ELEMENTS OF PLAY

• Elements of Play

  1. Plots

  2. Characters

  3. Settings

  4. Dialogues

  5. Movement

  6. Themes
• Plot


  The sequence of events or incidents of which the story/narrative is composed
• Plot


  • It implies that the action has a shape and a form
  • Five components: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution
• Characters/Characterisation


  A character in a play includes a particular personality, beliefs, and principles
• Protagonist


  • The perspective from which the audience identifies and whom the conflict centers around
• Antagonist


  • Directly opposes the protagonist, often portrayed as a villain
• Character Presentation


  • Direct: The author tells us straight out
  • Indirect: The author shows us the character in action
• Character Types


  • Flat: Known by one or two traits
  • Round: Complex and many-sided
  • Stock: Stereotyped
  • Static: Remains the same
  • Dynamic: Undergoes permanent change
• Setting


  The time and place in which the action occurs, including scenery and physical elements
• Theme


  The play's message, its central concerns, the controlling idea or central insight
• Theme


  • Must be stated as a generalization about life, not names of characters or specific situations
  • Many plays contain several rather than one single theme
• Dialogue


  The speeches that the characters use to advance the action
• Dialogue


  • Must tell the whole story since there is no description or commentary on the action
  • Can take the form of conversations between characters or asides spoken to the audience
• Other Theatrical Elements

  • Stage directions
  • Symbols
  • Acts and Scenes
• Stage Directions


  Specific detailed instructions for each character to act out in a scene
• Symbols


  Characters or props used to represent something else
• Plays are, primarily, a form of entertainment
• Oxycodone is drug used medically for treatment of and relieve severe ongoing moderate to severe pain. It is highly addictive and is a commonly abused drug.
• Auld Acquaintance


  (old acquaintance) a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend
• Ramp


  a slope or inclined plane for joining two different levels, as at the entrance or between floors of a building.
• Abashed


  made to feel uncomfortable, disconcerted, or embarrassed by something that has happened or been done or said
• Gallantry


  courageous behavior, especially in battle.
• Geralyn (G.L) Horton (Newtonville, Massachusetts, United States) has been a member of Playwrights’ Platform and written and directed and acted in plays for longer than she cares to recall — mostly in church basements
• A play (drama) is a literary work written for the theater that dramatizes events through the performance of dialogue and stage directions.
• The authors of plays, called playwrights, structure the performances into acts and scenes, which help build the tension and present the story in a compelling way for audiences.
• The word play, meaning a dramatic performance, originates from the early fourteenth century, with roots in the Greek paizo, meaning “to act.”
• Play > Act > Scene