Genre of Literature

Subject: Literature-in-English

Theme: GENRES OF LITERATURE

Topic: Drama

Sub Topic:

Date: dd/mm/yyyy

Class: S.S 1

Average Age: 14 years and above

Duration: 35 Minutes

No of Learners: 40

Learning Objectives:

Define Drama:

Drama or play is the imitation of some actions. It is a genre of literature like poetry and prosethat is meant to be acted on stage. It is solely for presentation in the theatre by actors who perform specified actions. The form ‘drama’ is derived from a Greek word that means ‘action’. Drama is the only is the only genre of literature that is associated with stage performance. Dramas sometimes involve songs and music.
Drama represents life, it is not complete until it is performed.

List and explain forms/types of Drama:

1. Tragedy: A serious play with a sad ending, written in an elevated style. The protagonist often faces downfall due to a tragic flaw. Examples include Macbeth by Shakespeare and The Gods Are Not To Blame by Ola Rotimi, “Let me Die Alone” by John Kargbo Kolosa, “Women of Owu” by Femi Osofisan and “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare.

2. Comedy: A light-hearted play with a happy ending. It focuses on amusing the audience and often contains humor. An example is Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare, “The Blinkards” by Kobina Sekyi, Lion and Jewel by Wole Soyinka and De Graft’s “Son’s and Daughters.”

3. Tragic-Comedy: A combination of both tragedy and comedy. The story may appear serious but ends happily. An example is Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, “Merchant of Vernice” by William Shakespeare and The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare

4. Farce: A humorous play that emphasizes absurdity and exaggerated characters to evoke laughter. Farce is a comic drama that uses stock characters whose actions in the play leads them near disaster but never really get into disaster. These stock characters are regular characters but their roles may be described by the name they bear. They are instantly recognizable to their audience. However, the naivety of events presented in farce is mostly sacrificed in the process of achieving excess laughter.

5. Epic Drama: Also known as the chronicle play or Historic play. It focuses on the heroic deeds of great men in history. its material is based on historical records. Besides presenting the history of individuals and people, History play also glorifies the past heroic deeds of individuals and people. William Shakespeare has a number of history plays. The commonest of them is Julius Caesar.

6. Melodrama: A play that is accompanied by music and is meant to evoke strong emotions, often concluding with a happy ending. It is a light hearted comic play that highlights suspense and romantic feeling with characters who are usually either clearly good or clearly bad. In this drama, belief is downplayed/made less important in order to create excitement, sensation and shock. This kind of drama uses a musical background to increase/height the emotional tone of a scene. Examples:” Arms and the Man” by Benard Shaw, “The Jew of Malta” by Christopher Marlowe.

7. History Play: Also known as the chronicle play or Epic, its material {what forms the play} is based on historical records. Besides presenting the history of individuals and people, History play also glorifies the past heroic deeds of individuals and people. Examples of history plays are: Ola Rotimi’s “Ovoranmwen Nogbaisi, William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”,Chimamanda Adichie’s “Half of a yellow sun”, e.t.c.

8. Mime/Pantomime:

9. Monologue:

10. Domestic Tragedy:

Explain Features of Drama:

(a) Play director: this is the person that is in charge of directing the actors and actresses on what to act on stage.

(b) Audience: these are the people who come to watch the play performed by the actors and actresses. The audience sit in a place called theatre and watch the performance.

(c) Theatre: It is a building where plays are performed. Other performances such as musical performance are also held in the theatre

(d) Stage: It is a raised portion in a theatre where actors and actresses stand when they perform.

(e) Actors and Actresses: These are the people (the cast) who act in plays, movies or on television.

(f) Costumes/Props: This is a set of clothes worn by actors and actresses to make them like something or somebody else.

(g) Language: Language is an important element in drama. Some uses languages that are simple while some use language that is rich in imagery or difficult.

(h) Dialogue : It is the conversation between two or more people.

(i) Monologue: This refers to when a character in a play is talking.

(j) Soliloquy: This refers to when a character, usually alone on the stage talk to himself/ herself

(k) Acts and Scenes: Drama is divided into acts and scenes. Acts refers to the main parts into which a play is divided. Scenes are single piece of action that happens in one place in a play. A scene is shorter than an act.

(l) It is theatrical, often involving a specific set of costumes and stage directions.

(m) It includes elements like dialogue, plot, and character development.

(n) Stage Manager: This is the person that generally instructs and supervises the production of plays.

List and Explain Elements of Drama:

• Theme: The central idea or message that the playwright wants to convey.

• Setting: Refers to the location and time where the action of the play takes place.

• Plot: The sequence of events or actions that make up the story.

• Characters/Dramatis Personae: The imaginary people created by the playwright, classified into major and minor roles.

• Action: This is an important feature of drama because drama is all about “doing”. What stimulates/arouses action in a play is conflict.

• Conflict: This is the struggle, argument or disagreement between two characters in a play mainly the protagonist and the antagonist. Conflict can be individual or societal type. It brings about suspens.

• Soliloquy: A speech made by a character alone on stage, revealing their inner thoughts.

• Protagonist: The main character around whom the story revolves.

• Dialogue: The conversation between two or more characters in the play.

• Climax: The point of highest tension in the play, where the action reaches its peak.

• Suspense: A dramatic technique where the audience is left anticipating what will happen next.

• Act: A major division in a play, often marking a shift in time, setting, or action.

• Tragic Flaw: A costly mistake made by the protagonist in a play or drama. It could also mean an in-built or inherited weakness (flaw), say pride (hubris), which aids the downfall of the protagonist.

• Protagonist: A character that plays the most prominent/famous/important role in a play or novel, often referred to as the hero/heroine or the chief character.

• Antagonist: A character in a play or novel who opposes the protagonist rightly or wrongly. Often he/she contradicts the protagonist.

• Denouement: Also known as resolution or the unknotting of events. It is the resultant process soon after the climax has been reached. Here the conflict in a play or novel is finally resolved.

• Catharsis: This means purgation (from ‘purging’ the original Greek word). It is the feeling by an audience of a sense of release or the cleansing of the mind of excess emotion, often through the shedding of tears as when a great tragedy is being played out on stage.

• Cast: A list of actors and actresses given defined roles in a drama by the playwright or director.

• Playwright: The writer of a piece of drama or play.

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