DRAMATIC CONVENTION II

Dramatic Illusion:

Drama thrives on illusion because what is presented is not reality but an illusion of reality. Whenever we are watching any dramatic presentation, we very well that they are ‘pretending’ to be what they are not yet we empathize with the characters. Dramatic illusion involves a willing suspension of disbelief. If the play Hamlet is presented on stage and as we watch the graveyard scene, Ophelia’s burial, for instance, we would see the actress being ‘buried’. In reality, the actress’ name may not be Ophelia; she has not died; the grave is not a real grave; .and the grave diggers may be wealthy professionals hut we enjoy the play without bothering about whether they are real or not. In other words, we pretend that what we are watching is real.

The Fourth Wall:

The fourth wall refers to the fourth wall of the room that is pulled down for the audience to watch the play. In reality, a room has four walls so if a play? especially events of the play stage performances, is to be presented with the four walls intact nobody can see the action. That is why a good playwright should always have the stage in mind when he is writing his play. The removal of the fourth wall helps to enhance the illusion of reality in drama.

Chorus /Narrator:

The use of chorus is a dramatic convention that was adopted by playwrights, especially in the Classical Age, to comment on the events of the play. In any play that has a chorus/narrator, the playwright uses it to supply the information that could not be woven into the dialogue. In many cases it serves as the authorial voice. The chorus is not usually part of the main cast so does not participate actively in the action of the play. In most cases they stand or sit by the side of the stage and make their comments at the appropriate time. Some playwrights use the chorus to comment on the events of the play. In Oedipus Rex, the chorus is made up of the elders of Thebes. The narrator performs the same function as the chorus. The difference is that usually the chorus is made .up .of .two or more .characters while the narrator is only one character. Each playwright uses the chorus or the narrator to suit his purpose.

The Three Unities

Classical plays are expected to treat one serious action but later in the sixteenth centuries, dramatic critics in Italy and France added to Aristotle’s recommendation of unity of action, two other unites to constitute the rules of drama known as “the three unites.” It became a dramatic convention then. They contended that for the dramatist to achieve an illusion of reality, the action presented in a play should “approximate” the actual conditions of life being represented in the play. They imposed the “unity of place” (that the action be limited to a single location) and the “unity of time” (that the time represented should be limited to the two or three hours it takes to act the play, or at most to a single day of either twelve or twenty-four hours). Their decision may have been influenced by Shakespearean plays that involved frequent changes of setting and the passage of many years. In the modem period it is no longer a convention but a playwright might still wish to adhere to it The three unities ar§ .the unities .of time place and action. It means the. principles of dramatic structure that involves action, time and place, The principle of the unity of action entails that the action of the play should contain one subject. There is no room for sub - themes or sub- plots. The unity of place requires that the action of the play must take place in one location. The unity of time insists that the play should not last for more than one day. A playwright decides what to use and how to use them.