Theater: Genres, Characteristics, and Language
Theater: Gender
The theater is the art of writing plays or acting them out. It is a literary genre, whether in prose or verse, usually in dialogue, intended to be represented. In general, the term ‘drama’ refers to a story that tells a series of life events through characters.
A theatrical representation consists of only two elements: actor/actress and audience. Their interaction can be through mimicry or verbal language. The characters do not have to be people; puppets have been greatly appreciated throughout history, along with other scenic resources.
Representation can be enhanced by costumes, makeup, sets, accessories, lighting, music, and special effects used to create an illusion of places, times, and different characters, or to underline a special quality of the representation and differentiate it from everyday experience.
Music has been an important part of theater since its birth. Whether instrumental or vocal, it can serve merely as background noise, like most movie soundtracks, or be the main focus, as in opera, operetta, zarzuela, or musical theater.
The term ‘theater’ applies to dramatic and musical productions but also includes opera, dance, circus, carnivals, mime, vaudeville, puppet shows, and other forms, all primarily visual, performed live, and governed by a set of rules, such as script, scenes, sound editing, and choreography, which determine the language and actions of the performers.
Characteristics
- Playwrights must tell a story in a rather limited time span, which cannot afford delays.
- The storyline should capture the attention of the public during the entire performance. The key resource to achieve this is to establish, from time to time, a high point or climax and direct the story towards its resolution.
- Theater is a mixture of linguistic and spectacular resources. In other words, the literary text is complemented by scenic elements to create a complete show.
- Although we may read a play, the characters involved in it have been conceived by the author to be played by actors on a stage.
- The action is determined by dialogue and, through it, provides the central conflict of the work.
- The author is hidden behind the plot and characterization. If we read a play, we note that occasionally there are indications of how the scene or how the characters should act. These instructions are called stage directions. Moreover, the author’s feelings, ideas, and opinions are diluted in the amalgamation of characters and environments that make up a play.
Action
The action is the plot that unfolds before our eyes when we attend a performance. This argument is usually divided into acts or parts.
Characters
Characters are those who carry out the drama through dialogue. They often use mimicry or gestures to complement their speech. These facial expressions or gestures often result from the author’s stage directions, although in some representations, it is the art director who dictates the movements of the actors, sometimes differently from the stage directions.
Dramatic Tension
Dramatic tension is the reaction that occurs in the spectator to the events that are occurring in the work. Authors seek public interest by including highlights at the end of each act, which contributes to maintaining attention until the resolution. Anticlimax occurs when the conflict that the action presents comes to an unexpected or unanticipated outcome.
Dialogue
The conversations the characters have with one another drive the action forward. Aside is a separate action intended to inform the audience. A monologue occurs when a character, usually alone on stage, speaks to themselves as a thought or reflection, although in reality, the ultimate recipient is the audience.
Stage Directions
Stage directions are clarifications made by the author of the play on what the scenery should be like, how the characters should move, what gestures they should make, etc.
Other Characterizing Elements
- Costumes appropriate to the era in which the work takes place
- Background music or accompaniment (with the same purpose as the soundtrack of a film)
- Adequate lighting
- Scenery adapted to the work, which is usually in charge of the stage director
Features of Theatrical Language
The language of the stage is functional.
Classes of Dramatic Works
1. Extensive Works
1. Tragedy
Tragedies are works that represent extraordinary actions that cause the viewer wonder, terror, or compassion. Their outcome is always unfortunate.
2. Comedy
Comedy reflects human life from a lighthearted perspective. It produces laughter in the audience and always ends well.
3. Drama
Drama is a blend of comedy and tragedy. The ending can be happy or unhappy.
2. Brief Works
1. Entremés
A short play that was performed during breaks in a longer work. At the end of the entremés, sometimes it explained some aspects of the main work that would begin afterward.
2. Sainete
A simple and graceful work featuring popular characters and habits.
3. Musical Works
1. Opera
A work of long duration, fully sung. It may be tragic, comic, or dramatic.
2. Zarzuela
A typically Spanish musical. It has sung scenes and dialogue scenes. The environments and characters tend to be popular.