What is Drama?

Review:
What is Drama?

Drama

a piece of writing that tells a story through dialogue and action and is meant to be performed for an audience.

I love watching the dramas of Shakespeare. The actors really help me understand what the plays are all about!

Synonyms: play, show

Drama

A drama or a play is a story that is meant to be acted out in front of an audience. “Drama” comes from the Greek word for “action.” The action, or the doing, makes the drama. When a play is performed, the actors and the audience are all in the performance space together. This is what separates drama from movies or television: the performance happens live, in front of the audience’s eyes.

Multiple Choice

A drama is a

• Story with no dialogue

• Piece of scientific research

• Story that's meant to be acted out

• Short piece that's written in rhyme

Drama

You can also enjoy and analyze a drama in its written form. Just remember while you’re reading that the author intended the words to be spoken out loud. This is the key difference between a drama and a story or novel. You can ask yourself, what would this play look like in performance? Why is it important that this piece be performed? What was the playwright trying to say that he or she felt would be communicated best by actors?

Multiple Choice

What can you do while reading a drama to analyze how it’s different from a story or novel?

• 
  Imagine what a performance of the play would look like.

• Ask yourself why the playwright wrote it as a play and not a story or novel.

• • Remember that you’re reading something that was meant to be performed.

• 
  all of the above

There are several different parts of a play text or script. Plays are usually divided into parts called acts. Shakespeare wrote all his plays in five acts, while most modern plays have one, two or three acts.

Acts can be further broken up into pieces called scenes. Scenes are a little like chapters in a book: they usually show action that happens all in the same place at the same time. A change in scene can signal a change in location or a change in time.

Act

one of the primary divisions of a theatrical work, often made up of separate scenes.

The first act of the play ended just as the main character's secret is revealed. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Scene

a division of a play or an act of a play where the action takes place in one location without a break in time.

The director wanted to rehearse the scene where Romeo meets Juliet at the party to make sure everything was perfect.

Dropdown

​ An act is a big section broken into ​

Select answer

They’re sort of like chapters, but not quite the same.

Dialogue and Characters

The people in plays, like the people in books, are the characters. Plays are written in dialogue, with each character’s speech set off separately. The things a character says are called his or her lines. Every time a new character speaks, a new line starts.

Unlike in a book, there is no extra explanation that accompanies the dialogue. Everything you need to know about a character, like their personality, motives, or character traits, comes from the things they say and do.

Dialogue

A conversation between two or more people.

I enjoyed the witty dialogue between the two characters in the play.

Synonyms: conversation, communication

Stage Directions

When playwrights want to communicate specific instructions to the director of the play, the actors or the reader, they write stage directions. Stage directions could tell what a scene looks like, when and where a character moves or what special effects happen at a particular moment.

Stage Directions

Stage directions are often written in italics, which makes it easier to tell them apart from the dialogue. Common stage directions tell you when a character walks onto the stage, or “enters,” and leaves the stage, or “exits.” Stage directions are particularly helpful when reading a script. They can help you imagine what the play would look like when performed.

Stage direction

an instruction from the playwright written into the text of a play, such as indicating a particular kind of action or special effect.

The stage directions indicate that the lights should go out right after the actor says the last line of the play.

Multiple Choice

Which of these is an example of a stage direction?

• George: Hello Emily!

• [Both face front, shy throughout]

• George: You made a fine speech in class.

• Emily: I was really ready to talk about the Monroe Doctrine.

Dropdown

The

Select answer

indicate that the lights should go right out after the actor says the last line of the play.

Labelling

Drag over the word that goes best with the image

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

Set

Dialogue

Stage direction

Scene

Dialogue

The following passage is from The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. The play is about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan. This scene takes place when Annie gets off the train and meets Kate, Helen’s mother.

Multiple Choice

Annie: I changed trains every time they stopped, the man who sold me that ticket ought to be tied to the tracks...you didn’t bring Helen. I was hoping you would.
Kate: No, she’s home.
Annie: You--live far from town, Mrs. Keller?
Kate: Only a mile.
Annie: Well. I suppose I can wait one more mile. But don’t be surprised if I get out to push the horse!

Based on the dialogue, which of the following is true?

• 
  Annie is reluctant to meet Helen and start working.

• Kate brought Helen with her to the station.

• 
  Annie is very impatient to meet Helen.

• • Annie’s train ride was short and easy.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a difference between novels and plays?

• 
  Plays are meant to be acted out while novels are only meant to be read.

• 
  In a play, there is only dialogue, while in a novel there is dialogue and description.

• Plays might be divided into acts and scenes, while novels are divided into chapters.

• 
  all of the above