Drama and Theatre FP1
dual nature of dramatic texts - answer dramas = texts that are written to be performed
as plays, not purely written to be read, act as scripts
collective nature of production and reception - answer communication situation at play
different, several people involved in production, usually attended by large audiences
stage directions - answer part of secondary text, printed in italics, detailed information
about HOW text is to be performed, infos about stage set and characters' gestures and
facial expressions
primary text - answer characters' utterances, spoken aloud during performance
secondary text - answer all parts not part of dialogue, stage directions, gestures, facial
expressions, title, dramatis personae
speech tags - answeridentifies which character is speaking
multimediality - answerpreparing a drama for performance = form of literary adaption,
dramatic text = written form --> theatre performance = non verbal and verbal modes of
communication, involves acoustic (voices, noises, music), optical dimensions (set,facial
expressions, ... )
Amphitheatre - answerancient greek plays, football stadium size, lack of stage set,
distance from audience, realistic performane impossible
Elizabethan public/platform/apron stage - answerclose contact between actors and
audience, lit by natural daylight, minimal set - audience imagination, word scenery was
essential through characters' description of places
picture-frame stage - answertoday's most common stage form, box-like structure,
creation of aesthetic illusions, presents realistic settings, watching world through
"transparent" fourth wall, actors behave as if there were no spectators
dramatic conventions - answerset of rules which both audience and actors are familiar
with, f.e. Shakespeare: character can move upstage to deliver soliloquy and will not be
heard by other characters, or characters start singing in musical = not weird
communication system - internal level - answercharacters can move between roles of
addresser and addressee, dialogue most important medium for transmission of
information
, communication system - external level - answerreading: author = addresser, dramatic
text = message, reader = addressee
theatre performance: whole theatre apparatus=addresser, performance=message,
audience = addressee
character perspective - answerview of the fictional world of every character determined
by character's:
-level of knowledge
-psychological disposition
-ideological persuasion (=values and norms)
discrepancy of awareness - answerto what extent are characters/audience informed
about the dramatic evens and plans of characters?
if the audience is placed at an advantage/disadvantage as far as distribution of
knowledge is concerned (in comparison with characters)
congruent awareness - answercharacters and audience are provided with identical
information
dramatic irony - answerprecondition: discrepant awareness between audience and
characters = discrepancy between internal and external communication system,
superior knowledge =priviledged insight into character's world, additional unintended
meaning
--> speaker becomes butt of the irony
--> can be comic or tragic
scenic presentation (immediacy) - answerno mediating communication system,
intratextual communication restricted to diegetic level of characters, thoughts or feelings
never openly stated (but may be inferred from action shown), illusion of unmediated
view of events in the narrated world
narration (mediacy) - answersuperordinate account of events on extradiegetic level,
represented as instance of commutation between narrator and narratee, dramas contain
narrative elements --> epic drama
narrator insight the action: Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
outside the action - stage manager in Thornton Wilder's Our Town
mediacy - narrator insight the action - answerSalieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
mediacy - narrator outside the action - answerstage manager in Thornton Wilder's Our
Town
Episierungsexposition - answernarrative elements particularly at the beginning
dual nature of dramatic texts - answer dramas = texts that are written to be performed
as plays, not purely written to be read, act as scripts
collective nature of production and reception - answer communication situation at play
different, several people involved in production, usually attended by large audiences
stage directions - answer part of secondary text, printed in italics, detailed information
about HOW text is to be performed, infos about stage set and characters' gestures and
facial expressions
primary text - answer characters' utterances, spoken aloud during performance
secondary text - answer all parts not part of dialogue, stage directions, gestures, facial
expressions, title, dramatis personae
speech tags - answeridentifies which character is speaking
multimediality - answerpreparing a drama for performance = form of literary adaption,
dramatic text = written form --> theatre performance = non verbal and verbal modes of
communication, involves acoustic (voices, noises, music), optical dimensions (set,facial
expressions, ... )
Amphitheatre - answerancient greek plays, football stadium size, lack of stage set,
distance from audience, realistic performane impossible
Elizabethan public/platform/apron stage - answerclose contact between actors and
audience, lit by natural daylight, minimal set - audience imagination, word scenery was
essential through characters' description of places
picture-frame stage - answertoday's most common stage form, box-like structure,
creation of aesthetic illusions, presents realistic settings, watching world through
"transparent" fourth wall, actors behave as if there were no spectators
dramatic conventions - answerset of rules which both audience and actors are familiar
with, f.e. Shakespeare: character can move upstage to deliver soliloquy and will not be
heard by other characters, or characters start singing in musical = not weird
communication system - internal level - answercharacters can move between roles of
addresser and addressee, dialogue most important medium for transmission of
information
, communication system - external level - answerreading: author = addresser, dramatic
text = message, reader = addressee
theatre performance: whole theatre apparatus=addresser, performance=message,
audience = addressee
character perspective - answerview of the fictional world of every character determined
by character's:
-level of knowledge
-psychological disposition
-ideological persuasion (=values and norms)
discrepancy of awareness - answerto what extent are characters/audience informed
about the dramatic evens and plans of characters?
if the audience is placed at an advantage/disadvantage as far as distribution of
knowledge is concerned (in comparison with characters)
congruent awareness - answercharacters and audience are provided with identical
information
dramatic irony - answerprecondition: discrepant awareness between audience and
characters = discrepancy between internal and external communication system,
superior knowledge =priviledged insight into character's world, additional unintended
meaning
--> speaker becomes butt of the irony
--> can be comic or tragic
scenic presentation (immediacy) - answerno mediating communication system,
intratextual communication restricted to diegetic level of characters, thoughts or feelings
never openly stated (but may be inferred from action shown), illusion of unmediated
view of events in the narrated world
narration (mediacy) - answersuperordinate account of events on extradiegetic level,
represented as instance of commutation between narrator and narratee, dramas contain
narrative elements --> epic drama
narrator insight the action: Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
outside the action - stage manager in Thornton Wilder's Our Town
mediacy - narrator insight the action - answerSalieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
mediacy - narrator outside the action - answerstage manager in Thornton Wilder's Our
Town
Episierungsexposition - answernarrative elements particularly at the beginning
