DISCIPLES DRAMA MINISTRY

DRAMATURGY

06:09, 2007-Oct-11 .. 0 comments .. Link

DRAMATURGY

Drama is seen as a literary piece that embraces the socio cultural life of a race ,

Theatre is the medium of expression for dramatic piece using all the various theatrical contractions , music , dance , songs , props , costumes , makeup , lightings – that gives clearer meaning to the idea conceived by the playwright [ dramatist ] with a considerable attachment to the socio – cultural and historical life of a people in a given place [a stage ] and time for the educational growth and entertainment of a particular audience .

Drama is catalogues as the impulse for the existence of theatre while stage , radio , film ,and television serve as the media of the theatre ,and the society , vis -a –vis , the audience is left with a variety of choice among the various communication channels available in this process .

Drama and theatre are considered as parallel , complementary an alternative engagements since both of them sees society and its history and culture as the pivoting tool to their existence especially in study [scholarship] and practice [professionalism] .for instance , sociologists , historian playwright , director , administrator , designer , musician , choreographer , dancer , voice expert are needed for the sustenance of both drama and theatre ,and these are member of a soceity with history and culture .

Drama is an imitation of human action

Drama is a history told in action by actors who impersonate the characters of the story – The characters may therefore be anybody –living or dead ,animate or inanimate ,forces seen or unseen .

Drama is a picture or representation of human life in that succession and change of events that we call story , told by means of dialogue and presenting in action the way successive emotions involved .

Drama is a symbolic representation of life in both words and action .

Drama is a composition in prose or verse intended to be performed on stage in the full glare of audience.

A thorough understanding of what actually constitutes a dramatic experience requires a probe into the philosophy of arts and science , which in a way ,has helped to reposition the theory and criticism of drama from the Greek classical periods to date . The concept of dramatic in action and experience is borne out of the strong desire to free oneself from the shock of a philosophical experience . An experience that is dramatic could be a personal awareness of the events happening in an individuals environments . Dramatic experience differs from one individual to another . In a nutshell ,drama is far more than our dramatic experience neither should one be seen as an alternative or substitute fir the other . But it may be said that drama could have an emotional effects on reader or audience ,and this may be described as a dramatic effects .

The primary objective of every creative adventure is to express or share feelings , thought and idea in order to advance the intellectual growth of individual and for wider horizon of the society in terms of consciousness and knowledge of development and peaceful co – existence .Dramatic themes over the ages , has gone beyond the delicate and abstract relationship between the mythical and spiritual ethos of Greek and medi**** eras to the realistic and ideological bents of the contemporary age .

The religious origin of drama provided a springboard for the thematic concerns of the Greek , Roman and medi**** classical drama .

Theme is however , the central or dominant idea in a literary piece . In a simple language ,theme is the subject of the discourse : a general topic of discussion and in some cases , it is referred to as the Thesis [Thrall et al : 1961 : 486]of a creative piece .Drama ,though is designed to entertained the audience through its stage performance and or reading but with the innovation in the dramatic construct ,the matic preoccupation has has to be a great challenge to both the dramatists and their critics .

It would however ,be a misplaced argument if we subscribe to the fact that all plays have single theme to explore based on the overall meaning conveyed to us by the characters in the play ,especially those we consider as the major or the protoganists and the antagonists there could be more than a theme in play , depending on our understanding of the socio-historical and perhaps the psychology of the playwright as reflected in the individual characters and their social events in the play .

Therefore, a play is seen sometimes as having major or main theme or subtheme . The subtheme or meaning did not become a force to be reckoned with before the Elizabeth period when shakespear’s distinguished sub plot from the main plot , whereas a critical look at the Greek plays , especially those of Aristoplanes , provides us with a great variety of themes ,for instance , in Lysistratic the major idea entrenched there in is for the campaign to be brought to an end ,but a closer look revealed that domestic ,economic and political empowerment of women folk are also proposed in this play .

Characters and characterization [the dramatic flesh and bones] The dramatic vision of a dramatist can only be brought to live by the characters in his play through their actions .Characters are the embodiment of virtues and vice in the dramatic treatment of a theme ,in the historical and conventional analysis of a dramatic piece character study may not completely provided the thematic impulse of a play but it is stepping –stone toward the hermanentic interpretation and understanding of the socio-psychological motives [and motif] of drama .

In the Greek classical plays characters are both human and gods :mortals and immortal .

They are the symbolic representation of the personalities ,in the society ,created in the imagination of the playwright .A study of dramatic characters is done on the basis of what they say and do ,what other characters say about them ,what they say about themselves and what the playwright says about them . this is an established approach to character study but beyond the text ,the contemporary study has applied ,both sociological and psychological of the characters traits to the real life personalities in other to x-ray plausibility of their dramatic action. A dramatic reminder to this however , the progressive force[protoganist or hero]and the opposing force[antagonist or villain]interplay in a dramatic conflict and each of these could be represented by both human and cosmic phenomenon . therefore ,the strength and weakness of both the protoganist and antagonist are determined by their social status and their overall importance in the play ,the individual peculiarities of the characters must be distinguished in the course of analysis against the backdrops of their contributions to the development of dramatic action and theme .

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE VERSUS PLOT

The structural import of a play is significant in determining the dramatic effect of a playwright intends to achieve .An awareness and a conscious utilization of structural element of dramaturgy heighten the creative and intellectual essence of a play .In the Greek tradition these structural element physical division of plays into acts ,scenes or movement and the use of language –were made as rules foe a “good” play [see Aristotle’s poetics]whereas the nineteenth and twentieth century playwright saw this division ,not in strict terms with the Greek theory, but as an ideological projective mode ,for instance ,Brecht’s plays are ideologically motivated and the structure of his plays is motivated by the demand of his message .

OTHER DRAMATIC CONSIDERATIONS

A textual interpretations of any play requires a basic understanding of the various contradictions that led to the dramatic aesthetic and intellectual import of a play. Dialogue and language ,dramatic periods and conventions are very vital to the establishment of the literary and ideological content of a play .The dramatic import of a play is imbued with the status and environment of .In Greek tradition ,dialogue is a reflection of the tragic debate in a play, it is the most distinct feature of drama,for it dictates the dramatic action and conflicts ,apart from the philosophical and general idea ,conversation between two people ]which plato described as the strength of social debate ,dialogue[“embodies certain literary and stylistics values” [Thrall et al op . cit : 139] that are reflective of the creative and intellectual consciousness of the writer .A textual and structural analysis of any dramatic dialogue reflects the following :

[1].It advances the action in a definite way and is not used as a mere ornamentation .

[2]It is consistent with the character of the speakers ,their social positions and special interest .it varies in tone and expression according to the nationalities ,DIALECTS ,occupations and social levels of the speakers.

[3]It gives the impression of naturalness without being an actual ,verbatim record of what may have been said ,since FICTION .as someone has explained ,is concerned with the ‘’semblance of reality ‘’not with reality itself.

[4]It presents the interplay of ideas and personalities among the people conversing :it sets forth a conversational give and take –not simply series of remarks of alternating speakers [5]It varies in DICTION ,RHYTHM,PHRASING,SENTENCE,LENGTH e.t.c according to the various speakers participating .The best writer of dialogue know that rarely do two or more people of the same cultural character background meet and converse and the dialogue they write mark these differences .

[6]It serves as the hands of some writers to give relief from and lightness of effects to passage which are essentially serious or expository in nature . [ibid:139 –140].

It is rational to sum up the above attributes of dialogue in dramatic discourse as all embracing just as it is a reflection of the psychological and intellectual state of mind of a dramatist represented by a character in his plays .A conventional study in drama is rooted in the analysis of dialogue especially in terms of what “what the character says about himself” and “what the character says about him” against the playwright description of such character through stage direction . Dialogue dictates the fluidity and action of a play .

Above all this , every dramatic piece is meant for stage performance ,and the performance quality of every play is ,sometimes determined by the dynamics of dialogue especially on how it can evoke a living action and emotional response from the actors and the audience respectively .

A good study ,based on periods and conventions ,is of great value to the intellectual understanding of the variables in the dramatic development. over the ages, These variables have contributed to the creative innovations ,and the metaphysical complexities in drama and theatre .it is however good to note that every age has its own dramatic pattern and composition ,influenced by the socio-political environment ,and its literary traditions.

The contemporary drama is both ideological and experimental ,and multi-stylistic in presentation as the historical , classical , romantic , realistic ,naturalistic styles of old .However ,a dramatic environment or setting [locale] also has a great grip on the substance of dialogue ,language ,imagery[symbol] and the story-events[narrative] in drama .The exercise of dramatic action must be aligned with a society and a territory recognized and populated by human beings and other character element in a play.