INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA

Basic Expectations of the drama genre

 A drama is a play that is meant to be seen and it’s dramatic.
 Like a film, a play’s appearance or what it looks like on stage is important.
 A good play will show conflict, tension and drama.
 The entrances and exits are important. They add visual excitement and change – the
audience can see them running in or out and it makes a big difference.
 The beginning and end of an act are dramatic moments.
 The characters’ language shows their social attitude.
 The setting shows the social status of the characters

There are five important elements to a good drama

1. PLOT
The plot refers to a sequence of events that are planned with acts and scenes which move from
the beginning through to the end of a play. A plot in a play is arranged in time, so one of the
things which encourage us to continue reading is to see what happens next. It deals with
causality that is how one event or incident causes another.
There are five parts to a plot.

EXPOSITION The beginning of the story where the

setting, characters and events are introduced
RISING ACTION Problems and conflicts are revealed and the
characters have to face all these challenges
CLIMAX The highest point of crisis in the story
which makes or breaks the characters
FALLING ACTION Resolutions to conflicts
RESOLUTION The ending where conflicts are resolved and
if the ending is a sad one it can be called a
catastrophe

2. CHARACTERS
The characters refer to the people in the play. The most important character is called the main
character or the protagonist who is usually the hero in the play. The character that is in conflict
with the other character is the antagonist and is usually the villain in the play. The other
characters are called the minor characters and they have very few lines or few stage appearances.
In a play, characters must fully assume the role they are playing to closely resemble real life to
make the action more convincing. The dialogues will make the characters have interactions with
each other and the monologues will reveal a character’s deepest thoughts and feelings to the
audience.

3. SETTING
The setting provides the background to the play. It refers to the place and time where a
particular event takes place and this will be shown in the change of scene for each new
background introduced. The setting will also reveal the social status of the characters.

4. THEME
The theme refers to a unifying idea, image or motif, repeated or developed throughout the play.
It represents the message or perspective on life the playwright wishes to share with the audience.
The theme may be implied or explicitly conveyed by the dialogue and actions of the characters
on stage. A moral value can also be learnt from the theme.

5. NARRATOR
A narrator tells or relates the story in the play. He will be relating and explaining situations and
events. His task is to fill in the gaps or tie the loose ends of the story in the play together.

DRAMA: RUMPELSTILTSKIN –retold by Angela Lanyon

A Melodrama:
Rumpelstiltskin is a play which falls into the dramatic genre of a melodrama.
A melodrama is a play where the characters behave in an extreme emotional way, with the bad
characters being very bad and the good characters being very good. Here the antagonist or
villain is Rumpelstiltskin who is cunning and manipulative. The protagonist is poor innocent
young Lisa who is a victim of her father’s boastfulness. In a melodrama, the good will be
rewarded and the wicked will be punished. There is a clear distinction between good and evil

SYNOPSIS
The play is about how a young and innocent girl has to spin straw into gold for a greedy King
when her parents foolishly boast of her cleverness in a bid to attract the King’s attention. The
King is cruel and inhuman. He will cut off her head if she fails in her task. A strange little man
climbs the wall of the tower into her room and offers to help her in exchange for her pretty
necklace and ring in the first two occasions. She has nothing to offer him the third time but he is
willing to help her spin the straw into gold if she promises to give him her first-born son in
exchange for his help. In her desperation, she readily promises him. The king is very pleased
with all the gold she has spun for him and marries her. A year later, the little man comes to
claim his prize but the queen refuses to part with her baby. The little man feels sorry for her and
asks her to solve a riddle of guessing his name in three days. With the help of her parents who
secretly follow the little man into the woods and learnt of his name, Lisa is able to solve the
riddle and keeps her child.