Dramatic Technique Research Articles

Steven Berkoff Tiyatrosu ve Sink the Belgrano!

Abstract: Steven Berkoff is one of the living legends of British theatre. He has spent most of his adult life on stage. He has written, directed and acted in numerous plays. He has also appeared in many well-known movies, such as A Clockwork Orange (1971), Rambo (1985) and Underworld (1985). In spite of his multifaceted international career, little scholarly research has been conducted on Steven Berkoff’s art. The aim of this paper is to outline the key characteristics of Berkoff’s conception of theatre, usually referred to as Berkovian aesthetic, and present a political reading of his celebrated play, Sink the Belgrano! (1986). The play deals with The Falklands War between England and Argentina, particularly focusing on the events that led to the sinking of the Argentinian Navy light cruiser The General Belgrano by the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror. The play also reflects Berkoff’s tendency to bring together various experimental dramatic techniques. The present paper firstly highlights the key characteristics of Bekovian aesthetic and then presents a comprehensive analysis of Sink the Belgrano! as one of Berkoff’s quintessential plays.

Muller, V. (2015). Pushkin and Shakespeare; Playwriting and theatre in the age of Shakespeare. Ed. and prefaced by D. Ermolovich. Moscow: AuditoriA. (In Russ.)

The name of Vladimir Muller (1880-1941) was familiar to every student of the English language in Russia as his Anglo-Russian dictionary had been in print since 1947. Muller's book Playwriting and Theatre in the Age of Shakespeare [Drama i teatr epokhiShekspira] (1925) retained its reputation of the best Russian guide to Shakespeare's theatre and dramatic technique for over half a century. But next to nothing was known about its author till information was dug out from the archive by D. Ermolovich together with the manuscript of another book by Muller — Pushkin and Shakespeare [Pushkin i Shekspir]. Prepared for Pushkin's death centenary in 1937, the text was never published. Even now the monograph stands out as the most comprehensive factual collection of evidence on the sources of Pushkin's competence both in the English language and Shakespeare with some penetrating analyses of Shakespeare's presence in Pushkin's work.

За гранью эпического времени. «Ричард II» и природа трагического у Шекспира

The major disagreement on the nature of the epic is rooted in the opposition of two concepts — either the epic draws on the myth, or its optics is regulated by history. In Leonid Pinsky’s opinion the way leading from the epic past towards the individual and inward self was the way of Shakespeare’s heroes both in his tragedies and history plays. Richard II (1595, opening the second tetralogy) follows one of the two archetypes suggested by Hugh Grady in his article “Shakespeare's links to Machiavelli and Montaigne.” Richard is not essentially a machiavellian type, though occasionally called a weak, “deficient” tyrant by critics and a “landlord” (not a king) by John Gaunt in the play. Creating this character Shakespeare makes the first step towards Hamlet. The climax is reached in the scene of his dethronement, much more known for its political topicality than being scrutinized for the discovery a dethroned king is to make. Who is he now? A nonentity, or a new being? The mirror he asks to bring lies, he thinks, when he recognizes his own unchanged face in it. Several scenes in the play (the Queen and Bushy, Richard and his jailor) demonstrate how the lyrical experience, Shakespeare must have acquired in the two plague years (1592–1594), had changed his dramatic technique. In Richard II he gave a start to a new metaphysical tradition.

ТРАДИЦІЇ І. КАРПЕНКА-КАРОГО У ДРАМАТУРГІЇ М. КУЛІША: ЛІТЕРАТУРОЗНАВЧИЙ АСПЕКТ

One of the brightest playwrights of the twentieth century, M. Kulish has synthesized significant artistic achievements of his outstanding predecessors. The Ukrainian playwright has organically combined the achievements of many artistic trends (realism, symbolism, expressionism, “theatre of the absurd”), creating an original, aesthetically and artistically perfect, stylistic system. In dramatic works by M. Kulish, the intersection of diverse semantic and artistic planes, as well as the interaction of different discourses with the involvement of the achievements of world art and philosophy, is combined with a strong reliance on the traditions of national drama. The traditions of I. Karpenko-Karyi in the drama by M. Kulish can be traced in various aspects. First of all, as the top achievements that became the basis for further development, deepening and the transformation of ideological and artistic achievements of Ukrainian drama of the early twentieth century. The vector of development, which was formed by I. Karpenko-Karyi, determined the initial positions for the realization of the first dramatic attempts of M. Kulish and some aesthetic parameters of the dramatic techniques, artistic achievements of his outstanding predecessor in accordance with the conceptual tasks that faced him as a creator of modern drama under the new historic conditions. At the same time, the traditions of the Ukrainian Coryphées theatre, modified to the circumstances and challenges of the twentieth century can be traced in the literary works by M. Kulish on different levels: stylistic (that is manifested in the use of realism aesthetics, with its topmost embodiment in plays by I. Karpenko-Karyi; expressionism aesthetics, with its basics of development in the literary works of the XIX century playwrights); genre (which is realized in the appeal to the genres of classical drama – comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama – with its further rethinking of the these main genres attributes in accordance with the modernist worldview); plot (which is displayed in the use of similar in some parameters plot frameworks), etc.

The Origins of a Dramatic Technique: Rhyme in Pre-Shakespearean Drama, 1530–1580

English plays of the mid-sixteenth century tended to be spoken entirely in rhyme. This led to the creation of a whole dramatic mode: rhyming verse form was a way of signaling to the audience and deepening their understanding of the play world they were entering. This article discusses the ways in which this powerful mode operated, reading rhyme as an overt signifier of moral character, status, and power dynamic and examining the ways in which it can increase our understanding of this theater's doubling practices and metatheatrical humor. It also posits these techniques and styles as vital predecessors for the more canonical Renaissance theater. The continuously rhyming drama of the midsixteenth century set up a series of expectations and patterns, which William Shakespeare and other early modern playwrights would exploit when they made the crucial shift toward a drama that used rhyme as special effect rather than norm.

Прием визуализации восприятия в пьесах Александра Строганова

The purpose of the paper is to analyze how the thematization of the perception of the world is implemented in the plays by A. Stroganov: ‘Halo,’ ‘Halo and the Night,’ ‘The Greatness of the Swing,’ ‘Black, White, Accents of the Red, Orange. Control Prints in two acts.’ The analysis of poetics proves that the visualization of metaphors creates the effect of optical illusions, resulting in the action acquiring a symbolic-magical character. The metatheatrical way of multiplying action plans (conditional-substantial and projective-illusory) allows presenting the technique of switching one’s attention to the imaginary elements. Visual projections of parareal events objectify the ability of the characters (and consequently readers/viewers) to see and perceive their inner world. A conclusion is made that in the plays under study, the integrity of the dramatic action is lost, whereas voices, gestures, images-paths, and photographs are constantly pulsating in the poetics of the text, with their ability to visualize the world vision image embodying the performative potential of action. The way to complete the integrity is the reader / viewer’s preexisting representations and interactive participation in the creation of textual projections of image-metaphors. Such absolutization of a single dramatic technique leads to a multidimensional artistic reading of A. Stroganov’s plays in the context of his theory of pararealism.

Pieza dramática inédita de Francisco Galeas para la festividad del Corpus

Estudio y edición de la única pieza dramática del fraile cartujo Francisco Galeas (Sevilla, 1567-1614) compuesta en loor del Sacramento. Su condición de inédita, brevedad, argumento y virtualidades escénicas muestran a su autor como conocedor de las técnicas dramáticas y dueño de la puesta en escena, aconsejando su incorporación al patrimonio teatral de un período en el que es abundante la producción perdida o no exhumada.

El licenciado Rodaja (Marías / Chic, 1973): una novela adaptada, una adaptación teatralizada

Este artículo se cifra en el análisis de El licenciado Rodaja (1973), adaptación televisiva de El licenciado Vidriera de Miguel de Cervantes (Novelas ejemplares, 1613). Dentro del marco de los espacios dramáticos de Radio Televisión Española que gozaron de aplauso desde los años 60 hasta mediados de los 90, sondearé las transformaciones operadas en este mediometraje para la pequeña pantalla, que contó con guion de Miguel Marías y la dirección de Antonio Chic: 1) la reinterpretación del protagonista (Tomás Rodaja); y 2) la fusión de esta novela con recursos propios del teatro.

Grotesque Literary Caricatures of Exotic Orientals in Tariq Ali's Play Iranian Nights

The paper analyzes grotesque literary caricature of the exotic Orientals in Tariq Ali and Howard Brenton's play Iranian Nights. The focus is to elucidate how the writer market margins by creating caricatural and exotic characters that generate laughter and comical wit for the international readership. The research has two folds i.e. on one level it will discuss the caricatural features in characters to understand the underline meaning for the use of such distorted and exaggerated art form in a modern play. On the other hand, the paper will have an investigative stance into the dramatic techniques used ancient grotesque plays to find out the significance of such a dramaturgy in the business of exoticism. The research broadens the scope as it presents an art form that depicts a grotesque caricature exoticizing the third world's other Orientals to market margins.

Réflexions sur l’espace comique. L’exemple du Mariage de Figaro

"Reflections on Comic Space. The Example of The Marriage of Figaro. This study shows from the example of the Marriage of Figaro how the space defined by the dramatic text within fiction has a creative energy and a range of meaning which can be compared to that of the speech or the acting of the characters. Suzanne’s armchair is the centre of a long play of scenes in the 1st act: this inert object then constitutes the crux of the action and embodies the force of chance fighting against the Figaro industry, a bit like fate in the tragedy fights against the active will of the heroes. The corner of the park under the chestnut trees in the last act plays the same role by precipitating all the intrigue and all the characters, in favour of the night, in a game of masks, misunderstandings and deceptions which summarize the issues of the intrigue and untie it. Figaro’s monologue located at the entrance to this dramatic space gives the key to its functioning: human life is governed by Chance, which is the god of comedy. Consequently, the question of Being becomes that of being there. This awareness by Figaro opens at the heart of comic space a subjectivation by spatialization, the secret of which is that we are spatial beings, that is to say social beings, defined in everything and for everything by our relationships and by the successive situations in which we form, act and live: lucid and disillusioned awareness of our constitutive “spatiality”. Keywords: Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro, comic space, dramatic techniques, armchair, tragedy, spatial beings, social beings. "

METATHEATRICAL TENDENCIES IN HAROLD PINTER’S THE LOVER

The term metatheater is coined by Lionel Abel in 1963 which refers to theater about theater. It draws attention to the distinction between the fiction of the play and the reality of performance. A play refers to itself as a play to encourage the audience to perceive it in two ways; as a pretended reality and as dramatic artifice. Metatheater also appears in both comedy and tragedy, where the audience can laugh and empathize at the same time. The paradoxical perspective of fake and real promoting audience instability and this is the role of metatheater. It is an artistic way to examine the interaction between illusion and reality. There is a need to represent reality through artificiality to provide an insight to see the truth of human mind and to illuminate the individual perspective. Within this study metatheater considered as a tendency rather than a technique. It examines the conflict between illusion and reality in Harold Pinter’s The Lover and focuses on play within the play device. It shows that illusion and reality is the bases of both the subject matter and the dramatic technique of the plays of Harold Pinter who is a revolutionary British playwright. It shows how the play employs the standard Pinter’s technique of mixing illusion and reality, presenting a comedy in modern absurd way. Metatheatrical tendencies in The Lover traces how people lost simplicity and spontaneity of communication and unable express their real beings.

David Hare'in "Stuff Happens"ı: Alternatif Bir Irak Savaşı Anlatısı

In the 20th century postmodernism has fundamentally altered the approach to the concept of history. Showing that grand narratives can be reversed by minor narratives, Jean-François Lyotard played a great role in the development of postmodernism. The purpose of this article is to analyse how the dramatic techniques used in David Hare’s play Stuff Happens in line with Lyotard’s take deconstruct grand narratives about Iraq War at the beginning of the 21st century. By manipulating verbatim theatre techniques, the play asserts that historical reality must always be perceived through a sceptical perspective. Setting the political verbatim accounts, therefore the grand narratives, with unheard minor voices/narratives, Hare, both unearths the discrepancies of political reality and stresses that every narrative is fictional. In this respect, as a postmodern text, Stuff Happens rejects construction of grand narratives by drawing attention to alternative realities and demonstrates that political grand narratives cannot be unique realities.

Training Corporate Bodies

In the global corporate world, dramatic techniques adapted from theatre for social change repertories provide tools for workplace empowerment. In corporate India, theatre training teaches employees to conform to implicit workplace codes of bodily conduct. Overlaps between managerial strategies and tactics of workshop participants reveal that corporate theatre engineers moments of human expression that exceed human capital formation.

오셀로에 나타난 정의의 아이러니

In Shakespearean tragedies, the dramatic technique of contrast and antithesis is mainly used to present the themes as well as the characters. Shakespeare presents them not in a simple way of parallel or juxtaposition but in a ironic and complicated one. So, the ironic contrasts to love and justice are explored to clarify some key issues and to know the dramatic vision in Othello. Othello pursues justice to prove his love of Desdemona. to practice his justice, he makes up his mind to kill Desdemona. But he deals with and kills her unjustly. This is a major irony related to the justice theme. Othello’s tragic flaw - his habit of guessing and his superstitious character - drives him to indulge in unreasonable behaviors and illusions, so he makes the mistake of unwisely applying justice to love. In his value system justice overrides love.

SILENCED WOMEN IN HISTORY A FEMINIST-REVISIONIST STUDY OF CARYL CHURCHILL’S VINEGAR TOM (1976) & SARAH DANIELS’ BYRTHRITE (1986)

paper presents a feminist-revisionist study of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom (1976) and Sarah Daniels’ Byrthrite (1986). The two plays are “history plays.” In fact, the two feminist dramatists represent the history of the witchcraft trials in the 17th century England from a very feminist perspective. The current research paper offers a new understanding of the history of that era which could form an alternative kind of history to the “official” male-made one. Significantly, this paper attempts to analyze the two plays in terms of form and content. Interestingly, the two playwrights represent a revolutionary content in a very innovative form. Their main objective is to focus on the female subjectivity through their theatrical representation and to establish a new female- gaze to replace the male one. The content of the two plays deal with very controversial issues including, women’s oppression within a patriarchal system, reproductive rights, gender construction, sexuality, queer identities and sexual orientations. These provocative subjects are represented through the use of many innovative devices and techniques. Most of the devices employed by Churchill and Daniels are Brechtian including, historicization, cross-dressing, doubling, monologues, music, and songs. All in all, this research paper re-explores the dramatic and theatrical representation of history in both Churchill’s Vinegar Tom and Daniels’ Byrthrite. It compares between the two playwrights, one is identified as a socialist feminist and the other one is radical, in terms of their different dramatic techniques of approaching the revision of history. تتناول هذة الورقة البحثية دراسة نسوية تنقيحية لمسرحيتي فينجر توم للکاتبة المسرحية النسوية الإنجليزية لکاريل تشيرشل وکذلک حق بالميلاد للکاتبة المسرحية النسوية الإنجليزية سارة دانيالز. تتعرض هذة الورقة للعرض الدرامي والمسرحي للتاريخ في العملين السابق ذکرهما. وتتناول علي وجه التحديد الحدث التاريخي المعروف بإسم محاکمات السحر والساحرات في القرن السابع عشر بإنجلترا. ترکز الورقة البحثية الحالية علي کل من المضمون والشکل للعملين موضع الدراسة. فيتضح أن المضمون يعد بمثابة ثورة في تاريخ المسرح الإنجليزي نظرا للتعرض بجرأة شديدة لقضايا وموضوعات لم تکن مطروحه من قبل بل کان ينظر إليها علي أنها من المحرمات الغير قابله للتداول والنقاش کالقهر الجندري الناتج عن السلطوية الأبوية والقمع المجتمعي الناتج عن الذکورية المفرطه سواء في الماضي او في الحاضر. کما أن هناک إشکاليات وقضايا أخري کحق الإنجاب، البناء الجندري، الهوية الجندرية، الجنسانية، وکذلک الهوية الجنسية. کان لابد للشکل أن يکون مبتکر ليلائم هذا المضمون. ولذلک تتناول هذة الورقة البحثية التقنيات المسرحية المستحدثة من قبل الکاتبتان کما تقوم بتحليل العرض المسرحي لديهما والمبني إلي حد کبير علي تقنيات ووسائل العرض المستخدمة بالمسرح الملحمي للکاتب المسرحي الألماني بيرتولت بريخت

Improving Students’ Speaking Skill Through Drama at the Eighth Grade of SMPN 9 Palopo

This paper dealt with the effectiveness of drama techniques in enhancing student speech at SMPN 9 Palopo in 8th grade. The research was mainly sample. This investigation was carried out in two classes: experimental and control classes. Sixty students from VIII SMPN 9 Palopo graduates attended this research. The sample of research for the level of VIII 6 was 30 students as experimental classes, and the class of 8 / 1 was composed of 30 students. The method is voice check-in research. The students will be evaluated and assessed by this study. SPSS, 20, analyzed the data. Data were analyzed. The study results show that the use of dramatic materials can improve the skills of speakers. The calculation results show that the scores of students in the experimental class are better than the scores of students in the control class. Based on data analysis, a post-test average value of 10,5300 > 7,5700 is higher than the pre-test average. The average value in the control class is also more significant than the average preliminary value. Based on the analysis of the data, the lesson of speech using effective dramatic techniques at 9 Palopo can be concluded. It can be concluded. The results of the experimental classes can be shown that they are higher than the control class.

Perceiving Reality through Absurdity: a Prime Projection in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ahmad’s the Thing

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ahmad’s The Thing with the focus on the sense of craving to go on and to endure the existence, the ultimate reality of human life. Between these two extraordinary playwrights of Absurd Theatre, one is from the West, and the other is from the East. So, a meticulous survey on these two selected plays unfolds trajectories of convergence. This research will show that though the two plays are of two opposite continents, they are primly projecting the same theme of realizing reality through absurdity using the same structural techniques of absurd drama. The researchers find it remarkable that despite an outwardly hopeless fate, both the plays express the human spirit of continuing life through endurance and invite the audience to win the absurdity of life by enduring it. Such is reality, and,in both the plays, this realization of accepting reality comes through absurdity. However, it is narrative research that follows the descriptive-cum analytical method, and the relevant textual references are given as evidence to support the argument of this study.

CONTEXTUALISING HISTORY AND CREATIVITY: AN EXPLORATION OF AHMED YERIMA'S “THE TRIALS OF OBA OVONRAMWEM

This paper beams its searchlight on the relationship between history and creativity in Ahmed Yerima's The Trials of Oba Ovonramwem.The study adopted the qualitative research method usingDocumentary Observation Research instrument in line with the textual nature of the work. The theoretical framework used as a tool of analysis is the New Historicism theory propounded by Stephen Greenblatt, the theory aims at understanding the work of art through its historical context and also understanding cultural and intellectual history through literature. It was observed that, the history has been transformed into theatrical products. Thus the efforts of the playwright atcreating drama out of history appear to bridge the gap between fact and fiction in historical drama. The study establishes that the relationship between history and drama is the one which the playwright offers explanation through his play to historical event while forcing on it his thematic preoccupation.The study finds out that historical plays can be used in the most viable way for the promotion and propagation of the African culture. The play has to some extent tried to achieve this role through the use of songs, proverbs, dances, chants, language of the people. This study also reveals that the playwright has made the play relevant to the contemporary society through some specific themes. The study discovers that in using history for drama, the playwrights is free to rework and recognize the actual story depending on the purpose and what the writer aims to achieve with the story, this is done in order for history to have a sharper meaning to the new people who will see it and also to achieve a thematic preoccupation.From the foregoing, it can be said that history has therefore become a source material for the playwrights; they deem it necessary to interpret it by giving it contemporary relevance. The play is therefore a historical play that is set in a milieu which deals with historical personages and events. The history has been artistically woven from real life material into a highly dramatic piece, establishing a sense of a particular historical period and giving the audience necessary information at the same time leading up skillfully to the climaxes supplied by historical facts. As it were, the word of the past replaces the world of the past, since for the New Historicist, the events and attitudes of the past now exist solely as writing. The author's role to a large extent is determined by historical circumstances. The playwright has done this by carefully and skillfully blending history with the use of dramatic techniques such proverbs, chants incantations, characters, setting, irony, and climax. The paper attempts to encourage playwrights to continue to use history as source material in writing their plays It can therefore be concluded that the playwrights draws their source material from mundane human experience i.e. history and weave them with aesthetics through the power of imagination and creativity thus making it a beautiful play that can preserve the history of their society.

Las nuevas tendencias en el teatro español a finales del siglo XX

New Trends of Spanish Theater at End of Twentieth Century The current research starts with explaining importance of topic being addressed, as well as a discussion of problems that will result from handling this topic while studying and analyzing new trends of Spanish theatre in twentieth century. Thus, present research illustrates aim of this study at beginning. Then, it attempts to explore of scientific approach of induction or projection on new trends. Hence, research clarifies features of new trends. However, this study focuses mainly on a new presentation of this topic that deals with a systematic sequential analysis of new trends of contemporary Spanish theatre in recent times. In order to achieve aim of this study, it was necessary to apply a methodological criterion which differs from traditional descriptive methods and it is built on visions consistent with the theory of social mediation and motives for authorship. In this context, it was also essential to address two problems inherent in issue of trends: The first problem lies in classification of trends while second one is related to assigning selected works chosen for this study. Though at end, we find that we have developed a brief model that combines between two main topics namely; periods of time and theatrical movements as follows: The first topic analyzed tends of theatre in post-war period or final years of Franco's rule, where innovative and invisible, opposing or reactionary, real or imaginative theatrical patterns appeared that paved way for emergence of new theatrical trends or modern dramatic techniques in last third of twentieth century. The second topic highlighted theatrical trends that developed experimental theatrical work by using modern realistic themes that attracted attention of Spanish society beginning in eighties and early nineties where a positive shift took place towards search for new theatrical patterns that led to emergence of period of the post-transitional stage in Spain- new theatrical trends that are called postmodernism or so-called post-merging text with theatrical performance, which were characterized in their entirety by pluralism. These works were presented by incorporating new modern methods such as audiovisual methods that did not stop their constant search for providing theatre with new theatrical alternatives, whether they are themes or other alternatives, which in turn contributed to facing new challenges that faced and are still facing Spanish society. The present study resulted in several conclusions that are not only limited to results that were reached through applying mechanisms of analysis to new trends according to plan of study that outlined two main issues, but study also provided some recommendations for further studies that will be conducted on same topic in future. Finally, study illustrated specialized sources and references that are related to subject of study.

Migration and the mare nostrum: Alternative staging techniques in Mar Gómez Glez’s Cifras

Mar Gómez Glez’s play Cifras (2012) stages the real-life events that transpired in July 2006, when the Spanish fishing boat Francisco y Catalina was forced into a weeklong maritime standstill off the coast of Malta after bringing onboard fifty-one migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. Through this interpretive frame, Gómez Glez’s play both contributes to a thematic trend in the landscape of contemporary Spanish theater that places the dynamics of migration center stage while at the same time presenting a significant departure from such preexisting dramatic production. Subverting audience expectations, the fifty-one migrants are never endowed with physical presence on stage and are instead constructed through an array of linguistic and dramatic techniques. Although, we never see the migrants, Gómez Glez’s use of linguistic references, grammatical indicators, and staging signs nevertheless renders their presence as impossible to ignore. This article advances a reading of Cifras wherein the physical invisibility of the migrant characters is viewed as a conscious ethical technique by the playwright that calls attention to mediatized visual representations and current political discourses on migration. Read in this light, the work becomes poignantly relevant in the recent global context of punitive politics discouraging humanitarian rescues in the Mediterranean, the rise of a social discourse on migrant psychology and social welfare, and the continued environmental impacts generated by global warming.