Module

G11/12-CNF-MELC 5.5 5
GENRES IN DRAMA Week
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I What I Need to Know?

Drama combines the literary arts of storytelling and poetry with the world of live
performance. As a form of ritual as well as entertainment, drama has served to unite
communities and challenge social norms, to vitalize and disturb its audiences. In order
to understand this rich art form more fully, we will study and discuss a sampling of
plays that exemplify different kinds of dramatic structure; class members will also
participate in, attend, and review dramatic performances.

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera,

mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television. Considered as a
genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the
lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BC)—the earliest work of dramatic
theory

The term "drama" comes from a Greek word meaning "action" (Classical Greek:
δρᾶμα, drama), which is derived from "I do" (Classical Greek: δράω, drao). The two
masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division between comedy
and tragedy.

In English (as was the analogous case in many other European languages), the
word play or game (translating the Anglo-Saxon pleġan or Latin ludus) was the standard
term for dramas until William Shakespeare's time—just as its creator was a play-maker
rather than a dramatist and the building was a play-house rather than a theatre.

The use of "drama" in a narrower sense to designate a specific type of play dates
from the modern era. "Drama" in this sense refers to a play that is neither a comedy nor
a tragedy—for example, Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1873) or Chekhov's Ivanov (1887). It is
this narrower sense that the film and television industries, along with film studies,
adopted to describe "drama" as a genre within their respective media. The term “radio
drama” has been used in both senses—originally transmitted in a live performance. May
also refer to the more high-brow and serious end of the dramatic output of radio.

At the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. Create samples of the different literary elements based on one’s
experience (e.g. metaphor to describe an emotion);
2. compare and contrast dramas with other types of literature such as
chapter books and poetry.

D What I Know?
Task 1: PRE-TEST

Direction: Read and analyze each statement and identify what is asked or described in
each statement. Choose your answer from the given choices.

1. It is defined as a scientific body of knowledge that deals with the study of human
societies and the human relationship within such societies.
A. Social Science C. Hermeneutics
B. Phenomenology D. Hermeneutical Phenomenology

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2. It refers to the interpretation of our lived-experiences as human person – whether it is
a personal experience or our social experience inasmuch as we are personally involved
into this social experience.
A. Social Science C. Hermeneutics
B. Phenomenology D. Hermeneutical Phenomenology

3. It refers to the science and art of interpretation including the interpretation of

linguistic text, human experience and social phenomenon to capture its meaning.
A. Social Science C. Hermeneutics
B. Phenomenology D. Hermeneutical Phenomenology

4. It refers to the characteristics of the data as it appears in the consciousness / as

experience by the person.
A. Interpretation C. Explanation
B. Understanding D. Description

5. It refers to the outward cognitive expression of the description, meaning and

understanding of the interpreted data.
A. Interpretation C. Explanation
B. Understanding D. Description

D What is It?

Genres In Drama
What is
Drama? Drama is a unique and distinctive genre of literature. Drama definition is a
narrative presented by actors/actor on a stage through
dialogue/monologue and live action. Usually, dramas are stories that are
acted. Through the combination of performance, music, dance, props, etc;
the audience is able to feel like a part of the action. This is what makes
drama a unique genre of literature. Of course, you can also read drama;
however, you will get the full impression of what the author intended to
show only when you visit a theater.
Types of 1. COMEDY
Drama in - stems from “komeode” which means merrymakings. It is
Literarature believed that Greek comedy originates from the village
festivities and the worship of Dionysus. The existence of a
chorus takes place because of the practice of pleasure seekers
camouflaged as birds, frogs, and all sorts of animals.
Aristophanes’ boisterous old comedy, the transitional middle
comedy and the new comedy of Menander are the period of
comedy plays. Today, it is being blended with poetry, profound
moral, and psychological perspective (Law, 2011).

2. FARCE
- Grounded in ancient drama, yet critics looked down on it as
vulgar. It involves travesty and circus where skilled dramatists
and performers create instant laughter through their
mechanical acts. Modern farce dwells on “well-made” drama
whose complexity in plot, detailed presentation, structural
accuracy, and deployment of coincidences have all been pushed
into comic extremes (Strange, 2002).

3. SATIRE
- from the Latin terms means “medley” with origins in cooking. It
employs different comic exaggeration to mock human behavior

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 in the chance of being transformed or corrected. Irony, parody,
and caricature are the common avenues of satire. The first
satirical plays were that of Aristophanes, and the pre-dramatic
lampoons of the Greeks laughing out the local figures (Carlson,
2002).

4. TRAGEDY
- portrays a sad ending wherein Aristotle was the first to provide
its definition in his Poetics and that it should be “by pity and
terror” (Law, 2011).

5. HISTORICAL DRAMA
- is as old as theatre featuring historical characters and events.
The first surviving historical play is that of The Persians in 472
BCE where Aeschylus battled the Greco-Persian war wchich he
fought earlier for eaight years (Palmer).

6. MUSICAL THEATRE
- combines dialogues, songs and dance numbers and accredited
to Broadway for blending vaudeville, revue, melodrama, as well
as operetta in its presentation (Law, 2011).

7. ABSURD PLAY
- demonstrates existentialism that rejects the realistic character,
settings, situations, and thereby presents meaninglessness and
isolation of human life (Carlson, 2002).

E What’s More?
Task 2: VENN DIAGRAM

Direction: Read the information in the Venn Diagram and complete the paragraph
frame below.

_______________________________ and _____________________________ are similar in many

ways. _______________________________ and _____________________________ are alike

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because they both __________________________________________________________________.
In some ways _______________________________ and _____________________________ are
different. _______________________________ and _____________________________ are
different because ___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________.

Task 3: WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?…

Direction: Arrange the ff. jumbled letters and write your own definition.

1. EYDOMC - ________________________________________________________________________
2. RECFA - __________________________________________________________________________
3. TASREI- ___________________________________________________________________________
4. GRTEAYD- ________________________________________________________________________
5. TLAHSIORLC MDARA-_____________________________________________________________
6. SMUCAIL HTTREEA- ______________________________________________________________
7. BARSDU LPYA- ____________________________________________________________________

E What can I Engage In?

Task 4: APPLYING THE ANALYSIS

Direction: Based on the discussion above, what can you infer from the given picture.

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A What I have Learned?

Task 5: EXIT VISA: 3-2-1 CHART

EXIT VISA
Task: 3-2-1 chart

Have you learned so much from this module? Let us check the level of your
understanding through 3-2-1 chart.

3 best things I learned today:

1. _____________________________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________________________

2 things that caught my interest:

1. ____________________________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________________________

1 thing that I wanted to learn more about:

1. _____________________________________________________________________________________

A What I can Do?

Task 6: POST-TEST

A. True or False. Write T if the statement is true and F if the statement is false.

_____1. Drama combines the literary arts of storytelling and poetry with the world of
live performance.
_____2. Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera,
mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.
_____3. Drama is a unique and distinctive genre of literature. Drama definition is a
narrative presented by actors/actor on a stage through dialogue/monologue
and live action.
_____4. The use of "drama" in a narrower sense to designate a specific type of play dates
from the modern era.
_____5. The term "drama" comes from a Greek word meaning "exploitation".

B. Identification: Identify the term/concept being defined in the given statements.

For Nos. 6-12:
Comedy Tragedy Satire Historical Drama
Absurd Play Farce Musical Theatre

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_____________6. It demonstrates existentialism that rejects the realistic characters,
settings, situations, etc
_____________7. It is grounded in ancient drama, yet critics looked down on it as vulgar.
_____________8. It portrays a sad ending wherein Aristotle was the first to provide its
definition in his Poetics.
_____________9. It means merrymaking.
_____________10. It employs different comic exaggeration to mock human behavior in the
chance of being transformed or corrected.
_____________11. It is as old as theatre featuring historical characters and events.
_____________12. It combines dialogues, songs and dance numbers and accredited to
Broadway for blending vaudeville

C. Application: (13-25) Choose from the 7 genres and write your own example based
on your experience. Make a unique presentation by using PowerPoint/ Prezi or video
presentation of your work.