A play is pigeonholed between the performing and literary arts, that is, it can be seen and it can be read. It presents a very varied structure, with many possibilities in terms of themes, language, and scenery, so it is a flexible work capable of adapting to different formats through theatrical genres.
If you have seen a play live, you will have verified the special bond that is established between the actors, the story, and the spectators. The audience is able to get into the plot and empathize with the characters. To discover what a play is, its characteristics, its origin, and the elements that make it up, at OneHOWTO we recommend that you continue reading this article.
What are a play and its characteristics?
A play is an artistic representation that is part of both the performing arts and the literary arts. It is a staging of several fictional situations through different scenic elements, actors, and sets, according to what is established by a dramatic text or script.
The number of people involved in a play is variable and they are dedicated to different aspects of the staging (particularly artistic and technical). The result of the actions they carry out, that is, the work itself is exhibited in public for a season.
Theatrical works have two types of authorship: the playwright, the author of the theatrical text who has prepared the script and who may or may not be part of the stage performance, and the theatrical director, in charge of staging and making stage decisions that can also intervene if necessary in the dramaturgical text.
What are the characteristics of the play?
A play has the following main characteristics:
- It is staged: the play is performed in a specific environment called dramatic space. It can be a theatrical stage, a platform, or the street itself, with an audience in attendance and a certain theatrical space in which the performance takes place.
- Combine artistic genres: A play is a combination of artistic genres such as literature (screenplay) and performing arts (performance). You can also use other stage expressions such as music, singing, and dancing.
- It has a certain duration: normally it does not exceed two hours, but it always depends on the scenic proposal. In the past, plays could last one day.
- It represents a story through dialogues and actions: in this way, the viewer can witness everything that happens in the theatrical performance. He does not usually have a narrator, but when he does, he is usually part of the work as one more character.
Origin and evolution of the play
The play is a fairly old artistic genre since to find its origins it is necessary to go back to Ancient Greece, specifically to the 4th century BC. In those days, Greek society used the theater as an instrument of civil education and transmission of its long and extensive mythology.
The actors of the plays of Ancient Greece used masks to represent each character and other scenic elements such as stilts.
There were great Greek playwrights in the genre of tragedy, considered a major art, such as Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschylus, and also in the genre of comedy, such as Aristophanes. Many of the works of these playwrights are still performed today.
Elements of a play
Now that you know what a play is, it will be easier for you to understand what the different elements that make it up are. The most important for it to be represented are the following:
Characters
They are performed by actors who can wear specific clothing and use certain forms of speech according to the demands of the dramaturgical text. The characters, through actions and dialogue, interact with each other throughout the play.
Scenery and props
It is popularly known for scenic elements. These are the objects that help to carry out the scenic representation, being useful as decoration and fulfilling specific roles in the story (glasses, tables, or swords, for example).
In some representations, these scenic elements are dispensed with and the viewer is able to imagine them thanks to their evocation through actions and dialogues, so they are not always realistic.
Stage
This is the physical space in which the play is performed. In it, the actors wander, that is, they enter and leave the scene depending on whether they enter or disappear from the stage itself. It can have different forms and even be located in public, with spectators present on it.
theatrical text
The actors learn to express it during the different scenes, so it is not physically present in any of them. The theatrical text specifies the actions, the dialogues, and the different changes of scenery contemplated during the performance of the work.
If you have found this article on the play useful, we recommend you continue expanding your knowledge with our post What are theatrical genres.
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