Chapter 4 Creating the BluePrint
Creating the text The Playwright * Theatre productions typically begin with the script, or text * Provides a plan for a production
Scripts
* Inventing can Gogh * Freud’s last session
Creating the Text * Selecting specific subject of the play * The subject matter for drama is always human beings * Determine what aspect of human existence to write about * Determining focus and emphasis * Decide who and what to focus on * How to interpret the characters and events * Establish Purpose * Purpsose may be * Causal or unconscious, or * Conscious and deliberate * Different purposes * To entertain * To probe the human condition * To provide an escape * To impact information * Developing Dramatic Structure * Every work of art has some type of structure * The structure of a play is analogous to that of a building * The essentials of structure are * The story must be turned into a plot * The plot involves action * The plot includes conflict * There are strongly opposed forces * A reasonable balance is struck between the opposed forces * Creating a dramatic structure * Begin with the opening scene * Starts the action and sets the tone and style * Tells whether we are going to see a serious or a comic play and whether the play will deal with affairs of everyday life or with fantasy * Obstacles and complications block a characters path * Crisis and climaxes * Basic Structures: CLIMAX PLOT CONSTRUCTION * First used in 5th century B.C.E. Greece * Also called intensive * All aspects of a play- Duration, Locale, Action, Number of characters are – severely restricted * Characters include the plot begins late in the story, scenes, locales, and characters are restricted * REMEMBER EDIPOUS, MUCH A DO WITHOUT NOTHING * Basic structures Episodic Plot Construction * Emerged during the renaissance in England and in Spain * Characteristics include * People places and events proliferate * There may be a parallel plot or a subplot * Contrast and juxtaposition are used * The overall effect is a cumulative * Other dramatic structures * Ritual Structures * Serial structures * Avant- Garde and experimental * Creating Dramatic character’s * Extraordinary * Representative * Quintessential * Types of characters * Stock * Dominant trait * Minor * Narrator * Chorus * Nonhuman * Juxtaposition of characters * Protagnists * Antagonist * Foils and counterparts *