Amphitryon Dramatic Structure

The play is episodic. Tension builds throughout each scene so that the audience can see the deeper mystery and bigger

The play used a non-linear structure of scenes which went from a younger age of the characters to and age sometime older and continued with this back and forth from young to old throughout the play. By having the structure go back and forth between different times in the past instead of using the typical linear structure that goes from past to present allows the play to have a way of being suspenseful and keep the audience engaged and interested in watching to see what happens next.

A short play is usually filled with a theatrical energy of diverse anthologies. The time allotted may be only ten or fifteen minutes, so it must be able to capture and engage the audience with some dramatic tension, exciting action, or witty humor. Just as in a short story, a great deal of the explanation and background is left for the reader or viewer to discover on their own. Because all the details are not explicitly stated, each viewer interprets the action in their own way and each experience is unique from someone else viewing the same play. Conflict is the main aspect that drives any work of literature, and plays usually consist of some form of conflict. In “Playwriting 101:

Throughout the play there are many themes leading up to and causing the chief event.

The term metatheatre is used to refer to any instance in which a play draws attention to itself as a play, rather than pretending to be a representation of “reality.” Various uses of metatheatrical devices can be found in the works of William Shakespeare. One of Shakespeare’s favorite such devices is the “play-within-a-play.” With this device, the theatre audience finds itself watching an audience (on stage) watching a play. The play-within-a-play is thus a self-reflexive device that addresses the question of where audience reality ends and theatrical illusion begins. Shakespeare often incorporated the device as an integral part of his plots. A famous example can

The overall dramatic meaning of this play has been successfully shown by the elements of drama. The

Drama often generates levels of meaning that are not directly stated (sometimes called sub-text). Explore some examples of the presence of sub-text and its dramatic importance in at least two of the plays you have studied. (May 2014)

Antigone is an ancient Greek play, originally written by tragedian Sophocles, that has been adapted by the French playwright and dramatist, Jean Anouilh. This well-regarded interpretation of the play retains its classical plotline but explores theories of tragedy and how tragedy has moulded this classical play. During this theatrical piece, the protagonist, Antigone, ignites disastrous events that gravely impact not only her family, but the city of Thebes. Furthermore, A World Enclosed is an archetype of tragedy that perfectly represents Antigone. This archetype of tragedy is demonstrated in a plethora of ways throughout the play: Antigone’s stubbornness and determination, her over willingness and persistence to obey the gods, and how the chorus, essential and solitary figures in Greek plays, comment on how tragedy functions within the play.

The plot of a literary work is defined as the main events (storyline) of, in this case, a play, or novel, movie, etc., devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. The plot generally consists of an exposition, a main conflict, rising action, climactic event, falling action, and a resolution. By this point in the play, Act III is beginning already in the rising action of the play. Miller makes reading the concluding acts a rollercoaster ride by developing the plot uniquely and particularly, making the reader eager for more.

"Nowadays the plays' meaning is usually blurred by the fact that the actor plays to the audiences hearts. The figures portrayed are foisted on the audience and are falsified in the process. Contrary to present custom they ought to be presented quite coldly, classically and objectively. For they are not matter for empathy; they are there to be understood and politely added

shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what

Over the extensive history of the theatre arts, most of the many plays and productions fall into unique categories in regards to structure. The two most simplest of the structural categories are climactic and episodic. A climactic structure, or alternatively known as an intensive structure, contains a play in which all components are restricted as the main conflict in the story commences late into the play and only a little time passes until the story occurs. Everything is restricted to a few components. There are not as many characters, scenery change and very limited amounts of action. climactic structures focuses heavily on the climax in contrast to other structures. One notable example of a climactic performance is Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The story of Oedipus is that of tragedy and despair as Oedipus and his family are unable to escape the fate that Oedipus has had since birth. The exposition and starting action (in this case, the events that led up to him to being king of Thebes) occur before the play and is only ever talked about. The play only takes place in the castle and has only four primary characters. Ultimately, Oedipus Rex only takes place within a day and primarily focuses on the realization and aftermath of the story of Oedipus and his sins, or the climax. All these components that define a climactic structure of production are found in the aforementioned play by Sophocles, strengthening what a climactic structure is and the vast potential a climactic play

Characters – agents of the play, they provide motivation for the plot. “Vivid Characters” are the ones who are faced with “obstacles that we the audience can recognise”.

Gregory Currie, Professor of Philosophy, University of York, likens our experience understanding narrative to that of viewing a painting; we experience both the representational content and the physical basis of the representation. Theatrical narratives operate in a two-tiered type of representation with both a textual component (script) and a physical representation (embodiment) by the actors and spectacle. The physical world is outside the theatrical frame, as is a viewer of a painting. We have the ability to comprehend with a “conscious awareness” the events and characters that communicate that content both internally and externally. James Phelan identifies a story-discourse narrative model referring to what he calls “instabilities” and

In our lives, we are surrounded by moments of tragedy that drives our will to keep moving forward. Our daily lifestyles are no different from the famous stories that playwrights have written throughout history. Playwrights are masters at combining theatre elements of tragedy, religion, violence, and numerous relative elements that the audience embrace faithfully. Today, Greek and Roman influence is the main topic since they have inspired the famous plays Desire under the Elms and The Glass Menagerie.