Warm-up (课前准备)：

Q1: What are some of the TV drama that impress you?

Q2: Do you know any of the classical dramas in the world?

Q3: Who is your favorite actor or actress and why?

Q4: Have you ever performed in a drama?

An Overview (本章概览)：

Aristotle stated that all imaginative literature was mimesis (imitationand he praised drama above other forms of literature because it was the closest imitation of life. That Is, drama presents the story as if it were happening at the time of production; everything that the audience or reader knows comes through the speeches and actions of the characters. No author’s or the narrator’s voice breaks in to explain or comment or give background material. Therefore, drama, of all literary forms, can create the greatest illusion of reality. The strength of this illusion comes through most clearly in performance, perhaps because the experience of the audience in the theater is closest to familiar forms of experience. Thus, we form our opinions of our acquaintances largely by what they say and do; we prefer to judge for ourselves rather than be told.

Dialogue (speech) is the most distinguishing feature that tells a dramatic piece from other modes of literature. While it is optional in other forms of literature such as novels and narrative poems, dialogue is the essential dominant vehicle that carries the play 's message across to the audience. The conventions of dialogue for dramatic works are determined by a number of factors. First and the most important is the constant need of the dramatist to objectify what in real life or other literary forms would not appear openly. Thus, devices such as the aside and the soliloquy bring out into the open thoughts which one would normally not expect anyone to speak aloud. Second, the drama is a compressed form, limited by the length of time that one might reasonably expect an audience to sit with attention in a theater. Therefore, dramatic dialogue must be directed and well written not only to tell the story but also advance the plot, characterize the speaker, help set the mood, and suggest or contribute to overall theme of the play. Third, in certain kinds of drama, the sound of ordinary speech must be changed, usually by making the lines conform to a metrical pattern like blank verse and sometimes making lines rhyme in verse drama.

Like fiction, a dramatic work also tells a story, and also like fiction, the story of a dramatic work must have a plot. The plot of a play, novel, or film is the series of events that occur in it. The relationship of these events to one another is the plot structure. Since the story must get across to its audience within what Shakespeare called “the two-hours” passage of the stage, the playwright must not put excessive strain on the audience’s attention and memory. To meet the requirements of compression and objectification, the playwright usually uses the technique of exposition. The exposition (or protasis) is that proportion of the play which introduces the characters and explains what had happened before the action of the play begins. How to insert that exposition in a natural and interesting manner challenges the playwright's skills as an artist. Foreshadowing is often an important function of exposition. All plots, dramatic or nondramatic, depend upon conflict. Usually, one central character, protagonist, is pitted against an antagonist a person or a force that works against the protagonist. In a traditional plot the protagonist and antagonist clash early in the story (inciting moment struggle during the story (rising action, complication; epitasis), and reach some kind of new balance at the conclusion (crisis, turning point, climax, catastasis, and resolution or denouement). In a play where this conflict is internal, this conflict must be objectified if the story is to be staged. The plot of tragedy involves a reversal of the protagonist from good to bad fortune but for comedy there is no sinale critic whose definitions are accepted. But generally the reversal in comedy results in a happy ending, often culminating in a wedding or series of weddings as tragedy often culminates in the death of the main character. In some cases, a dramatic work is neither a tragedy nor a comedy, such a play may be called tragicomedy.

Every good play contains a principle of unity that determines what is included and what is left out. This unifying principle is the theme. To understand the theme of a play is to be able to view it as an integrated whole, not merely as a group of characters, happenings, speeches, and symbols. All plays have meaning since they all imply an attitude toward life. There are several types of meaning. There is first of all, the play which exists only to convey a message but fundamentally more interesting is the problem play. A good problem play attempts to explore the question more deeply than a fable. The theme may be obvious, on stage or on paper, is the very delight the audience or readers get from the experience of theatre-going or reading of dramatic works as literature.

Objectives (学习目标)：

1.To get a knowledge of different types of drama

2.To know the elements of drama and know differences between reading drama and watching drama

3.To cultivate the ability of both understanding and appreciating drama

4.To be able to act in a short drama

Knowledge Structure (知识结构):

Part One：

1. Definition of drama

2. Brief origins of drama

3. Types of drama

Part Two：

1. Elements of poetry

2. Differences between reading and performing drama

3. Plot structures

4. Rhythm of tension and release