Friday, January 22^nd

6 Elements of Drama

1. plot
2. character
3. diction
4. thought
5. music
6. spectacle

1. Action set in Rural Russia
2. Treats boredom…..

Story - summation of all information, action in the play and the past

Plot - arrangement of events as they are seen happening on stage

Exposition - what happened before, told in dialog

Dramatic Structure

1. Point of Attack - place in the story where the plot starts
2. Exposition - background information
• late exposition - the exposition is revealed through dialog, etc. Chekhov used late exposition
• early exposition - all the exposition is shown on stage, not through dialog (epic stories, etc)
3. Inciting Incident - action is set in motion (Lomov asks the father) à leads to major dramatic question
4. Rising Action - when Natalia enters the room à argument over land à
5. Discovery - land
6. Complications
7. Crisis - moment of realization (Natalia realizes Lomov wants to marry her.)
8. Climax - argue again Absolute Climax - Lomov faints
9. Resolution - falling action

point of attack à exposition à inciting incident à rising action à discovery à complication à crisis à climax à resolution

Climactic plot structure

• cause to effect structure
• tends to have a single location
• late point of attack
• linear structure
• compressed action
• single plot line
• limited time frame (a day or less)
• characters are confined to the situation

• early point of attack
• several plot lines
• characters not confined
• several locations

Dramatic Form - example from class is a chair. A chair is it's basic shape

1. tragedy
2. melodrama
3. farce
4. comedy

Dramatic Style - the approach, how it is made

• i.e. a Victorian chair, basic shape is a chair, but it is of the Victorian style

Form