Reading and

Writing Drama
Ernesto Cordero Collo, Jr.
Lecturer
Drama as a Craft

It refers to a literary
composition to be acted by
players on a stage before
an audience.
Since the turn of 20th
century, modern drama has
become the greatest form
of mass entertainment in
the western world.
 Drama...
is difficult to write.
is difficult to read.
One-Act Plays
They literally comprise of
ONE ACT only.
The origin of the one-act
play may be traced to the
very beginning of drama
in ancient Greece.
One-Act Plays

Examples of Drama:

And Jack Fell Down. A play that manages to

have a full story within a single act and a short
period of time.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett. This play only has
four characters, and they are the only four left in
the world after an apocalyptic event.
www.study.com/academy/lesson/one-act
Elements of the Genre
A. Character
One-act plays employ limited number of characters to achieve the
story goal.
B. Setting
It must be adapted to the limitations of the stage area by employing
periaktoi. The actions must be physically restricted on the stage and
depend on dialogue, lighting, and sound effects to carry the actions
and events that cannot be presented visually.
Elements of the Genre

C. Plot
Five-fold structure of drama
1. Exposition
2. Moment of inciting force/Complication(s)
3. Climax (turning point)/Climax
4. Falling action
5. Denouement/Resolution
https://www.scribd.com/mobile/doc
Elements of the Genre

D. Dialogue
Ezra Pound, a modern American poet,
described drama as “persons moving
about on a stage using words” - in short,
people talking.
4.1. Techniques and literary devices
A. Intertexuality
Intertextuality is a word coined by Julia Kristeva, a
French linguist. Her notion of Intertextuality refers to the
literal and effective presence in a text of another text.
Intertextuality is the shaping of a text’s meaning by
another text. Intertextual figures include: allusion,
quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and
parody.
Techniques and literary devices Intertexuality

“I looked at Maria and she was lovely. She was

tall…and in the darkened hall the fragrance of
her was like a morning when papayas
are in bloom.”
– Manuel Arguilla, How my Brother Leon Brought
Home a Wife
 Techniques and literary devices Intertexuality
Example:

Sapay Koma by Jhoanna Lynn Cruz

On our first Valentine as a couple, he gave me a bowl of white nondescript flowers.
They had a distinctly sweet but faint scent. I had never been a fan of Valentine’s Day
nor of love like a red, red rose; but that day, I became a believer. He told me they
were papaya blossoms from his mother’s garden. At that moment, I
knew I would one day marry him. We had started dating only three
months ago, but I knew I would be Maria to his Leon. Why, he even
had a younger brother the same age as Baldo! And even though they didn’t
live in Nagrebcan nor owned a carabao, the town of Itogon, Benguet was remote
enough for me. I have always enjoyed teaching the Arguilla story for its subversive
take on the role that one’s family plays in a marriage; but having been born and raised
in Pasay City, I had no idea what papaya blossoms smelled like.
SAMPLE WORKS
of Well-known Local & Foreign Writers

A Doll's House
by Henrik
Ibsen
SAMPLE WORKS
of Well-known Local & Foreign Writers

Hamlet/Macbeth by William Shakespeare

A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov
Bona by PETA
Ang Katatawanan ng Kalituhan
by Dulaang UP
New Yorker sa Tondo by Marcelino Agana, Jr.