Style in Drama

Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapters 7 and 8

 

 

Style: The distinguishing characteristics of a play that reflect conventional practice.
- what are the conventions (agreements) and how are they treated? (Marsh Cassady, in Theatre: An Introduction [Lincolnwood, Il.: NTC Publishing, 1997], p. 28, calls "conventions" "devices the actors, the playwright, the designers, or the director use to expedite the production. An audience willingly accepts and expects such devices as a type of shorthand.")

Styles are usually associated with a period or with an "-ism."

Not only is Genre studies concerned with the type / form of the play, but also with the Style OF THE PLAY
(W/G discuss STYLE of production, not of the drama).

Will the play be realistic:

heightened realism,
selective realism,
"super-realism,"
naturalistic -- a slice of life,
expressionistic,
constructivistic,
absurdist,
classical,
neoclassical?

Will the play include a lot of symbolism, allegory?

Will the play be representational (or "realistic") or presentational (stylized)?

 

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Important terms:

representational

presentational

allegory

conventions

 

This is the End of Unit One.

Here is a study guide for exam one (in MS Word format)
and here is a study guide for exam one (in text format)...

You should now make arrangements to take Exam One at a campus location, according to the directions in the syllabus; please be sure to bring an Exam Pass with you, and bring a Scantron sheet...

 

Begin Unit Two or Return to the First Page.

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Begin Unit Two: Theatre Personnel