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What is Drama?
F(caps)rama, which is taken from the Greek word „dran‟, means to perform, act or do. It is an imitation of action in which characters act or play roles representing imaginary events and person. Drama may also be defined as a composition in prose or verse, or a combination of both. Plays which are meant for the purpose of being performed on stage are often acted by actors and actresses in the presence of an audience. The person who creates or composes a dramatic work is a dramatist or playwright. Drama, as a genre of literature, has its own features, some of which it shares with the prose and verse genres. The essential features are theme, plot, acts and scenes, actors/characters, audience spectators, and dialogue. Scholars have traced the roots of drama to ancient rites, ritual, and festivals. Africa is generally acknowledged as the cradle of dramatic performances. The traditional forms of drama have survived even in modern, scripted drama. Scripted or written plays are the focus of the study in this unit. All the genres of literature; poetry, drama, and prose, tell stories all attempt to interpret or mirror or reflect the society, but as the narrator may tell his/her story directly, the dramatist narrates/imitates his/her story or the action.
Drama presents stories in the present, as if such stories are just happening. When we watch a play, we do so with the hope and anxiety to know or see what will happen next; we pass through this experience from the beginning to end of the play, keenly following the plot or unfolding of the conflicts until they are finally resolved. Drama is also different from other genres of English literature in its objective ways of presenting a story. In drama, each of the characters expresses opinion individually. This is unlike in poems, where it becomes difficult to differentiate the voice and opinion of the poet. In plays, even where flashback is used, events are still narrated in the present.
The playwright economizes time and word (do not waste time/words). This is because a play is expected to be acted within a period of time; it could be a few hours. No matter the length of the story, it is actually dramatized. The time of action is usually less than the actual period in real life when acted on stage. It has time limits/time schedules, even as events in a play are divided into acts and scenes. This does not mean that dramatic texts cannot be enjoyed when read alone in private, but the literary potentials of drama are best realized when events in the play are represented in real-life situations acted on the stage. When such is done, „drama as a public art achieves its role of attending to more people at a time than poetry or prose. That is why drama is often described as the “genre of literature that walks and talks”.
3.2 Subtypes of Drama
Subtypes of Drama are Comedy, Tragedy, and Tragicomedy.
3.2.1 Comedy
A Comedy entertains with the intention to make people laugh. An example is William Shakespeare‟s The Merchant of Venice.
3.2.2 Tragedy
A Tragedy is a play with a very sad event that causes people to suffer or die. An example of this is William Shakespeare‟s Macbeth.
3.2.3 Tragicomedy
A Tragicomedy is a play that combines the qualities of comedy and tragedy; example is William Shakespeare‟s Measure for Measure.
3.3 Elements of Drama
Some of the elements of drama are identified and explained briefly below.
3.3.1 Plot
The Greek writer, Aristotle, in his Poetics has said that plot is one of the most important elements of drama. He adds that plot is not the same thing as the story. The story is like a raw material that the playwright has fashioned or formed into a plot. Some plays are based on history. In the convention of drama, there are usually five sections namely, introduction, raising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or denouement.
Introduction - Audience develops a sense of awareness, meets characters in the play, becomes aware of the situation, setting, etc.
Rising action - Events occur in consequential order, leading to the climax of the story.
Climax - Main events happen; the turning point often leads to catastrophe in a tragedy.
Falling action - Falling action moves swiftly in the play towards the conclusion.
Catastrophe - This applies to tragedy only.
Resolution/Denouement - This is a point at which conflicts are resolved in a play.
3.3.2 Dramatic irony
Dramatic irony occurs in a play when a character says the opposite of what he/she really means. The audience usually understands this whenever it is used in a play, but the character to whom the irony is directed may not understand it.
3.3.3 Situation
This refers to the logical, physical, chronological, and general circumstance of the play. This is more than setting which simply refers to the physical location and its characteristics. Situation includes the setting, the prevailing atmosphere, and the general state of mind of the characters.
3.3.4 Performance
The main purpose of the written text is for it to be performed on the stage for people to see, feel entertained and educated. The written text brings the distant or remote event written about in the text to the view of the audience.
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