Week 1: INTRODUCING DRAMA

Drama is a literary text that depicts action via dialogues of acting characters. The word
drama comes from the Greek verb “dran” which means ‘to act’ or to perform. It is an
important branch of literature and the most concrete of all art forms. Drama is used to
entertain, inform and educate people. The dramatic genres include tragedy, comedy,
tragicomedy, melodrama, mime.
Because of the element of performance, drama generally transcends the textual dimension of
the other two major literary genres, fiction and poetry. The written word serves as the basis of
drama intended to be transformed into a performance before an audience.

text transformation performance

dialogue Director/ actors fa

monologue / soliloquy/ aside stage methods cial expressions
plot props gestures
setting lighting
stage direction language