Eventually, this developed into increasingly elaborate productions, growing from one actor to several, incorporating props and costumes.
While more controversial, many scholars believe the first plays probably began when singers in a festival celebrating the Greek God Dionysus/Bacchus began acting out characters in worship songs (Miller 127). Most historians agree Western drama originated in Greece as an evolution of religious ritual, probably around the 5th century BCE as an evolution of poetry and song (qtd. These elements will be covered in greater detail in the Elements of Drama section. In addition to this definition, plot, setting, dialogue, and action are probably the most clearly defining characteristics of drama as genre.
What strategies are available to the playwright to ensure that the play successfully conveys its intended effects and themes? And how can we most clearly settle upon one definition of drama, considering it manifests in different permutations across cultures?Īfrican drama scholar Ruth Finnegan stressed that, when defining drama across cultures, "ost important is the idea of enactment, of representation through actors who imitate persons and events" (486). This adds unique considerations for a playwright-or author who writes plays-to consider. Yet, whereas the narrator of a novel can spend pages painting a picture of the story's circumstances for the reader, a play is restricted to the space of the stage and the time frame of a couple of hours. In fact, some plays have been based on novels, and novels on plays. Plays and novels are actually very similar in this way. Just like in fiction, the plot is the trajectory of the story.
#Drama definition series#
Like fiction, drama-sometimes referred to as a play-features characters caught up in a plot, or series of events in a storyline.
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