMQk&feature=search

Hebrew Drama

• No reference of definite theater in Bible

• 2 books have dramatic structure

– Job

– Song of Songs

• J.B. – Archibald MacLeish

The Book of Job

• While Job is not

considered drama, it is

sometimes performed

in dramatic structure

• Dramatic readings

• Dramatic structure

– Prologue (prose)

– Main Body (poetry)

– Epilogue (prose)

The English drama from the

Middle Ages to the

Restoration

The English drama from the

Middle Ages to the Restoration

The Medieval drama

The Elizabethan

drama

The Restoration

drama

General features

Themes

Structure

Language

Audience

Authors and works

Medieval drama

General featuresMedieval drama flourished in the 15th century; it

developed out of liturgical ceremonies: the origin of

medieval plays can be found in the Church and in its

rituals

After music was introduced into churches (6th

century) and words were later fitted to the melodies, a

dramatic dialogue began to take place in the form of

an alternation of chants between the priest and the

choir

Later processional and scenic effects were added

which increased dramatic action: liturgical drama

evolved into Miracle and Mystery plays and these

ones into Morality plays

Medieval drama

Themes

Mystery plays usually dealt with Gospel events: their

main subject was the redemption of man

Miracle Plays were concerned with episodes from the

lives of saints

Moralities too were religious plays, but they focused

on the conflict between good and evil; their aim was

to improve people’s moral behaviour

Medieval drama

Structure The Miracles grew in popularity,

so the plays left the Church to

be performed first in the Church

yard, then in other open spaces

of the town

Each play was repeated

several times in different parts

of the town with the help of a

pageant, a carriage in the form

of small house with two vertical

rooms: in the lower room the

actors prepared themselves, in

the upper one they played their

parts

Medieval drama

Language

In the Miracles, Latin that was slowly replaced by

vernacular, and secular elements became more and

more frequent

The Morality plays were didactic in content and

allegorical in form. They presented personifications of

vices and virtues and generalized characters. The

lines were rhymed as in the Miracles, but the

atmosphere was more melancholy

Medieval drama

Audience

The cycles of Mistery plays appealed to all

social classes, from royalty to peasants: they

all came in to watch the plays. Cycles instilled

a love of drama in the people

Moralities were intended for more learned

people, with some cultural background

Medieval drama

Authors and works

The Myracle plays were

grouped in 4 cycles,

known by the names of

the towns where they

were performed: Chester,

York, Coventry,

Wakefield

The best Morality play is

Everyman (about 1500)

Elizabethan drama

General features

Drama became the national literary

manifestation of the time: the theatres were

open to everybody

Moralities and interludes were still a living

memory, since they had instilled a great

interest in drama in the people

A new interest in classical drama had been

introduced by Humanism

Elizabethan drama

ThemesThe theatre was a mirror of society, whose structure was

modelled on the divine order of the universe, inside

which man had to respect a precise hierarchy (God,

angels, men, animals and inanimate objects): drama

derived from the breaking of this order

The new hero, full of passions and doubts, replaced the

old allegorical character

The relationship between the laws of man and nature

was emphasized: prodigious phenomena were

presented as consequence or presage of criminal

actions

Elizabethan drama

Structure The theatres (The Globe, The Swan,

The Rose), built on the model of the

old inns, were designed as large

wooden structures circular or

octogonal in shape, with three tiers of

galleries surrounding a yard or pit,

open to the sky. The stage was

divided in three parts: outer, inner and

upper stage

The scenery was very little: simple

objects simbolized a place or the role

of an actor (e.g., a table stood for a

room, a crown for a king, etc.)

Elizabethan drama

Language

The language, alive and direct, was affected

by the concept of hierarchy

Being in verse, the Elizabethan theatre

borrowed from poetry the use of metaphors

and the blank verse

Elizabethan drama

Audience

The Elizabethan audience was a cross-

section of society. All social classes went to

the theatre: nobles, commoners, citizens,

lawyers… people with different tastes and

cultural background

The audience were involved in the

performance, since they were in direct

comunication with the actors

Elizabethan drama

Authors and worksC. Marlowe (1564-1593)

- Tamburlane the Great

- Doctor Faustus

- The Jew of Malta

B. Jonson (1572-1637)

- Volpone

- Bartholomew Fair

W. Shakespeare (1564-

1616)

- Hamlet

- Romeo and Juliet

- King Lear...

Restoration drama

Authors and worksJohn Dryden (1631-1700)

- The conquest of Granada

- All for love

William Congreve (1670-

1729)

- The Way of the World

- Love for Love

William shakesphere• William Shakespeare was an

English poet, playwright, and actor, widely

regarded as the greatest writer in the English

language and the world's pre-eminent

dramatist.

• He is often called England's national poet and

the "Bard of Avon His extant works, including

some collaborations, consist of about 38

plays 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems,

and a few other verses, the authorship of some

of which is uncertain.

• His plays have been translated into every

major living language and are performed

more often than those of any other

playwright.

Modern Drama

172

From

Classic to

Modern

Drama to explore the way in which tragedy evolved into the 20th

century (AO4)

Classical drama – usually refers to literature written in ancient

Greece or Rome

Epic drama – refers to literature which has a grand or ambitions

theme (Shakespeare and Marlow are part of the Early Modern

Tragedy category and wrote epic dramas)

Domestic drama – refers to drama set in a household (it does not

have a grand or ambitions theme)

how modern Drama is different from Classical

Drama

THE ‘NEW’ TRAGIC HERO• Greece: Aristotle’s protagonist (330 BC) = a man of high rank, power or

fortune. They can be noble (of noble birth) or show wisdom (by virtue of their birth).

• Rome: Seneca (45? AD) = continued the Greek tradition of tragedy (particularly the unities and the noble protagonist), but with far more spectacle and gore. Theatre became more for entertainment than for civic/religious ‘lessons’.

• England: Christopher Marlow (1588-9) writes The Tragical History of Dr.Faustus – he sells his soul to the devil for infinite power (tragic flaw = ambition). – Not of noble birth, but has wisdom and academic abilities (hence, the

DR.)– Despite several divine interventions, Faustus makes a pact with Lucifer

(he is blind to his own salvation by ambition) and eventually is dragged to his place in hell (big time punishment!)

– Dr. Faustus fits into a new type of tragic hero who is both a hero and a villain = anti-hero who embraces disorder by their actions, which are usually motivated by greed, jealousy, lust and ambition (enter the seven deadly sins…!). Such characters follow ‘nature’ too readily and tend to ignore ‘civilised’ behaviour.

…one move away from order can lead to tragedy!


Drama

Order Disorder

Orthodox behaviour Unorthodox behaviour

Goodness Evil

Aware of self Self-conceited

Peaceful actions Violent actions

Ignoring temptation Following temptation

Tradition Subvert tradition

Live within one’s means Greed and ambition

Natural passion controlled Natural passion unrestricted

Not coveting others Jealousy

Seven deadly sins avoided Seven deadly sins embraced

Accepting God’s order Rebelling against God’s order

Christian Pagan

Grace and mercy Despair and judgement

Repetance Damnation

USING THE TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR DESCRIBED ON YOUR PIECE OF PAPER –

WHICH SIDE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ON, ORDER OR DISORDER?

• Part of the reason for writing tragedies, therefore, is to offer the audience a sense of what value systems are important to us as human beings, and which systems we should try to prevent from taking hold.

• Tragedy can educate and help society to change… if the audiences want to…

• Unfortunately, tragedy in mid-19th century became ‘watered down’ and only used to serve as spectacle; audiences wanted to be entertained and have the social order of their world reinforced and maintained.


Drama

MODERN EUROPEAN TRAGEDY: THE LATE 19TH

CENTURY• Konstantin Stanislavski created a ‘system’ which changed the face of acting forever. Rather than just ‘demonstrating’ on stage, actors were to explore the character inside and out so that their acting, as well as the drama, was more realistic on stage.

– Naturalism = theatre which aims to depict human action and emotion in a ‘realistic’ way

– Fourth wall = an imaginary wall which divides the stage from the audience in a box set (a realistic three-dimentional set with the 4th wall cut out)


Drama

• Henrik Ibsen, August Strindburg (Scandinavia) and Anton Checkov(Russia) began to write more realistic tragedies in which real lives are depicted and would typically deal with taboo subjects –

• sexual disease,

• infidelity,

• female liberation,

• social injustice,

• the breakdown of the family.

• Although there would still be a resolution (like in a Greek tragedy), there would be no grand speech, major battle or brave sacrifice;

• these plays ended simply with either a small act of defiance, a quiet definite act, or (breaking completely from Aristotle’s rules) sometimes the characters just had to simply go on.

1/5/2015 178how modern Drama is different from Classical

Drama

1/5/2015 179

Plays were met with hostility; bringing the difficulties and pain of tragedy into the normal, social sphere was radical in the extremeAudiences were not used to watching dilemmas they might face performed without the certainty of a positive outcome, so there was a resistance to these works for many years.BUT tragedy was revived and made both explicitly political and uncomfortably real because there were ‘ordinary’ people in tragic situations on stage = domestic drama


Drama

Education

Drama