Understanding Drama: Elements, Genres, and Theatrical Communication

The Literary Genre of Drama

Drama is a literary genre encompassing works intended for stage performance. Its argument unfolds exclusively through the action and direct language of the characters, typically presented in dialogue.

Defining the Dramatic Text

A dramatic text represents an action, which is brought to life by the actors during a performance. These texts are fundamentally written with the intention of being represented on stage.

Features of Dramatic Texts: Dual Communication

In the theater, there is a dual system of communication:

• Intra-scenic Communication: The characters communicate with each other within the fictional world.
• Extra-scenic Communication: Direct communication between the actors and the spectators. This is how the message reaches the audience.

Linguistic Communication: Text A and Text B

Dialogue and monologue are the primary forms of verbal communication used in dramatic representation. This language can employ different tones and registers.

• Text A (The Dialogue): This refers to what the characters actually say.
• Text B (Stage Directions): This consists of the author's annotations and clarifications regarding the scenery, costumes, how actors should move, or what gestures they should make. Text B usually appears in brackets and italics.

Non-Linguistic Communication Codes

In addition to the verbal code, dramatic works utilize various nonverbal codes, such as decoration, scenery, and costumes. All these codes are significant and essential for delivering the complete message to the audience.

Key Elements of a Dramatic Text

• Action: The argument developed during the representation. The action may or may not be divided into acts (which often correspond to the beginning, middle, and end of the plot). A change of scene occurs each time a character enters or exits the stage.
• Characters: They carry out the action primarily through dialogue. Characters can be protagonists or secondary figures. Since the nineteenth century, characters often exhibit significant psychological development.
• Space: The setting where the action takes place. Changes in location may be subject to the technical limitations of scenery changes.
• Time: The internal time of the plot can cover any duration the author desires. However, the actual theatrical performance typically lasts around two hours.

Historical Context: Aristotle's Three Unities

It is important to remember that Aristotle's Poetics established the so-called rule of the Three Unities, according to which a dramatic work:

• Must develop a single argument: Unity of Action.
• Everything must happen in one place: Unity of Space.
• Events should not extend beyond one day: Unity of Time.

In Spanish drama, these rules were challenged by Lope de Vega in his New Art of Making Comedies (Arte Nuevo de hacer comedias), though they saw a resurgence in the eighteenth century.

Major Dramatic Genres

• Tragedy: Focuses on an individual fighting an inescapable destiny, often caused by pride or intense passion. The characters are typically of high status. Through the representation, the goal is "catharsis" (purification) of the passions of both the characters and the audience (evoking compassion and horror). The ending is always unhappy.
• Comedy: A work of humorous character, starring characters usually from the middle or lower classes. Conflicts arise but ultimately resolve happily.
• Tragicomedy: A genre that mixes characters and elements traditionally assigned to both tragedy and comedy. It is characterized by a variety of styles and tones.