DRAMATIC STRUCTURE

• “Everything’s been said.”

• “Every story’s been told.”

•“Human experience is finite.”

Viktor ShklovskyViktor Shklovsky

“It’s all been done. What’s the point?”not a direct quote

“Art as Technique”•Make the familiar seem strange

•Break the reader from automatic response

•See the world again as if for the first time

•“defamiliarization”

(Russia)

Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht• Alienate the audience• Expose the apparatus

Direct audience address Placards instead of sets Expose lights and sound

sources Sing songs Drink and argue

(Germany)

AristotleAristotle

Poetics1. Thought2. Music3. Plot4. Character5. Language6. Spectacle

(Greece)

Dramatic Structure

Plot Character

Language Spectacle

1. Plot a sequence of events used to tell a story.

• Linear (moves forward in real time, continuous, cause and effect)

• Associative (moves forward in time with jumps in time and place)

• Cyclical (plot begins and ends at the same point)

• Repetitive (scenes or sequences are repeated with slight variations)

• Conventional (genre plot, like a mystery, sci-fi, western, romance)

• Fragmented (time and space are compressed and incongruent)

Plot | Character | Language | Spectacle

2. Character

generic----------------------------individual

(function over psychology) (psychology over function)

Plot | Character | Language | Spectacle

3. Language

original speech-----------------wounded speech

•Incredibly articulate•Express feelings•Complex thoughts•Creative or poetic•Master of speech

•Alienated from language•Can’t express themselves•Clichés, Jargon, Profanity•Repetitive speech patterns•Programmed speech

Plot | Character | Language | Spectacle

4. Spectacleall non-verbal performance elements.

•Set Design

•Sound Design

•Lighting Design

•Cite-Specific Performance Space

•Non-Traditional Casting

•Stylized Movement

Plot | Character | Language | Spectacle

Noh Drama (Japan)

Wooster Group (US)

Richard Foreman (US)

Dramatic Structure

Plot Character

Language Spectacle