Elements of Drama.

Today we are going to discuss about Element of Drama. First of all we have to know about Drama. What is Drama? Drama is a unique tool to explore and express human feeling. Drama is an essential form of behavior in all cultures, it is a fundamental human activity. There are many forms of Drama. They are , Role Play, Mime, Masked Drama, Radio Drama.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher whose writings still influence us today. He was the first to write about the essential elements of drama more than 2,000 years ago. While ideas have changed slightly over the years, we still discuss Aristotle's list when talking about what makes the best drama.

According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements. They are plot, theme, characters, dialogue, music, spectacle.

Plot: This is what happens in the play. Plot refers to the action; the basic storyline of the play.

Theme: While plot refers to the action of the play, theme refers to the meaning of the play. Theme is the main idea or lesson to be learned from the play. In some cases, the theme of a play is obvious; other times it is quite subtle.

Characters: Characters are the people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors in the play. It is the characters who move the action or plot of the play forward.

Dialogue: This refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by the characters in the play. The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.

Music: While music is often featured in drama, in this case Aristotle was referring to the rhythm of the actors' voices as they speak.

Spectacle: This refers to the visual elements of a play: sets, costumes, special effects, etc. Spectacle is everything that the audience sees as they watch the play.

Let's know about Element of Drama. The elements of drama, by which dramatic works can be analyzed and evaluated, can be categorized into three major areas:

Literary elements

Technical elements

Performance elements

• Literary elements - There are six stages in a plot structure. They are initial incident, preliminary event, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. Initial incident: That means the event that “gets the story going” .

Preliminary event: Whatever takes place BEFORE the action of the play that is directly related to the play.

Rising action: A series of events following the initial incident and leading up to the dramatic climax.

Climax: The turning point or high point of a story, when events can go either way.

Falling action: The series of events following the climax.

Denouement: Another term for the conclusion from the French word for “unraveling".

Other Literary Elements are Language, Style, Monologue and etc.

• Technical elements - There are many technical elements. Some of them are sets, costumes, props, make up and so on.

Set: The theatrical equipment, such as curtains, flats, backdrops, or platforms, used in a dramatic production to communicate environment .

Costumes: Clothing and accessories worn by actors to portray character and period.

Props: Props used as part of a dramatic production and props mean the movable object that appears on stage during performance, from a telephone to a train.

Other Technical Elements are Light, Sound, and etc.

• Performance elements - Performance elements are so important to actors. Acting, character motivation, character analysis and empathy are some kinds of performance elements.

Acting: Use of face, body, and voice to portray character.

Character motivation: The reason or reasons for a character’s behavior, an incentive or inducement for further action for a character.

Character analysis: In responding to dramatic art, the process of examining how the elements of drama – literary, technical, and performance are used.

Empathy: The capacity to relate to the feelings of another.

Other Performance Elements are Speaking, Breath, Projection and etc.

These are the essential things in Drama and they are really important to students as well as the teachers.