Notes on Drama and Theatre: Key Concepts from Transcript
Introduction: Drama vs Theatre
Distinction for the course: drama refers to ideas; theatre refers to actions.
Theatre is the focus of the book; drama is the set of ideas that inform theatre.
Playscripts are not meant to be read as literature alone; they are plans for performance, akin to sheet music for a performance.
Analogy: reading a playscript is like looking at sheet music — you understand the notes, but the sound comes from performers and the audience experiences the live event.
Shakespeare plays are often taught as literature in English departments, which can obscure that they were intended for performance; this reflects a historical tension between reading and performing.
Example: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet analyzed as literature vs performed as theatre; audiences understand it differently when performed.
Drama: From Playwright to Script
Drama begins with the playwright who produces a written script — the ideas on a page.
The script is not simply a short story or novel; it is a plan for performance.
The idea that a play is a performance plan is central to understanding drama as live theatre.
The script may be studied as literature, but its primary purpose is to guide performance.
Reading vs Performing Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s work is rich in literary merit, but its core is performance; the performative nature should be acknowledged.
Some courses treat Shakespeare as literature, which can downplay the performative aspects.
The notion that a play exists primarily as a performance plan helps explain choices like offstage actions and character presence.
Examples and theatrical choices: Romeo and Juliet
In the final scene, most important characters are onstage (Romeo, Juliet, Paris, Friar Lawrence, the Prince, Juliet’s parents, Romeo’s father).
Lady Montague is absent; her absence is a part of the spectacle and invites explanation.
The dialogue when Romeo’s father says, "Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night; Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath" (Act V, Scene 3, lines 218-219) signals her death offstage.
Possible explanations for Lady Montague’s absence:
Literary/didactic: a moral commentary or thematic reinforcement.
Practical/theatrical: an actor doubling the role (doubling) or other stage constraints.
This absence can be analyzed as either literary argument or theatrical convention; both perspectives are valid, illustrating how a play functions on multiple planes.
The play Driving Miss Daisy: a case study
Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy has film adaptation relevance within the Atlanta Trilogy, referencing Civil Rights Era events.
The film spans late 1940s to early 1970s and includes scenes of cars, Atlanta neighborhoods, and a broader set of characters (Florine, Idella, Miss Daisy's friends, Boolie’s secretary).
The original play focuses on three characters: Hoke, Miss Daisy, and Boolie.
Why the film can include more characters: the film can portray environments and relationships more easily; the play needed to be produced with only three actors.
The absence and presence of other characters in the film versus the play illustrate a theatrical rationale: a practical constraint (fewer actors on stage) in the play is explained by dramatic dialogue; the film removes that constraint and expands the world.
Conclusion: Similar to Romeo and Juliet, Driving Miss Daisy demonstrates how a script can be read as literature or performed as theatre, and how the medium (stage vs screen) shapes character presence and audience perception.
Theatre vs other performing arts
A play is not a movie, not a dance, not a musical performance, not singing, not puppetry, not stand-up comedy, not an educational lecture, and not a sport.
Each performing art has its own qualities; theatre is distinct in its live, performed nature.
The differences between theatre and other art forms become clearer as the discussion continues.
Aristotle and the Six Elements of Drama
Aristotle, a 4th-century BCE Greek philosopher, identified Six Elements of Drama in Poetics.
These elements form the backbone for understanding drama (and how theatre realizes them in performance).
1) Plot
The events that occur onstage; may include events offstage (e.g., a character’s death offstage).
Clarity: plot involves the sequence of actions; it excludes prequel material or post-play consequences (events before or after the play’s span).
Example: Willie Loman’s suicide in Death of a Salesman is part of the plot’s climax, even if not shown on stage.
Note: The plot is the backbone of the drama according to Aristotle; it is the most important element.
2) Character
Agents of the action; their decisions, words, and actions drive the plot.
Characters’ choices create and reveal the plot’s direction and thematic concerns.
3) Language
The words used by the characters; includes word choice and overall style.
Language should suit the setting and can be naturalistic or elevated, depending on the play’s aims.
Example: In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Yoda’s dialogue (
"Around the survivors a perimeter create") illustrates how language can be deliberately stylized for a fictional world.Language choices contribute to rhythm, tone, and character voice.
4) Theme
The larger ideas or questions the play grapples with beyond the plot.
Examples in Romeo and Juliet: passionate love, family loyalties, unintended consequences, gang violence, murder, suicide, death.
Theme addresses ideas and questions rather than delivering simple moralizing messages.
Good plays tend to ask questions; audiences are invited to think rather than receive easy answers.
5) Rhythm
The tempo and mood of the play during performance; found in both action and language.
Rhythm is about how fast or slow scenes unfold, how intensity builds, and whether movement is graceful or frenetic.
Rhythm involves the sounds of performance: actors’ voices, sound effects, and music.
Aristotle originally used the term "music" to refer to rhythm and sound in performance; modern usage broadens the concept.
6) Spectacle
Everything you see and experience: sets, costumes, makeup, lighting, props, and other sensory aspects.
Also includes aspects beyond the visible: the theatre building, seating, the audience, and even the smell of the space.
Spectacle shapes the audience’s experience and is intimately connected to live performance.
Unlike plot, character, language, and theme, spectacle and rhythm are shaped by directors, designers, and actors rather than being fully authored by the playwright.
Rhythm and Spectacle: realization in production
Rhythm and spectacle are ultimately realized by the collaborative efforts of directors, designers, and actors.
The playwright can provide stage directions and dialogue cues, but the final realization is a product of production choices.
This marks a shift from idea (drama) to action (theatre).
Theatre: live action and immediate presence
Theatre is a live event: one or more actors move in space (the set and the theatre) and time (the duration of the performance), performing the script for an audience.
Peter Brook’s The Empty Space (quoted):
"I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all it is for an act of theatre to be engaged."The central idea: theatre is about you and me, here and now.
This emphasis on live presence reinforces why theatre remains distinct from literature, film, dance, or other art forms.
Summary: Core takeaways
Drama vs Theatre: drama = ideas; theatre = action and live performance.
A playscript is a plan for performance, not merely literature.
Shakespeare’s plays illustrate the tension between reading as literature and performing as theatre.
Key theatrical choices (e.g., offstage events, doubling) reveal how a play can be understood from multiple perspectives.
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama (Plot, Character, Language, Theme, Rhythm, Spectacle) provide a framework to analyze any play.
Not all elements are equally controllable by the playwright; rhythm and spectacle are significantly shaped by production teams.
The theatre is a live, collaborative art form that emphasizes immediate presence, audience experience, and the onstage action here and now.
Example reference for offstage death in Romeo and Juliet to illustrate offstage events in plots.