22 modern plays the author may give many direction for the action; in earlier play stage
direction are few and often supplemented by those of a modern editor. In performance the movement that you see may have been invented by the director although the text
of a play often requires certain action. In some kind of drama such as musical comedy and choruses of Greek Drama, part of the action may be danced.
7.Theme
The theme of a play is its message, its central concern in short what it is about. It is by no mean a simple thing to decide what the theme of a play is and many plays
contain several rather than just a single theme. Often the search for a theme tempts us to oversimplify and to reduce a complex play to a relatively simple catchphrase.
Sometimes playwright anxious about readers and viewers missing a careful reader or viewers missing their thematic intentions and reveal them in one or two
speeches. Usually a careful reader or viewer has already divined the theme, and the speeches are intrusive. The theme also called as the attitude or the philosophical point
of view of a playwright or the creator of the play. In every play ,the elements of drama will work differently , sometimes giving
us the feeling that character is dominant over theme, or plot over character, or setting over both. Ordinarily characters, plot and theme are the most important elements of a
play, while setting dialogue, music and movement come next. But in the best play each has its importance and each balances the others.
2.7 The structure of a play Tragedy and Comedy
The dramatic story revolves round some conflict and some clash of opposed individuals or passions or interest. In a tragedy this conflict terminates in a
catastrophe, while in a comedy it leads to happy conclusion. The presentation of the growth, development and conclusion of the dramatic conflict has called for the
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23 division of the plot into some well defined parts. The different parts the plot or of
what we generally call the dramatic structure are known as exposition Initial incident , complication rising action, and catastrophe in a tragedy or conclusion in a
comedy. The structure in the form of diagram which resembles a pyramidal structure is shown below Sinha, 1977:56.
The five fold structure has called forth the very common and once almost the universal division of a play into five acts. There are many plays including
Shakespeare’s which do not conform to this five fold structure. Exposition covers that part of the play in which the conflict originates. It covers
usually the first act of a play, and its main business is to impart to the audience all such information as in necessary for the proper understanding of the play is going to
witness. It introduces them to the dramatis personae ,shows them their characters. It is intended to excite heir curiosity and leaves them expectant. The situation as presented
by the exposition is not one of conflict, but it threatens conflict. The greatness of a play depends much on the skillful management of the
exposition. The dramatist should impart the necessary information only indirectly, and Exposition
Complication Crisis
Denouement
Conclusion Or
Catastrophe
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24 in dramatic way, and such as unless the uses a prologue, habitually used by Eupirides
and Seneca. It must conceal from the auditors as the fact that they are being informed and must tell them what he wants them to know in such a way as to eliminate all
appearance of effort and artifice. Good exposition should be in the form of dialogue which seems natural in the circumstances.
The exposition is followed by complication or the rise of the action to its crisis. The conflict which is hinted in the exposition takes a definite shape in this part.
complication requires to be handled very skillfully. Every event in it should not only appear to grow naturally out of what preceded it, but also mark a fresh stage in the
development of the plot. Moreover , the proper relations between characters and action should be maintained. During the complication the dramatist should hint at
those elements in the conflict which are to come into prominence at thecrisis. The crisis marks the turning point in the conflict. It comprises that part of the
play in which one of the contending forces obtains such controlling power that henceforth its ultimate success is assured. It is laid down as a rule of the crisis that it
should be the natural and logical outcome of all that has gone before. Crisis is an event which is to determine the whole course of the action itself. The crisis is
generally placed in the middle of the action or a little beyond the middle. The crisis is followed by the denouement which comprises that the portion of
the play in which the dramatic conflict is to be brought to its conclusion. In comedy the interest is often sought to be kept up by the employment of various unexpected
obstacles which cheek the happy course of thing and in a tragedy is by suggestions that way of escape for the hero and heroine may yet open up, and the fate of escape
for the hero and heroine may yet open up, and the fate that awaits them averted. The last part of the dramatic structure is catastrophe in a tragedy or solution in a
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25 comedy. With catastrophe all our doubts and uncertainties are gone and we are left
poised on the crest of certainty and finality. Like crisis the catastrophe or solution is the natural and logical outcome of what has gone before.
2.8 The Nature of Drama.
