DRAMA

WHAT IS DRAMA?

It is written primarily to be acted and seen on stage.

The printed form is only a rough approximation of
what the writer intends to be apprehended by the
reader.
The reader is left to visualize the setting, recreate the
speech of the characters, and assign them the
movement and gestures.
 THE INDIGENOUS THEATER

The rituals, dances, and customs which are still performed with
urgency and vitality by the different cultural communities that
comprise about five percent of the countrys population are held or
performed, together or separately, on the occasions of a persons
birth, baptism, circumcision, initial menstruation, courtship, wedding,
sickness, and death; or for the celebration of tribal activities, like
hunting, fishing, rice planting and harvesting, and going to war.
 II. SPANISH COLONIZATION PERIOD
(1565 1863)

- It has two distinct classifications: religious

and secular
- It introduced Spanish as the medium of
communication.

 THE SPANISH COLONIAL TRADITION

In the three centuries of Spanish rule from

1565 to 1898, the Spanish colonizers,
specifically the friars, showed a keen
awareness of the power of theater both as a
tool for the Christianization of the natives and
as a magnet to attract the latter to the pueblo
or town which constituted the foundation of
Spains empire in the archipelago.
 THE SPANISH COLONIAL TRADITION

Consequently, the Spanish regime gave rise to and

popularized the various types of secular and religious
plays, the former usually staged to celebrate town fiestas,
and the latter, to highlight important Catholic liturgical
feasts or seasons like Christmas, Lent, or Easter.
Many of these play s and playlets continue to be popular
among the Christianized folk who live in the rural areas
and compose the majority of the total population.
 1. RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

Religious lyrics written by ladino poets or those versed in both

Spanish and Tagalog were included in early catechism and
were used toteach Filipinos the Spanish language.
a. Pasyon long narrative poem about the passion and death of Christ.
The
most popular was Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Cristong
Panignoon Natin byAguino de Belen
b.Senakulo dramatization of the pasyon, it shows the passion and
death of Christ.
 II. SECULAR (NON-RELIGIOUS)
LITERATURE
Examples:
a.Awit - colorful tales of chivalry made for singing and chanting
Example: Ibong Adarna
b.Korido metrical tale written in octosyllabic quatrainsExample: Florante at Laura by
Francisco Baltazar
c. Prose Narratives written to prescribe proper decorum
i. Dialogo
ii.Manual de Urbanidad
iii. Ejemplo
iv. tratado
Examples: Modesto de Castro's "Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na siUrbana
at si Feliza and Joaquin Tuason's "Ang Bagong Robinson" (The New Robinson) in
1879.
 THE DRAMA AS A LITERARY GENRE
(MINOT 1998)

A dramatic art
A visual art
An auditory art
A physically produced
art
A continuous art
A spectator art
 A DRAMATIC ART

IT HAS AN
EMOTIONAL
IMPACT OR
FORCE.
 A VISUAL ART

Actions and movements of

characters or stage are as
important as the lines
themselves.
 AN AUDITORY ART

Dialogue is intended to
be spoken out loud.
Theartof arranging
sounds in time so as to
produce a continuous,
unified, and evocative
composition, as through
melody, harmony,
 A PHYSICALLY PRODUCED ART

Sets have to be
constructed on
stage. Thus, unlike
other genres,
personal contact is
established.
One of the indoor set at the studio.
 A CONTINUOUS ART

Drama audience, unlike readers of fiction or

poetry, cannot turn back a page or review;
thus, they must receive the play at whatever
pace the playwright sets.
 A SPECTACULAR ART

Audience reaction is important.

 DRAMA

Has much in common with the other literary genres.

It is also concerned with significant human experience and
attempts to reconstruct this experience by means of a structure
that selects details, organizes the and presents them in an artistic
manner.
Like the short story, the drama has also the following elements:
Plot
Characterization
Setting
Theme
Language
 PLAY

AN
INDIVIDUAL
DRAMATIC
WORK
 CLASSICAL PLAYS

ARE SUALLY IN
VERSE FORM,
AND ARE
USUALLY EITHER
TRAGEDIES OR
COMEDIES.
 A TRAGEDY

IS A PLAY WITH A GREAT

NOBLE HERO WHO
POSSESSES SOME AJOY FLAW
OF CHARACTER. THE PLOT
OFTEN TURNS ON AN ACT
COMMITTED BY THE HERO
AGAINST THE GODS OR THE
MORAL ORDER, FOR WHICH
HE IS DULY PUNISHED.
 MODERN PLAYS

HAVE ELIMINATED
THE FACTOR OF
GREAT AND NOBLE
HERO, PREFERRING
TO DEAL WITH THE
FATE OF ORDINARY
PERSONS.
 COMEDY

ON THE OTHER HAND IS TO

AROUSE LAUGHTER. ITS
ENDING OR OUTCOME IS
USUALLY HAPPY. COMEDY
ACHIEVES ITS EFFECT BY
MEANS OF POKING FUN OR
EXPOSING HUMAN FOLLIES,
BY SANITIZING SOCIAL
CUSTOMS, OR SIMPLY BY
PLAYING WITH WORDS
(VERBAL DEXTERITY AND
WIT)