The Architecture of Drama: Plot, Character, Theme, Genre and Style

209 Pages·2008·0.8 MB·English

by  David Letwin

08-0086.Letwin mech.qxd 6/26/08 5:11 PM Page 1
The
THEATER (cid:2)PERFORMING ARTS al
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any of the world’s greatest dramas have sprung not only from the creative
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impulses of their authors but also from the time-honored principles of struc- kt
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ture and design that have forged those impulses into coherent and powerful ac
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insights. An understanding of these principles is essential to the craft of creating and inter- ed Drama
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preting works of drama for the stage or screen. e
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The Architecture of Drama provides an introduction to these principles, with particular
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emphasis on how a drama’s structural elements fit together to create a meaningful and
entertaining experience for audiences. The book is arranged into five sections, each deal-
ing with a separate component.
T
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(cid:3)Plot (the selection and arrangement of events in the story)
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(cid:3)Character (the choices and actions of the people in the plot)

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(cid:3)Theme (the artist’s point of view on the topic addressed)
(cid:3)Style (the characteristic mode through which the drama expresses itself) r
c plot,
(cid:3)Genre (the type of story being presented)
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From Oedipus Rex to The Wizard of Oz, the authors examine these structural building t
character,
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blocks both separately and in their interdependent relationship to one another. Along the
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way, they also illustrate how these principles reflect the innate human need for comprehen- t
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sion and order. The Architecture of Dramaprovides accessible, straightforward insight for theme,
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anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of plays and films.
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DAVID LETWINteaches at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. o genre,
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JOE STOCKDALEis professor and dean emeritus of theatre and film, School of D
the Arts, SUNY, Purchase. and style
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ROBIN STOCKDALEis a retired columnist for the Pawling News Chronicle. m
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For orders and information please contact the publisher
SCARECROW PRESS, INC. DAVID LETWIN &
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
JOE AND ROBIN STOCKDALE
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 (cid:3)Lanham, Maryland 20706
1-800-462-6420 (cid:3)fax [phone] (cid:3)www.scarecrowpress.com Cover design by Enterline Design Services LLC
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PLOT,CHARACTER,THEME,GENRE,AND STYLE
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The Scarecrow Press,Inc.
Lanham,Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth,UK
2008
SCARECROW PRESS,INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press,Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group,Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard,Suite 200,Lanham,Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2008 by David Letwin,Joe Stockdale,and Robin Stockdale
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any
means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Letwin,David,1960–
The architecture of drama :plot,character,theme,genre,and style /
David Letwin,Joe Stockdale,and Robin Stockdale.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-8108-6129-9 (pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:0-8108-6129-1 (pbk.:alk.paper)
eISBN-13:978-0-8108-6226-5
eISBN-10:0-8108-6226-3
1.Drama—Technique.2.Drama—History and criticism.—Theory,etc.
I.Stockdale,Joe.II.Stockdale,Robin,1925– III.Title.
PN1661.L34 2008
808.2—dc22
2008007537
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials,ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Contents
Preface v
Prologue ix
Chapter 1: Plot 1
Chapter 2: Character 50
Chapter 3: Theme 69
Chapter 4: Genre 93
Chapter 5: Style 119
Epilogue 157
Index 175
About the Authors 183

Preface
This book is intended for practitioners of the dramatic arts who wish to
master the craft of dramatic storytelling,for college professors teaching
courses in dramatic literature who want to examine drama as something
to be performed rather than merely read,and for lovers of theater and film
who simply want deeper insight into what they are watching.
To this end,we make no great claims to groundbreaking scholar-
ship or new theories of drama.We have synthesized the work of those
who have gone before us,as well as our contemporaries,and filtered
them through our own experiences as teachers,directors,writers,and
actors.As with almost everything connected to the arts,the result is sub-
jective,not scientific.We encourage the reader to critically examine our
premises and conclusions as we have challenged the premises and con-
clusions of others.
The process of incorporating one’s ideas with the ideas of others
has predictable pitfalls.In the preface to his study of Chekhovian dra-
maturgy,The Breaking String,author Maurice Valency noted that the
great observations of others fix themselves in our minds so indelibly
that we often have trouble remembering they are not ours,and when
integrating these insights into our own work,we may delude our-
selves into what he called “a comforting sense of originality.”Someone
else—none of us can remember who—said that the penalty for a life-
time of reading is that you can’t always remember whom to credit.In
an attempt to redress any unintended oversight in this regard,we
wish to acknowledge our debt to a broad range of artists,writers,and
thinkers upon whose work this book is based.
Most of them are either mentioned in the body of the text or cited
when appropriate.Among those who are not,we would like to acknowledge
vi PREFACE
the influence of those who directly taught us,in particular Laura V.Shaw of
Western Michigan University (and by extension those with whom she stud-
ied:Richard Boleslavsky,Maria Ouspenskaya,and Madam Dakahoniva of the
American Laboratory Theatre),Walter Prichart Eaton,Preston H.Epps,Samuel
Selden (whose major influence was Frederick Koch) of the University of
North Carolina,and Campton Bell of the University of Denver.We would also
like to acknowledge the influence of our colleagues from Purdue University,
The School of the Arts at State University of New York at Purchase,the Mason
Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University,as well as countless discussions
with fellow artists and students over the many years of our combined teach-
ing and professional careers,along with special thanks to our colleague
David Garfield,who in the past two years has answered our calls with
“Garfield Reference”;friends and computer experts Elvin and Connie Clark of
Tryon,North Carolina—he a whiz in a wide range of word processing pro-
grams,and she an actress with the eagle eyes of a hard-core English major
junkie who focuses immediately on the errors we just happened to overlook;
another valued friend Beverly Nichols,our first reader and critic.Thanks to
Andrew Yoder,Production Editor of Scarecrow Press,and our boundless
thanks to Stephen Ryan,Senior Editor of Arts and Literature,for his valuable
and patient guidance throughout the publication process.Thanks to all.
Throughout this book we will be using The Poetics of Aristotle,trans-
lated by Preston H.Epps,because of its clarity and accessibility.Note that
brackets [ ] in all quotations by Epps are his;all other bracketed material in
this book is ours.Whenever we give a definition,it will be from either
American Heritage(third edition) or Webster’s Collegiate(fifth edition).Full
references for the text boxes,along with numbered endnotes,are found at
the end of each chapter.Since plays and screenplays are published in var-
ious anthologies,we will not cite publishers or page numbers.
It is impossible to write on any subject without exposing one’s biases.
To that end,we acknowledge that our focus reflects a conscious orienta-
tion toward Western drama,the drama with which we are overwhelmingly
engaged and familiar.You will also note alternating tones in the writing
with our use of formal and familiar English.This is a deliberate choice on
our part.We feel we will better reach and therefore serve our targeted
PREFACE vii
audience with such a juxtaposition rather than restricting ourselves to the
usual uppercase academic tone.
One final point:we know how difficult it is to find a satisfactory solu-
tion to the pronoun/gender issue.No attempt at clever grammatical leg-
erdemain can obscure the clunkiness of “s/he,”“he or she,”or making a
plural so we can use “they”as if to universalize the sex of individuals.
Therefore,we beg our readers’indulgence if we fall back on a slight varia-
tion of the convenient tradition and simply refer to everyone as “she.”
* * *
Acknowledgmentof Permissions
Excerpts of the following works are used by permission of:
The Poetics of Aristotle translated by Preston H.Epps.Copyright ©
1942 by the University of North Carolina Press,renewed in 1970 by Preston
H.Epps.Used by permission of the publisher.
A Portrait of a Madonnaby Tennessee Williams from 27 Wagons Full of
Cotton.Copyright © 1945 by The University of the South.Reprinted by per-
mission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
A Streetcar Named Desireby Tennessee Williams.Copyright © 1947 by
The University of the South.Reprinted by permission of New Directions
Publishing Corp.
Camino Realby Tennessee Williams.Copyright © 1953 as “Camino
Real,”revised and published version, by The University of the South,
renewed in 1981 by The University of the South.Reprinted by permission
of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Death of a Salesmanby Arthur Miller.Copyright © 1949,renewed in
1977 by Arthur Miller.Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin,a divi-
sion of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Betrayal by Harold Pinter.Copyright © 1978 by H.Pinter Ltd.Reprinted
by permission of Grove/Atlantic,Inc.
Boy’s Lifeby Howard Korderfrom Boy’s Life and Other Plays.Copyright
© 1989 by Howard Korder.Reprinted by permission of Grove/Atlantic,Inc.
viii PREFACE
The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco from The Bald Soprano & Other
Plays.Copyright© 1958 by Grove Press,Inc.Reprinted by permission of
Grove/Atlantic,Inc.
Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill.Copyright © 1989 by
Yale University.Reprinted by permission of Yale University Press
An Actor Prepares
Acting,the First Six Lessons
The Dramatic Imagination
Prologue
What happened? What the hell happened?!
—Jake Holman,The Sand Pebbles
Human beings,it would seem,have an almost genetic predisposition
toward dramatic storytelling.From the theater festivals of ancient Athens
to a Broadway musical,from Balinese trance dances to Hollywood melo-
dramas,from Japanese Kabuki theater to a Punch and Judy puppet show,
most cultures lay claim to a dramatic tradition of one kind or another.
What explains this fascination? Why,across time and place,do we see
so rich and varied a legacy of dramatic presentations?
Some of the answers are straightforward enough.People seek diver-
sion in life,and drama can certainly provide that.We go to a theater or a
movie house,the lights dim,and for two or three hours we are able to lose
ourselves in an imaginary world,freed—if only momentarily—from our
own troubles and mundane concerns.We also take pleasure in the sheer
visual or aural spectacle of drama:the costumes,special effects,scenery,
photography,music,and language.Indeed,we often remember the stun-
ning cinematography of a film or the helicopter landing onstage more
than we do the story itself.Aristotle,back in the fourth century B.C.E.,was
on to something even more basic.Humans,he noted,are naturally drawn
to artistically accurate imitations of what they see around them.Hard to
argue with that.Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t enjoy a bang-on
impersonation of a friend or celebrity?
Yet these observations,true as they are,ignore the deeper source of
drama’s hold over us.We turn to drama,as we do to all the story arts,
because at its best it satisfies a powerful desire to find meaning and order
in a world that can often appear senseless and chaotic.