Creative Writing: Drama Terms #2

Anagnorisis

Sudden understanding. A EUREKA moment!

Hamartia

A tragic flaw

Hubris

Overconfidence and pride

Nemisis

Inevitable punishment for wrongdoing

Peripeteia

Reversal of Fortune

Mis en scene

The term for the actual staging of a performance, including any scenery or properties as well as actors and actresses

Round Characters

Characters who are fully developed and life like. They consider the following elements: appearance, background, personality, and identity

Flat Characters

Characters in a drama characterized only by their role or a minor action. These characters are fine in a drama where they are serving a specific purpose.

Mystery (Miracle) Plays

A play common in the Middle Ages. Initially it dramatized a biblical story concerning a saint's life. Later it included much secular material with very little that could be termed religious

Morality Plays

Type of plays also constructed in the middle ages which were established as allegorical dramatizations of the conflict between good and evil

Allegory

A story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Masque (Mask)

Renaissance plays constructed specifically for the entertainment of court and performed by noblemen and women.

Antimasque

Renaissance production presenting a grotesque dance of monsters or clowns performed by professionals

Pastoral

Renaissance drama having to do with shepherds or rural life. Focused on the idealization of rural life

Comedy of Manners

Dramatic form popular during the Restoration (1660-1700s), often cynical in tone, that involves much witty repartee

Commedia dell'arte

A dramatic comedy featuring stock characters such as the young lovers, the clever servants performed by Italian acting troops who improvised as they performed

Sentimental comedy and drama

Developed at the end of the Restoration period where man is shown as basically good and a few evil characters repent

Melodrama

Popular in the 19th Century where characters who are clearly good or evil are pitted against each other in situations made to create suspense accompanied by music

Problem Plays

Twentieth Century form of drama that involves the audience in a social problem of some sort