IB English Literature Drama Conventions

Anti-Hero

The imperfect protagonist of a drama who tries to confront the established norm, but ultimately fails

Aside

A part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience.

Act

One of the principal divisions of a theatrical work. (Plays are commonly divided into 1 act, 3 act, or 5 act performances)

Blocking

The precise movements and positions of actors or performers on a stage as dictated by the director.

Comedy

A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the better. In comedy, things work out happily in the end. Comic drama may be romantic--characterized by a tone of tolerance and geniality--or satiric. Satiric works offer a darker vision of human nature, one that ridicules human folly.

Comedy of Menace

A play that combines the hilarity of a humorous tone with the disturbance of a menacing tone. It is funny on the surface, but tragic when examined.

Comic Relief

A humorous interlude in a serious literary work or drama, especially a tragedy, intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast.

Crisis

Major turning point in a

sequence of events; a condition that leads

to a decisive change; aka climax

Dialogue

Conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie

Complication

Part of the dramatic piece in which an act of urging or rousing to action occurs. Starts part for the major action in the drama.

Dramatic Irony

When the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the character in the play.

Dynamic Structure

The set structure of playwrights which are usually broken into parts, or "acts." They usually follow the order of exposition, complication, resolution.

Epilogue

A short scene which follows the climax and/or resolution of the play. Usually the epilogue provides narration or exposition via monologue/dialogue to explain what ultimately happens to the characters. Sometimes the epilogue is used to provide thoughtful commentary on the play's themes.

Exposition

The beginning part of the play that fills in information so you know what has already happened so you can make sense of the rest of the story.

Foil

A character who contrasts in a parallel fashion the main character in a play or story.

Fourth Wall

The imaginary wall at the front of the stage that separates the audience and the actors; different levels can determine how much disconnect occurs.

Gesture

The physical movement of a character during a play.

Hamartia

The Greek term for the tragic flaw, a mistake in judgement committed by a tragic hero.

Anagnorsis

The Greek term for the critical moment of recognition or discovery of the identity of some character or the nature of his/her own made by a main character.

In Media Res

A story that begins either at the midpoint or at the conclusion, instead of the beginning.

Monologue

A speech by a single character without another character's response.

Pathos

The Greek term for the appeal to the audience's emotions.

Prop

An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform.

Resolution

The sorting out or unraveling of a plot at the end of a play, novel, or story. The outcome of the conflict.

Reversal

The point in the plot where the events take an unexpected turn for the protagonist, whose fortune dramatically changes.

Scene

A division of an act/change in subplot, location, or jump in time; often takes place when a character enters and leaves.

Set

Artificial setting for a scene in a play, including furniture, scenery, and other items to create an illusion of another time and place.

Soliloquy

A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself while alone on stage; reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

Stage Directions

The brief, but numerous (commonly parenthesized) instructions within the text of a play. These are often placed within dialogue, before or after a line, and are used to emphasize writer's ideas.

Staging

The process of selecting, designing, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play or film.

Stichomythia

A rapid fire dialogue alternating between two characters, often used in altercation or dispute

Subplot

A secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for the main plot.

Tragedy

A form of drama based on human suffering that invokes in its audience an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in the viewing.

Tragic Flaw

A flaw in the main character or protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.

Tragic Hero

A great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.

Tragicomedy

A tragedy with a comic twist.

Catharsis

The Greek term for the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Mimesis

The Greek term for art as an "imitation of an action" (mirror for life)

Castrophe

The Greek term for the reversal of fortune

Fear and Pity

According to Aristotle in Poetics, what the audience must feel for the protagonist of a tragedy

Act

Largest principal division of a theatrical work; sometimes noted with a capitalized roman numeral (I, II, III, IV, V)

Audience

The assembled spectators and listeners of a drama

Character Double

Another character that serves as a counterpart, often to the protagonist, either physically or emotionally

Chorus

Group of characters in a drama who comment on the action without participating in it

Deux ex Machina

A plot device used when a seemingly unsolvable problem is abruptly solved ("act of god")

Dramatic Incitement

The event or decision that begins a drama's problem/raising action

Dramatis Personae

The list of characters in a drama

Hubris

Greek term for pride

Metatheatre

A force within the play that challenges theatre's claim to be simply realistic (a play within a play, a ceremony within a play, role-playing within a play, etc.)

Tragic Irony

The situational in which the tragic flaw of of the protagonist is exposed (modern term)