Creative Writing

“All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players:
they have their exits and entrances.”
- William Shakespeare

Creative
Understanding
WritingCulture, Society and Politics Trixie
Trixie Charlotte
Charlotte S.
S. Cafirma
Cafirma
 MODULE 4.1
Reading and Writing Drama

Hello, my dear students! Welcome to our fourth module!

All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players: they have their exits and their
entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages, said Shakespeare.
It is a metaphorical comparison of the world we live in and of the stage.

If the world is a stage as already stated, the stage may also be considered as a representation of the
world. The reason is that drama, like any other forms of art, is an imitation of life; it describes one or
several human experience/s. This is done by acting out characters on the stage or in other venues of
performances, with the intelligent use of the other elements of drama. Similar with other forms of
creative writing such (i.e. stories, novels, and poems), drama is also an effective literary form used by
writers to express socially relevant issues, widely accepted morals, and universal truths about life.

In correlation to this, this module presents and discusses the different types of drama and its various
elements.

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

 Define drama in the context of literature,
 Identify and explain the major types of drama,
 Identify and explain the various elements of drama per category: Aristotle’s Essential
Elements of Drama, Literary elements, Technical elements, and Performance elements,
 Analyze and evaluate a short animation film based on the categories of the elements of
drama,
 Conceptualize a character, setting, and short plot inspired by your favorite song, and
 Infer the relevance of the lesson to you as a student and as an individual

Instructions: In 2-4 sentences, answer the following statement below.

1. What is your favorite play, movie (live or animated) or TV series that you have watched? What
were the reasons or factors that made it your favorite?
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Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma

 Please be guided by the following questions as you navigate the discussion of the lesson.
1. What is a drama in the context of literature, or as a literary term?
2. What are the major types of drama?
3. What are the essential elements of drama according to Aristotle?
4. Using its Literary Elements, what makes a drama different from a short story?
5. In what ways do the Technical Elements of drama affect its delivery to its audience?
6. In what ways do the Performance Elements of drama contribute to the effectiveness and
convincing power of the characters’ portrayal?

DEFINITION AND FEATURES OF DRAMA

 A drama is a type of literature that is written for the purpose of being performed in front of an
audience. This type of writing is written in the form of a script, and the story is told through the
lines of the characters played by actors.
 Drama is broadly defined as any story told in dialogue form that is performed by actors for an
audience. The word “drama” originated from the Greek word dran, meaning “to do” or “to act”.
 Today, drama includes movies, TV shows, live stage productions, and radio plays. Dramatic
works can be poetry or prose, fiction or fact, a one-person show or a cast of thousands.
 Simply put, drama is literature that develops plot and character through dialogue and action.
Dramas are meant to be performed by actors and actresses who appear on stage, before radio
microphones, or in front of television or movie cameras.
 Unlike other forms of literature, such as fiction and poetry, a work of drama requires collaboration
of many people in order for it to come to life.
 Most plays are divided into acts, with each act having an emotional peak, or climax, of its own.
The acts sometimes are divided into scenes; each scene is limited to a single time and place.
 A playwright is someone who writes plays. Playwrights are also known as dramatists. The most
famous playwright ever in English is William Shakespeare.

What are the differences between a drama/play and a short story?

One-act plays - It is similar to a short story in its limitations. There is a complete drama within one
act. It is brief, condensed, and single in effect. One situation or episode is presented, permitting no
minor plots or side actions that may distract attention for the single purpose and effect being
developed. Characters are few in number, quickly introduced, and very limited in character
development. Dialogue and plot must carry the action forward smoothly and quickly.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ACT AND SCENE

 Both an act and a scene are part of a play or performance. The main difference between the two
is in their length and depth.
 An act consists of several scenes and can run for a long time in a performance. On the other
hand, a scene features a brief situation of action and dialogue.

Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma

  The act is the main tool of separating the whole performance with intervals or intermissions. It can
be separated by the number of scenes, while a scene cannot be divided but can only move on to
another scene where the action or flow of the story continues.
 Both act and scene headings are expressed in capitalized letters in script form. The act is usually
followed by a Roman numerals (I, V, M, X, etc.), while a scene is accompanied by an ordinal
number (“first”, “second”, “third”, “tertiary”, etc.).

TYPES OF DRAMA
 Comedy: A comedy is a type of drama that is written to be entertaining or amusing for the
audience.
 The television show FRIENDS is considered a comedy. This sitcom follows the lives of six
friends and depict the their comedic and romantic adventures and career issues.

 Tragedy: A tragedy is a type of drama that can be described as serious in nature and often
includes a catastrophic ending.

 William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is an example of a tragedy. In this
play, two young children fall in love and feel the need to hide this from their parents due to
their feuding families. However, their rash thinking leads them to their ultimate deaths.

 Farce: A farce is a subcategory of comedy. These low comedies include ridiculous and slapstick
comedic situations in order to create humor for the audience.
 The movie Dumb and Dumber is an example of a farce. This movie follows the story of
two caricatures on a mission to return a briefcase to a beautiful lady. Throughout the film
the two encounter several ridiculous and crude situations.

 Melodrama: While it originally referred to dramas that included accompanying music,

melodramas now refer to plays that include highly emotional situations in order to play on the
feelings of the audience.
 The play Les Miserables is an example of a melodrama that involves several layers of
over dramatic situations. It centers on the character Jean Valjean, an ex-convict in 19th-
century France. The story spans many years as it tells of Valjean's release from prison
and reformation as an industrialist while being constantly pursued by the morally strict
inspector Javert.

 Musical Drama: Musical dramas refer to plays in which characters engage in dialogue but also
include scenes in which the passion of the character is so great he expresses himself in song.
 Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera is a well-known example of a musical
drama that tells the story of obsession.

Cite at least one example of media or other related works (local or international) for each type of
drama.

Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma

 ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
Aristotle’s Six Essential Elements of Drama
Aristotle, a world-renowned Greek philosopher, wrote about the six essential elements of
drama more than two-thousand years ago. His concepts about drama largely influence the way we
view drama today.

1. Plot - refers to the story line of the play (flow of events).

2. Theme - pertains to the message that the playwright wishes to convey through the events and
the characters.
3. Characters - refers to the people, or sometimes animals, portrayed by the actors in the play.
4. Dialogue - is the words or lines of the characters that are meant to be delivered verbally by the
actors.
5. Music/Rhythm - refers to the rhythm of the actor’s voices as they speak/ the variations in the
manner by which dialogues are delivered.
6. Spectacle - includes anything that can be seen onstage during the performance of the play
such as the set design, costume, and special effects. These are also known as visual elements.

After a certain period of time, these elements have evolved and the modern theater identified
additional elements. These elements are as follows:

1. Convention - refers to the techniques or methods that dramatists and directors adhere to in
creating the way the play is written and interpreted.
2. Genre - pertains to the type of play. Today, plays can come in different forms like musicals,
comedy, tragedy, avant-garde, and historical plays.
3. Audience - refers to the viewers of the play. Most playwrights and stage directors of today
highly regard the audience as an important factor in the writing and production of their plays. The
story line and themes should stimulate common interests of the audience.

Today, Aristotle’s essential elements of drama are further elaborated and categorized into
three major types. Plays are written and analyzed according to these three major elements.

Literary Elements
1. Script - it is the written product of the playwright. It contains the dialogues, descriptions, and
stage directions.

2. Plot - the plot refers to the story line or logical arrangement of events in the play. The plot
structure of drama is very similar to that of a short story. However, the plot of the play is presented
in dialogues and stage directions, while the plot of a short story is written in paragraph form. The
plot structure of drama includes the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

3. Characters - the persons, animals, or other entities that are portrayed in a play. The playwright
usually gives brief, sometimes detailed, character descriptions in the beginning of the script. The
names of the characters in the play are repeatedly stated in the script through the dialogues.

4. Setting - refers to the particular time and place the story happened. In the beginning of the script,
the playwright usually gives a background of the setting. Normally, the playwright describes what
the audience will see onstage in the beginning of the scenes.

Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma

 5. Dialogue - this pertains to the conversation between and among the characters in the play. The
appropriate manner of verbal expression and the correct choice of words are necessary for the
playwright to clearly establish the motives, traits, and attitudes of his or her characters.

6. Dramatic Devices - for more creative and meaningful expression, most playwrights use the
following dramatic devices:
a)Monologue - is usually a long speech delivered by a single character and addressed directly
to a group “within” the play or the actual audience inside the theater.
b)Soliloquy - is a speech that lets the character speak to himself/herself, as if thinking aloud. A
playwright uses this device in order to let the reader/audience understand more deeply what
the character goes through internally.
c)Stage Whisper - also called a loud whisper that is delivered by an actor to another and is
audible to the audience but, for a dramatic effect, is not heard by other actors onstage.
d)Aside - “unheard” by other actors onstage, the character speaks to the audience, usually in
brief remarks, to express his/her unspoken thoughts aloud.
e)Dramatic Irony - the members of the audience are fully and clearly aware of the significance
and implications of the character’s words, actions, or situations except the character
himself/herself.

Technical Elements
1. Scenery - refers to the theatrical equipment such as backdrops and platforms that set the mood
and setting of each scene in the play.
2. Props - in stage production, these are objects or articles that vary from the scene to scene and
can be moved from one place in the stage to another. Common examples are tables and chairs.
3. Sound - refers to both music and effects used in the production of the play. The music, usually
called musical score, gives emphasis on the emotions conveyed in a particular scene, while sound
effects are used to represent sounds in the real world such as the sound of rain, knock on the door,
and even explosions.
4. Makeup - refers to the use of costumes, body paint, wigs and other similar body accessories to
transform an actor into the character that he/she portrays.

Performance Elements
1. Acting - refers to the manner an actor brings a character to life through his/her words and
actions. The way an actor delivers the role of a character is dependent on the dialogues and stage
directions in the script and how the director interprets the play. Through effective acting, the actors
are able to command attention from the audience and establish stage presence.
2. Speaking - pertains to the actor’s speaking skills such as vocal expression, enunciation, and
projection that are necessary to effectively deliver the lines from the script.
3. Nonverbal Expressions - it includes the gestures, facial expressions, and body movements that
the actors employ in their performance, usually to support the delivery of lines.

Do you think that a play will be just as effective in terms of performance and delivery if one of the
elements of drama are not incorporated or neglected? Why or why not?

Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma

 Book-based
Bernales, Rolando. Creative Writing: A Journey for Senior High School Students and Aspiring
Creative Writers. Malabon City, Mutya Publishing House, Inc., 2017.
Miranda, Ace Lyn, et al. Creative Writing. 1st ed., Quezon City, The Phoenix Publishing House, 2017.

Internet-based
Celine. “Scene and Act.” Difference Between, 8 Sept. 2017,
www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-scene-and-act.
“What Is Drama? Definition, Examples of Drama as a Literary Term.” Writing Explained, 30 Apr. 2019,
writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/drama.

How did you feel about finishing the first module? Encircle your reaction below. Don’t forget to also
put your reactions/comments after.

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Creative Writing Trixie Charlotte S. Cafirma