Conventions of Drama

1
Conventions of Drama
2
Conventions of the Text

• Divisions of the text
• An ACT is the biggest division of the play
• Greek plays Shakespearean plays nearly always
  five acts (climax of the plot in Act 3,
  generally)
• More modern plays two or three acts
• A SCENE is the encounter between a character and
  other character(s) at a certain location.
• Shakespearean plays often 3 6 scenes per act

3
Conventions of the Text

• Divisions of the text
• When writing about acts and scenes, use capital
  Roman numerals for acts and lower case for
  scenes. Use italics.
• IV v Act 4, scene 5

4
Conventions of the Text

• Stage Directions
• Instructions from the author to the production
  team and performance team
• Includes staging information, lighting
  information, sound cues, acting instructions,
  movement speaking instructions
• Information from the author to readers
• Includes visual sound cues to help the reader
  experience the play

5
Conventions of the Text

• Stage Directions
• Often written in italics or with different
  margins than the dialogue of the play
• Not usually read aloud when the play is read
  aloud
• But EXTREMELY important to read!

6
Conventions of the Text

• Dialogue
• What the characters say to one another in a scene
• Each characters voice is different diction,
  tone, style
• Characters name usually in all caps, followed by
  a colon, then the words the character is supposed
  to say

7
Conventions of the Text

• Dialogue
• Indicates the action, conflict, and progress of
  the play
• Realistic plays mean realistic, plausible
  conversations among the characters
• But NOT like you might record two people talking
  at lunch, for example. More purposeful, more
  structured.

8
Conventions of the Stage

• Suspension of disbelief
• The audience agrees to pretend that theyre
  observing real action conversation
• BUT the audience needs cues for when they should
  STOP pretending and applaud, or understand that a
  scene or act is over, or the play is over. Lights
  sounds good for this!

9
Conventions of the Stage

• Suspension of disbelief
• fourth wall or proscenium stages let audiences
  pretend theyre looking into a room
• Information in the program lets audience know
  about the passage of time

10
Conventions of the Stage

• Acting conventions
• Projection of voices toward the back of the
  theater
• ¼ turns rather than profile to the audience
  actors dont turn their backs on the audience
  except for effect
• Aside and soliloquy

11
Conventions of the Stage

• Staging conventions
• Upstage toward the back of the stage, away from
  the audience
• Downstage toward the front of the stage, toward
  the audience
• Stage left the actors left when the actor is
  looking toward the audience
• Stage right the actors right when the actor is
  looking toward the audience

12
Conventions of the Stage

• Set conventions
• Obtuse angles instead of right angle corners
  where walls meet
• No ceilings of rooms
• Sets must be read for meaning, just like a text
  is read

13
Before the curtain goes up ...

• Plays are intended to be experienced as a member
  of the production performance team OR as a
  member of the audience