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32 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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dramatic action
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Dramatic action occurs when a situation is presented, explored and resolved or brought to a conclusion.
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aesthetics
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Exploring in performance and responses to drama the role of human senses in making meaning and creating emotional or other experiences. Aesthetics relates to the principles and science of what engages our sensory attention and leads us to respond in particular ways.
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Contextual knowledge
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Research about the history, location, culture, economics, relationships, politics and beliefs, attitudes and values related to a character or text will provide contextual knowledge.
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Cyclical Narrative
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A narrative in which the dramatic action ends the same way it begins. This structure is used to imply an endlessness to a human experience (that is, it will happen again) or to complete a mystery in which the action ‘flash backs’ to explain what lead to the opening event.
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Director’s Vision
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The creation of a clear image (visual or otherwise) of how a drama event will be presented to a particular audience. This includes approaches to acting, aesthetics, design and dominant themes. It may also include an attempt to find a new approach that emphasises different aspects of a text or reflect a particular critical framework.
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Elements of drama
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Drama is created and shaped by the elements of drama which for the WACE Drama course are listed as: role, character and relationships, situation, voice, movement, space and time, language and texts, symbol and metaphor, mood and atmosphere, audience and dramatic tension.
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* Atmosphere
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The interaction between the audience and the mood of a drama performance.
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• Audience
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: the body of people invited or otherwise to view a drama activity, rehearsal or event. Audience includes the patterns in the composition of the audience (for example, age, gender, cultural background, drama experiences) as well as the relationship created between the drama and the placement of the audience. (See Spaces of Performance)
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• Character
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A person or role in the drama that may have defined personal qualities and/or histories. Flat characters (or two dimensional characters) demonstrate a lack of depth or change in the course of a drama event. Rounded characters (or three dimensional characters) feature more elaborate and complex traits and histories and are changed by dramatic action in the drama event.
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• Dramatic tension
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drives the drama and keeps an audience interested. The tension comes when opposing characters, dramatic action, ideas, attitudes, values, emotions and desires are in conflict creating a problem that needs to be resolved (or unresolved) through drama.
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• Language and texts
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referring to the use of spoken or written words that observe particular conventions and registers that communicate ideas, feelings and other associations. Texts refers to the use of published texts, online materials and other compositions the reference of which adds meaning to the drama.
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• Metaphor
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A metaphor is creating an image or idea of one thing by saying it is something else. For example: ‘He is a lion of a man.’ In drama the use of metaphor can be more subtle such as a metaphor of a mouse created through a character having a squeaky voice and small darting movements. Design and stylistic elements can also be metaphors for characterisation or provide meaning in terms of theme.
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• Mood
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describes the feelings and attitudes (often combined) of the roles or characters involved in dramatic action often supported by other Elements of Drama as well as design elements. The mood is the emotional impact intended by the playwright, director and/or other members of the creative team.
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• Relationships
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refers to the qualities of the connection between two or more characters or roles. That relationship may be fixed (largely unchanged by the dramatic action) or variable (challenged or changed by the dramatic action). The relationship may be cooperative (as in a friendship), adversarial (as in enemies), neutral (neither positive nor negative) or non-existent (as in total strangers). Those relationships will be defined by shared interests, common objectives, cultural values and/or human need.
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• Role
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a performer can present in performance a role that represents an abstract concept, stereotyped figure or person reduced to a particular dominant trait (occupation, human condition or social vocation) that lacks depth or a backstory normally present in a ‘Character’.
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• Situation
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the condition or circumstances in which a character or characters are presented often at the opening of a performance.
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• Space
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the place where dramatic action is situated and the qualities of that place including temperature, features, light levels, population levels and other environmental factors that may be presented to or imagined by the characters/audience.
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• Symbol
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symbolic parts of the scenography or design represent and add further meaning to themes, narrative, emotion, mood and atmosphere. Different colours are symbolic. Other symbols might be found in a sound effect, music, style, images. Some symbols are literal while others infer meaning.
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• Time
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both the time of day, time of the year and time in history or the future. Time also reflects changes in time within a scene or drama event. Time also refers to the flow of time over the length of a drama event: fragmented time, cyclical time, linear time and so forth.
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Grotowski
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Jerzy Grotowski (1933:1999) furthered the work of Stanislavski focusing on the actor, actions and psychophysical actions. He had a significant effect on drama and developed ‘poor theatre’ that uses minimal scenography to focus attention on the action for the audience. This may include the use of simple stage elements in creative ways.
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Historical style
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Refers to the time in which a drama was created. Historical style together with performance style creates the distinctive identifying elements of a drama.
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Meyerhold
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Meyerhold (1874:1940) began his theatre work along with Stanislavski in the Moscow Art Theatre. He created oversized, highly theatrical and symbolic scenography. He is also famous for the training system he developed, Biomechanics, focusing on the actor’s movements and awareness of self.
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Movement and non-verbal communication
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The aspects of a performer’s body used to construct character or role, make meaning, convey emotional qualities as well as communicate relationships.
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• Energy
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the pattern of effort and commitment used in the creation of movement and non-verbal communication. Energy may be consistent and predictable, inconsistent and unpredictable or otherwise.
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• Facial expressions
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the shape and adjustment of face including eyes and eyebrows, mouth, jaw and head position.
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• Dynamic physical vocabulary #:
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the successful combining of non-verbal communication elements and techniques to produce integrated effects for the audience.
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• Gesture
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involves movement of parts of the body that communicate meaning. Gesture often involves arm and hand movements such as indicating, waving or beckoning but can include shrugging of the shoulders, winking eyes etc.
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• Posture and body alignment
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the position of the body and sense of shape of the spine when standing or sitting to create role and character. Posture and body alignment affect the ability to move freely and use voice affectively.
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• Proxemics
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the manipulation of the physical and emotional spaces between actors and between stage and audience adds meaning to the dramatic action. For example, heightening the tension between characters, showing relationships and adding to the design of the blocking in terms of placing actors in relation to one another to focus audience attention, so that the audience can see and hear them.
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• Space
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the use of the region immediately around the performer’s body in all directions (kinesphere) and through the performance area (dynamosphere).
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• Time
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the variation and adjustment of the tempo and rhythm of movement.
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• Weight
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the adjustment of movement to create a sense of force or (as in mime) the heaviness of an object either seen or unseen by the audience.
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