Every script maker for a drama has
a special format to present his ideas for his dramas. It has a simple format
for teleplays on stage but it has a complex and strict rules for movies.Here
are some kinds of a drama:
1. Comedy : It came from the Greek. It never ends with
a death. For modern dramas, they are played humorously.
2. Tragedy : In the Greek sense, a play that ends with
the death of at least one of the main
characters. In modern usage, refers to a
play that doesn’t have a happy
ending.
3. Irony : general name for moments in literature that involve surprising, interesting, and amusing contradictions.
3. Irony : general name for moments in literature that involve surprising, interesting, and amusing contradictions.
4. Dramatic irony : a contradiction between what
the character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true.
Many
English teachers who are unsure about how to teach drama themselves also find
drama in English problematic as they may not have been drama trained and yet
are English teachers. It is important not to ignore the non-verbal and
non-scripted aspects of drama.
Drama
is an ancient, multi-sensoric esthetic and cultural art form which integrates
sound, image and movement and involves the interaction of both verbal and
non-verbal communication to make and communicate meanings. Drama being placed
within English has led to a very literacy-focused type of drama happening in
most schools, where drama is often used mainly to improve speaking and
listening and writing. Drama is a great way to teach English and can improve writing,
speaking and listening.
(Taken from
http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/the-practical-primary-drama-handbook/n2.xml)
There are
some elements that you should know about drama:
a. Script – the written text of a
play: usually
includes a list of characters that appear in the play with a brief description of what the character is like (Dramatis Personae), brief descriptions of the
sets or setting, and the lines the characters will speak.
b. Dramatis Personae - "People of
Drama" in Latin; a list of
the characters in a play, usually found on the first page of the script; often
includes important information about the character
c. Character
- as in a story, people or creatures that appear in
a script by speaking or doing something (the "something" may be as
simple as walking on stage, then walking off again); someone in a script who is
involved with a plot.
d. Dialogue – the lines spoken by the actors;
in the
script, preceded by the name of the character that is to speak the words
e. Monologue – also called a soliloquy; A speech
given by a single character while that character is alone on stage
f . Soliloquy – In drama (especially
Elizabethan Shakespearean]), an extended
speech by a solitary character expressing inner thoughts aloud to him-or
herself and to the audience; a monologue
g. Aside – A monologue performed by a character
while other characters are on stage; the
information in an aside is not heard by the other characters on stage, even
though they may be standing very close by; it is intended to convey the
character’s private thoughts to the audience.
Other characters on stage at that time may freeze, to show that the
words being said are not being overheard; other times, the other characters
will go about their business but ignore the character giving the aside.
h. Exposition
;
A speech or discussion presented in
a very straight-forward manner that is designed to convey information or
explain what is difficult to understand
i. Stage Direction ;a description
(as of a character or setting) or direction (as to indicate stage business)
provided in the text of a play, usually indicated with italics and/or
parentheses. May indicate where the
scene takes place, what a character is supposed to do, or how a character
should deliver certain lines.
j. Enter –
A stage direction; tells the
character(s) to come onto the stage.
Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional information
about how characters are to enter the scene.
k. Exit – A
stage direction;tells the character(s) to leave the
stage and the scene. Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional
information about how characters are to leave the scene.
l.Act; A major section of a play, similar
to a chapter in a book; an act is usually made up of several scenes.
m. Scene –
a subdivision of an act; usually, a
scene indicates a specific location or time, and changes if another location or
time is supposed to be presented. A
scene usually ends when all the characters in the scene leave the stage.
n. Line –
Shakespeare’s plays were written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter, 10
syllables per line); as in a poem, a line might end
though the sentence continues. Current
copies of Shakespeare’s scripts usually have numbers listed in the margins of
the pages so readers can find lines quickly.
o.Chorus ; a character or group in a drama who speaks the
prologue and epilogue and comments on the action
p. Extra
– a minor character who doesn’t have many or any lines; usually,
extras don’t have names, but are identified by what they do (“servant,” “boy,”
“policeman”) and sometimes a number if there are more than one of that type of
extra
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