THE

FILIPINO
DRAMA
21st Century Literature from the
Philippines and the World
ELEMENTS OF
DRAMA
SIX (6) ARISTOTELEAN
ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
(LYNCH, N.D.)
 PLOT

The action and movement in the

play begin from the initial

entanglement or conflict, through

rising action, climax, and falling

action to resolution.
 CHARACTERS

Characters are interwoven with

the plot, and they are the ones

that move the action of the play

forward.
THEME/THOUGHT

central idea of the play.

also contains the message

that the play gives to the

audience.
LANGUAGE/DICTION

Language and dialog delivered

by the characters move the plot

and action along, provide

exposition, and define the

distinct characters.
 MUSIC/RHYTHM
Music creates patterns and

establishes tempo in theatre.

In the aspects of musical, songs are

used to push the plot forward and

move the story to a higher level of

intensity.
 SPECTACLE
can involve all of the aspects of

scenery, costumes, and special

effects in a production. It also refers

to the visual elements of the play

created for theatrical event.

ANALYZING A
DRAMA
A. APPROACHES TO
ANALYZING A DRAMA
A paper that contains a formal, written
discussion of a performance of a play or
musical is called a theater critique.

the process of analyzing a piece, whether

it is a prose or a poem, is called literary
criticism
SEVERAL
APPROACHES
TO LITERARY
CRITICISM
FORMALISTIC
Stresses items like symbols,
images, and structure and
how one part of the work
relates to other parts and to
the whole.
PHILOSOPHICAL
Focuses on themes,
view of the world,
moral statements, and
author’s philosophy
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORICAL
Aims to find the connection Focuses on the
between the piece and the connection of work to
author's personal the historical period in
experiences.
which it was written.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGICAL
Focuses on man’s
Focuses on the psychology
of characters. relationship with
others in society,
politics, religion, and
business
 ARCHETYPAL FEMINIST
Focuses on connections to
Examines images of
other literature,
women and concepts
mythological/biblical
of the feminine in
allusions, archetypal images,
symbols, characters, and myth and literature.

themes.
B.GUIDELINES IN
ANALYZING A DRAMA
For nascent critiques

Script analysis often starts with

identifying the “given circumstances” or
the characteristics of the world of the
play explicitly or implicitly found in the
script.
EACH OF THE
FOLLOWING
SHOULD BE
IDENTIFIED
 Time Period
The specific time the The general or historical time
scene takes place. Time of period in which the play is set
day, time of week time of (e.g., the Dark Ages, the 1950s,
year. or in the faraway future.)

Place Locale
The general region where
The specific place on stage the play is set (e.g., New
where the action occurs.
York City, the rural
(e.g., a fancy living room, a
American South, under the
sterile doctor’s office, or a
sea.)
ravaged battlefield)
 Mood Theme

The atmosphere, or feeling What ideas does this play

of a scene. (e.g., make you think about?
suspenseful, humorous, Does it have a question that
chaotic) What about the
it sets out to answer or
scene that causes this
explore? How do the
mood?
events of the play develop
these ideas?
B.GUIDELINES IN
ANALYZING A DRAMA
For intermediate critiques

What distinguishes drama from other

forms of writing is that it is made
primarily of dialogue—characters
speaking to each other (or to the
audience), with some actions indicated
through stage directions.
B.GUIDELINES IN
ANALYZING A DRAMA
drama largely does not include narration,
unless the playwright has included a
narrator character.
dialogue is the primary medium of
drama, all dialogue should serve two
purposes: revealing character and
furthering the plot.
 TO THINK ABOUT
IT IN TERMS OF
TEXT, CONTEXT,
AND SUBTEXT
 The situation
surrounding the
The actual words written by the
characters, which
playwright and spoken by the
influences the
actors. As you analyze the text,
decisions they make.
look up any words, expressions,
or references that are Context
unfamiliar

Text
 The underlying meaning of what the
characters say. For example, suppose
a character says, “Everything is fine.”
The meaning, or subtext, of this
phrase changes depending on their
tone and body language.

Subtext
 B.GUIDELINES IN
ANALYZING A DRAMA
For advance critiques

All plays can be reduced to a few basic

ideas: a character wants something,
something hinders the character from
achieving what they want, and the
character tries different tactics to get
what he or she wants.
THE FOLLOWING
IDEAS MUST BE
IDENTIFIED
 OBJECTIVE
What the characters want or
need within the given moment.
All characters should have
objectives, not just the
protagonist.
SUPEROBJECTIVE
The broad overall objective a
character has throughout the play,
rather than in specific scenes
OBSTACLE
The person, event, or thing
that gets in the way of a
character achieving his or her
objective.
Once an obstacle is
overcome, a character gets a
new objective, or the play is
over
TACTIC
An action a character makes in an attempt to achieve his or
her objective. Tactics can be actual actions a character takes,
or they can be spoken.

BEAT CHANGE
The moment a character decides to switch tactics, or takes on a
new objective. These can be subtle moments or incredibly
dramatic moments, depending on the scene. Either way, it is
important to make these beat changes clear.
ACTIVITY
Choose any FILIPINO
DRAMA SCENE and
reenact it.