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Checklist
for
Dramatic Elements
Characters
Characters achieve their
identity though character typing, by their individualized
reactions, or through their role in the plot. Character
types are derive from a tradition of successful plays, but as
a result of cultural expectations. That is, they are
stereotypes, which in turn reinforce cultural
expectations. On the other hand, traditional character
typing allows playwrights, directors, and actors to develop
individual variations on these expectations. Ibsen, and
the "realistic" playwrights who followed, challenged
traditional character typing--though it's important to realize
that "realism" develops another set of character types, which
may be less easy to identify (see "realism" below. Minor
characters are often typed simply because most
playwrights--until Chekhov--couldn't (or didn't) take the time
to individualize minor characters. Indeed, one of the
difficulties of reading (though not seeing) a Chekhov play is
that there are so many individualized characters that the play
seems unfocussed. Brecht wanted us to be conscious that
people have been socialized to perform expected roles.
He developed a style, opposed to realism, that makes us aware
of the social forces that turn individual people into
character types.
While reading identify characters. What are their
identifying characteristics, concerns, motivations, and where,
specifically, in the script do find them (your intuitions are
important starting points, but ultimately they need to be
grounded). Do the characters change, and if so
why? What kinds of conflict develop between or among
characters?
Plot
Plot is the basic structure
of the play, the traditional formula (sometimes varied):
exposition (introducing the situation, establishing the norm,
or equilibrium), point of attack ( an event that upsets the
equilibrium, creates tension, and starts the dramatic action)
climax (the highest point of rising actio, the greatest point
of tension, the turning point of the play), resolution (the
return to, or establishment of a new equilibrium, and the
release of tension). Plots are linear and causal: one event
leads to and causes another.
After reading, describe the plot. What is the major
conflict? What precipitates it--and therefore initiates
the major action? How is the conflict resolved?
Language
Language refers to the way
the characters speak--formally, colloquially, rationally,
irrationally, poetically, pedestrianly, straight-forwardly,
ironically. Language also functions in other ways than
as the means to communicate information or feelings; it may be
used to gain power, to make connection, or for its own musical
sounds. Much of the pleasure we take in playwrights as
different as Shakespeare, Shaw, and Synge comes from their
musical language. Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Shepard, and Mamet
(who are associated with what's called the "theatre of the
absurd") use language for a variety of dramatic purposes other
than to communicate information or feelings. And
silences can also be dramatically powerful, as we see in
Strindberg's The Stronger and in the works of Beckett
and Pinter.
While reading or seeing a play, characterize the
language. See if it's used for dramatic purposes other
than to communicate information or feelings. Look for
the uses of silence in the later plays.
Set
With Ibsen, plays began to
be designed for realistic sets; instead of painted canvas,
there would be real bookcases, pictures, and doors. And the
sets took on more dramatic functions. It's no accident
that Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler are confined within the wall
of their homes, and that Nora's walking out the door is a
powerful dramatic statement. But sets can also be
stylized, sometimes to express inner states of mind
(expressionism). Or they can be minimalized so that
characters can define themselves and their world through
movement; Beckett is a master of both silence and empty
space. Brecht developed sets that looked as artificial
as possible--to keep us aware that we are in the theatre, so
that we pay attention and learn the lessons he teaches us,
While reading or seeing a play, think about what the set
contributes to the drama, to the conflicts.
Props
Props may also contribute to
characterization and action.
While reading or seeing a play, think about what the props
contribute to characterization and action. Props take on
what may be more primary roles in plays that move beond
or challenge realistic conventions.
Stage
The shape and position of
the stage is important in that it establishes the relationship
between the play (including the set, props, and actors) and
the audience. In the nineteenth century theatres looked
like the main theatre in Watson (though they were much more
elaborate). This is called a proscenium stage: it's
higher than the audience and set back far enough to
accommodate an orchestra. It is also framed by a
proscenium arch, so that the audience is looking at a room
with one wall missing--we're in the position of peeping
toms. And we can be separated from them by a
curtain. In the nineteenth century, since candles or gas
lamps were used for illumination, there was also an iron
curtain to protect the audience if a fire broke out on
stage. All this affected the costumes, make-up, and
acting style as well as the audience's expectations and
position as spectators. Strindberg wanted a more
intimate theatre--smaller and closer to the audience, which
would in turn require a different acting style and create a
closer relationship between the actors and the audience.
Brecht called attention to the privileged position of the
audience and even addressed it directly to dramatize the
relations among social classes. Becektt and playwrights
he influenced made strong use of forces and images that are
offstage. They become present for the characerters and
us through direct references in the dialogue and action
(characters waiting for Godot, who nver appears, the world
that's running down but new life may be appearing in
Endgame) or stories (that characters tell or improvise
about the past in Old Times and True
West). In the 60's actors often broke down the
division and interacted with the audience.
The Outside World
Plays reflect the world
outside the theatre, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly,
sometimes through the use of fantasy, sometimes by the absence
of social commentary.
While reading or seeing a play, think about what we know
about the world outside the set. About the
physical, social, political situation. About how they
contribute to the major conflicts within the play. Also
see points about offstage above.
"Realism"
"Realism" needs to be
thought of as between quotation marks because what we see and
hear on a stage is not real life. Of course this is
obvious. But what we see is not even a direct
presentation or reflection of real life. It is a
representation--a re-presentation. And re presentation
is always done through a material medium, in this case the
stage, set, props, speech and movement of the actors. It is
also mediated by the very language in which have been
socialized to think.
Realism is a set of conventions--commonly agreed
upon forms or rules--designed to create the illusion that
what's happening on the stage is a neutral recording of
objective events rather than a social-artistic construct
operating from a certain point of view. Realism is a
relatively late convention in Western Art; for 17
centuries stories, pictures and plays did not try to imitate
the physical and social world and pretend to be what it
represented. And no other culture in the world developed
realistic art.
In realistic theatre the set is made to look like a real
room, in a way that leads us to forget the proscenum
frame, contains authentic props of the period and
place. The plot, though unnatural because events follow
one another in causal succession, draws us into the story so
that we don't think about the fact that life doesn't happen
this way. The dialogue is plausible, but leaves out the
repetitions, ughs, and pauses that would be boring or
distracting on the stage. And the action leads up to a
climax and resolution and closure (Nora walks out of her
doll's house, and, while we may not know what would happen in
the competitive world outside, where strong women are not
welcome, the door is still closed. The realistic
conventions and overall style are called transparent; if done
well, the acting does not seem like acting, the language seems
"natural." The point of view--or assumptions--of realism
are based on a sense of the world that is rational
(cause-leads to effect), and ordered in a way that's natural,
and manageable. These are also the assumptions and point
of view of the middle class in a capitalist society.
The history of modern drama, starting with Ibsen's realism,
is in many ways a history away from realistic techniques--and
from the cultural assumptions of realism, though there is a
continuing strain of realism and, realism remains the most
popular form of theatre.
Beyond Realism, Anti-Realism
Most of our assumptions about reading and seeing a play
are based on realistic expectations, and this creates
difficulties when discussing or writing about playwrights like
Beckett, Pinter, Mamet, Shepard, Brecht, and those who
follow.
The best way to approach these plays is leaving the plot
till last. Start with those elements the playwright uses
that have the most force in the play: Beckett's
spare set and language, the characters' movement or lack
of movement, the symmetry of events; Pinter's use of
stories about the past, which characters improvise to gain
power in a particular moment and which lead us to doubt
whether we can know anything about the past, except what
becomes present from moment to moment on the stage;
Brecht's use of obvious devices to keep us aware that we are
watching a play, designed to raise political and arouse us to
change the world.
One of the conventions of realism is a logical,
cause-effect plotline, where a character's actions and
motivations can be logically explained by her or his actions
in the past and it can be assumed that the character is
consistent. So when you think or write about Pinter's
Old Times you can't say that Deeley met Anna at the
Wayfarer's Tavern, because he's already implied that he
doesn't know her; the power struggle is played out by
characters telling stories that change the past. And
don't try to explain Lee's change in True West as a
development. There's no logical connection between the
uncivilized Lee of the opening scene and the sophisticated Lee
who talks to Saul about golf. More on True
West
.
The best way to begin with plays that deliberately resist
realism's explanations to start by describing the dramatic
conflicts that are dramatized in the playwright's use of
dramatic elements enumerated in the paragraph above.
All this may be too condensed. Please ask
questions about points that don't make sense to you.
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