What is drama?
There are as many definitions of drama as there are people to utter it. If you were to look the definition up in a dictionary, you would get something like Oxford English Dictionary's description: 1. a play for acting on stage or for broadcasting; 2. (often prec. by the) the art of writing and presenting plays; 3. an exciting or emotional event, set of circumstances, etc.; 4. dramatic quality (the drama of the situation).
Ask anyone involved in Drama or "The Theatre" and they will tell you that there is nothing wrong with this definition -- indeed, it is like the multitude of others available. They will also tell you that it in no way describes what Drama is really about. My personal definition consists of this: Drama is the individual and collaborative exploration of the human condition. -- a mouthful, huh? Don't let the fancy lingo distract you... all this means is that Drama is a process -- a journey if you will -- through which everyone involved, from the lighting girl to the guy in the audience, learns something about humanity and, as a result, about themselves as well. Drama is about reflection, acceptance, denial -- it is about real life. The idea that Drama is fiction isn't really true (even for unrealistic events like space aliens), for at the fundamental level, no matter how outlandish the plot or characters may seem, everything represents an interpretation of real life.
The Stage:
You may think that a stage is a stage is a stage. Well, for the most part you are right. That is, the stages we experience as actors and audience members generally fall under the definition of a Proscenium Stage. This is the most typical stage formation for theaters. The audience only sits on one side of the stage and the stage is framed on sides and the top like a picture. Most Broadway theaters are set up this way. Probably your high school auditorium was set up with a proscenium stage. If you think about it however, not all stages look like this. For example, have you ever seen a live wrestling event? The ring is a sort of stage... it is surrounded on all sides by the audience. This kind of stage set-up is called an Arena Stage. Seminars for large groups are often held using this kind of stage set-up. The third major kind of stage set-up is referred to as a Thrust Stage. This kind of stage is like a happy medium between the Proscenium and Arena styles... the audience sits on three sides of the stage. Obviously, each of the different stage styles will yield different kinds of performances.
This diagram is the basic outline for stage divisions on a Proscenium Stage. You will note that there are a total of 13 major divisions -- these divisions are sometimes reduced to 9 or 10 (often having leaving out the apron and the third level divisions such as URC and LC, etc.) Usually this kind of stage is recessed into a building's infrastructure and exists as a room that has one wall missing. The gap where the wall should be is called a Proscenium Arch and is usually equipped with a Curtain which is often closed during scene changes, Intermissions between Acts of a longer play, or at any other time that the audience is not meant to see what is happening on stage. This curtain may sometimes have a scene painted on it and is often referred to as a traveler. When the curtain is open, the actors generally face in the direction of the missing fourth wall, thereby facing the audience. Drama coaches and directors will consistently be heard telling novice actors and actresses to "make sure you don't turn away from the audience." This is important because the audience needs to both hear and see what is going on, especially on the faces of the actors (more on this below).
The purpose for these stage divisions has to do with the movements of the actors during a performance. You may have noticed that the top left hand corner of the stage is labeled UR (Upstage-Right). This is because the directions are meant for the actors and not the audience... if you were on a stage, facing the fourth wall, that corner would most definitely be behind you on the right. So why not say "Backstage-Right"? Well, some people do... however it is inappropriate terminology. The names of the stage divisions come from an historical context. If you were to look at a Proscenium Stage today, you would notice that the stage area is flat and level and the seats are on a declining slope towards the stage, which is usually lower than the seats. The exception to this rule would be in stage houses which have other functions beyond Theatrical Events, such as school auditoriums. It would be nice but inconceivable to arrange a gym such that the stage is lower than the audience. In the past, for similar reasons of expense, etc., it was difficult to place the entire audience in a position of looking down on the stage. Therefore, the stage was tilted forward.... thus going to the "back" of the stage meant going "up" and going to the "front" meant going "down". The process of moving around on a stage during a performance is called Blocking. These movements are rehearsed as much (and sometimes moreso) than the lines of a play and are generated partially from the directions in the Script and partially from modifications or interpretations on the part of the Director and/or actors.
At the most fundamental and basic levels, a Play is very similar to any other kind of artistic story telling. It shares the same basic elements as all story, and many of the characteristics of folk performances. The difference being that unlike these, a play is very deliberate and meant to be presented in the exact same way each time. For this reason, a Troupe (a group of actors and actresses who work together to perform different works over a long period of time), often consists of professionals or very dedicated armatures. High school performances are usually produced by a Drama Club under the direction of an artistically minded teacher or supervisor. The students involved in Drama Clubs are among the most responsible and dedicated of their peers and necessarily so -- to undertake a performance is no small matter and can test the will of the most interested individual.
What is a Play?
A Play is basically any dramatic performance. When we refer to a play in the common sense, we mean a rehearsed performance, usually generated from a person's or group's interpretation of a script. A script is a story, written primarily in dialogue form, indicating the speaker, directions for movement (aka: stage directions) , intonation and inflection, blocking, the need for and use of props, etc. We read scripts in school, such as those of Shakespeare, as literature. That is, we study the script in and of itself. You will notice that, if at all possible, in my classes you will experience a performance of the script as a play. This is because drama is meant to be an experience... the audience is never meant to see the script. You don't buy the script of a movie, you buy the movie. Film is not that far removed from Drama... indeed, I feel that if Shakespeare were alive today, he would make movies instead of stage plays. That does not mean that it is unnecessary to read plays in school... on the contrary, reading a script is akin to getting your hands on a magicians trunk -- we get to see the tools used to perform! Understanding how a script works and then seeing the script translated into a performance can be a very rewarding endeavour.
Reading A Script
Scripts often have major divisions known as ACTS where a certain definite part of the plot comes to completion. These Acts are often sub-divided into SCENES as well. A Scene is basically a portion of a play in which no change of locality or time (hence setting), and no significant change of character occurs. Acts and Scenes are separated by some visual cue, like a black-out, drawing of the curtains, a freeze, etc. Often, to give the audience a break and the stage-hands a chance to alter the appearance of the set, an intermission is set between Acts. In Shakespearean theatre, there are usually 5 Acts, each one having from 3 to 5 scenes. The vast majority of modern plays have Two Acts.
A script is basically the blueprint for a Play -- a complete set of directions for the actor(s) and director(s), technicians, etc. The major elements that can be found in most scripts are:
Speech
Speech is basically any and all of the interactions between actors on stage and/or interactions between actors and the audience. Dialogue usually takes one of the following forms:
Monologue: When a single character speaks for a relatively extended period of time without interruption.
Dialogue: Where two or more characters (not usually more than three) are involved in interactive conversation with one another.
Soliloquy: A special kind of monologue where the speaker is alone (or believes s/he is alone) on stage.
Aside: When a character steps out of a scene to speak to another character or the audience directly. Modern sitcoms often use this technique... you may remember Zack Morris on the 90s hit show Saved By The Bell speaking directly to the camera?
NOTE: Even though a character speaks for a long time in both Monologue and Soliloquy, in a Monologue s/he is still involved in conversation (s/he is simply doing most of the talking). In a Soliloquy, even though the character believes s/he is alone on stage, we must remember that the audience acts as an implied character in the story. The story is told for our benefit and a Soliloquy gives us insight into the true thoughts and feelings of a character, as well as some concept of his/her motives for action. Similar to Soliloquy, an Aside also gives us these insights but usually does not involve more than a simple question, comment, or explanation. All exist to further the audience's understanding of what is going on during a performance. Rarely is there any sort of narration and as such, the audience is not privy to insightful descriptions or commentary.
In some plays, especially those from Shakespeare's time and before (ie. Greek Theatre) speech plays a very central role in the development of a play. That is, as there was usually very little or absolutely no physical set displayed on the stage, the onus of describing the setting, time of day, location, etc., of any given scene, and indeed of the play as a whole, rests with the characters. Speech therefore, is the method through which the audience becomes aware of the fact that the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet takes place at night (phrases like "swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon" and "I have night's cloak to hide me") and in Othello (in the first scenes of Act I Brabantio calls for a taper and demands "light, light"). Plays of this sort almost always took place outdoors (or in a theatre such as The Globe which had no roof) and in the early parts or middle of the day. No lighting techniques could be employed to represent the time of day (as there were no lights) and thus, the audience had to rely on what the characters said to fully understand what was going on.
Characters
As in all kinds of story, characters are the personalities who take
part in the action. In Short Story and Novels, we see a lot of time taken
up in the description of characters' physical attributes, their histories,
emotions, motives, etc. In Drama, we are usually unable to experience the
voice of a narrator, and even when we do encounter this relic of the Thespian
age, we are not really given much insight into the characters as much as we are
about the narrator's thoughts regarding the events of the story. However,
unlike other kinds of story, we are privy to a visual interpretation of
characters on the stage that is difficult to provide elsewhere. That is,
when a character appears on a stage, we
learn as much about him/her through his/her appearance as we do through his/her
actions and dialogue... quite often, the physical appearance of a character is
all we have to go on. Consider this photograph of the Patriotic Women in
Kill
ed,
July 17th, 1916 -- a play enacted in 2001 by the St. Joseph's All Grade
Players. The girls (Dina, Ashley, Trudy, Holly, and Sonya) were dressed to
communicate something very important about their roles in the production.
Likewise with this photograph of the cast of Two Rooms (presented in 2004
by the same troupe). The characters' physical appearances were carefully
and deliberately selected to represent the personalities that they were
attempting to portray.
