How drama texts work

Plays for performance

Any drama text studied for English A level has got something missing.
It is only a written record of what was always designed to be a multi-sensory event. The experience of a play is a combination of script, movement, sound effects, lighting effects, music, setting, costume, theatre dynamics and the unique contributions of individual actors and directors.

So merely looking at the written words uttered by characters bypasses a huge amount of what the playwright intended to be understood.

Added advantage

Some students studying A Level Eng. Lit. or Lit./Lang. have an added advantage if they are also undertaking the A Level Theatre studies or Performing Arts – Acting syllabuses. They will have a grounding in what it means to transform a play-script into a live performance.

Now help is at hand for the rest of us who need to get a handle on Eng. Lit. drama texts.

Developments in drama

Launching through July is a range of articles about how British theatre operated in various literary eras.

The Crossref-it.info Developments in Drama pages already have information about the Shakespearean and Jacobean stage.

This week material about acting styles and theatre dynamics is being added on:

• Restoration theatre
• Commedia del’Arte
• Eighteenth century comedies of manners
• Victorian melodrama

So if anyone is studying one of the following, they will find the new information particularly helpful:

• The Rover
• She Stoops to Conquer
• The School for Scandal
• The Way of the World

If you are studying a more modern text, look out for further additions to the series later this summer!