Netherlands VWO 4 (bovenbouw, 2e fase) Arts: drama
Chapters: 2
1. Drama theory (part 1)
Drama and society · History of Western theatre
- Drama: Elements, Stagecraft and Performance – Drama is a story told by actors who become characters and act it out in front of an audience. Every drama has characters who want something, a conflict when those wants clash, a plot that builds tension to a climax and then resolves, dialogue, a setting and a theme. On stage, actors use voice and body, and the production adds lighting, set, costume and sound.
- History of Theatre: From Greek Festivals to the Black Box – Theatre began in ritual, song and storytelling. In ancient Greece (about 500 BCE) plays were part of religious festivals in open-air theatres with a theatron, orchestra and skene, and with masks and a chorus. Classical Asia built its own forms: Sanskrit drama guided by the Natyashastra and its idea of rasa, Japanese Noh and later Kabuki, Chinese opera. Medieval Europe staged religious plays on wagons; Renaissance Italy had commedia dell'arte; Elizabethan London had round playhouses with thrust stages (Shakespeare). From the 1600s the proscenium arch framed painted scenery, and in the late 1800s realism (Ibsen, Chekhov) brought everyday rooms and the 'fourth wall'. The 1900s added Stanislavski's truthful acting, Brecht's epic theatre, physical and experimental theatre and flexible black-box spaces. The shape of the stage, the society and the audience always shape how plays are written and acted.
2. Acting and shaping
Acting · Shaping roles and scenes
- Acting: Bringing a Character to Life – Acting means showing a character truthfully to an audience. An actor first studies the given circumstances (who, where, when) and the character's objective (what they want). Then the actor uses the body (posture, gesture, levels, status) and the voice (volume, pace, pitch, pause) to show it. On stage, acting is action and reaction: you listen and answer your partner. Timing, pauses and tension shape a scene, and theatre can also explore real social issues.
- Drama: Elements, Stagecraft and Performance – Drama is a story told by actors who become characters and act it out in front of an audience. Every drama has characters who want something, a conflict when those wants clash, a plot that builds tension to a climax and then resolves, dialogue, a setting and a theme. On stage, actors use voice and body, and the production adds lighting, set, costume and sound.