Modern english drama characteristics english summary. A feature of traditional african societies that has rarely failed to strike the observer and elicit his. Povey chapter 4 englishlanguage poetry 105 thomas knipp chapter 5 englishlanguage drama and theater 8 j. The elements of drama, by which dramatic works can be analyzed and evaluated, can be categorized into three major areas. Elements of drama acts long sections of a play, made up of multiple scenes, usually designed to separate the play into its main parts and to give the audience a break from the performance. What are main characteristics of african drama answers. Therefore, to him, modern african drama is an innovation or an improved version of traditional african drama. Among the first pieces of african literature to receive significant worldwide critical acclaim was things fall apart, by chinua achebe.
In this collaborative lesson, groups will take a cute poem, and transform it into a funny play. Chapter 2 englishlanguage fiction from east africa 49 arlene a. Features of american drama by kevin demster on prezi. This means that a script with stage directions and dialogue instructs the actors on how to best deliver the playwrights message. What are the main characteristics of african indigenous. Elder chapter 3 englishlanguage fiction from south africa 85 john f. Despite popularity for this collection of literature growing in the 1950s, its history goes back to ancient egypt. Dramatic language is modelled on reallife conversations among people, and yet, when one watches a play, one also has to consider the differences between real talk and drama talk.
Drama is also a type of a play written for theater, television, radio, and film. At this point let me emphasise that it is the attitude of selflessness. Pdf african american drama of the harlem renaissance. Like a short story or novel, it has a setting, characters, plot, and even symbolism. Get an answer for what are the features of modern drama and find homework help for other movements in modern drama questions at enotes. Realism is the most significant and outstanding quality of modern english drama. African literature has a long history stretching back over thousands of years. Dramatic language is ultimately always constructed or made up and it often serves several purposes. According to aristotle, what are the dissimilarities between epic and tragedy. Oral literature or orature may be in prose or verse. Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. View modern african drama research papers on academia. Although modern drama evolved over time, its theme of using theater to challenge. In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue.
The first truly continentally representative collection of modern african drama in any language, this norton critical edition includes plays from egypt, algeria, the republic of south africa, nigeria, ethiopia, ghana, and kenya. African writing, literature, and society a commemorative publication in honor of eckhard breitinger. Theme, plot, characters, dialog, and more drama is a composition of prose or poetry that is transformed into a performance on stage. Toward a definition of realism in the african context.
Nigerian theatre, variety of folk opera of the yoruba people of southwestern nigeria that emerged in the early 1940s. The term comes from a greek wordmeaning action which is derived from todo or to acttraditionally performed on stagebefore an audience, but nowadays canrefer to a tv show, amovie, broadway show, etc. The same holds for a number of other devices in african contemporary. Out of these, the first two are the most important ones according to aristotle. Oral tradition and african theatre universiteit leiden.
Introduction the word drama comes from the greek meaning to act, do or perform, and it is in the several subtle and diverse meanings of to perform that drama can be said to have begun. Literary elements technical elements performance elements the elements of drama. Presents eight twentiethcentury plays from seven african countries, along with explanatory notes and over thirty background writings and works of criticism. The elements of drama richmond county school system. Pdf the role of orature in african sociocultural space. A chronology and a selected bibliography are included. African literature is literature of or from africa and includes oral literature. Declaration i declare that content, form and technique of traditional and modern praise poetry in northern sotho is my own work and that all the sources that i have used or quoted have been indicated and. American naturalism notable american playwrights conclusion expressionism expressionism is is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.
Traditional african cultural practices paved the way for foreign way of doing things as africans became fully westernised. Drama is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. While ideas have changed slightly over the years, we still discuss aristotles list when talking about what makes the best drama. In addition, there is selflessness which women in society are still expected to perform. Unanana by danisile ntuli amaculo abantwana esizulu isizulu nursery rhymes. Although modern drama evolved over time, its theme of using theater to challenge and experiment upon social norms remained constant.
African theatre, effectively, the theatre of africa south of the sahara that emerged in the postcolonial erathat is to say, from the mid20th century onward it is not possible to talk of much african theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Furthermore, african drama has some specific characteristics that can help fostering icc. In his paper language in modern african drama isaiah ilo proposes alternative criteria for language choice in modern african drama. African literature african literature the influence of oral traditions on modern writers. Colonial boundaries ignored cultural and linguistic unities, and ancient movements throughout the continentsometimes. Before discussing the didactic value and applicability of african plays. Pdf this paper examines elements of traditional drama in nigerian. The influence of the ritual and sociocultural aspects of most african festivals on the contem porary drama and theatre is enormous and varied and will be. Modern american drama could be seen as literary work that comments on the authors view of the ever changing country and american dream using particular trends of features. The six aristotelian elements of drama are, plot, character, thought, diction, spectacle, and song. Aristotle 384322 bc was a greek philosopher whose writings still influence us. That traditional african drama exists is not in question. It is these features that heighten each authors critical comments on american society at the time of writing. Toward a definition of realism in the african context mirieke schipper i\ mnkki \ i limes and cultures, reality is experienced and ex pressed by artists and writers in different ways.
African literature, literary works of the african continent. Drama, folktales, novels, poetry, short stories, and songs. The two most influential constructs on the language question. African drama and performance is a collection of innovative and wideranging essays that bring conceptually fresh perspectives, from both renowned and emerging voices, to the study of drama, theatre, and performance in africa. Indigenous dramatic traditions of africa will be evoked to provide a context for examining the emergence of modern drama. With africa subjugated and dominated, the western culture and european mode of civilisation began to thrive and outgrow african cultural heritage. African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages french, portuguese, and english.
It is not possible to talk of much african theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since aristotles poetics c. Ndukaku amankulor chapter 6 frenchlanguage fiction 173 servanne woodward. In more than one play the narrator functions in a similar manner as he did traditionally. The yoruba film school combines the structural features of both the. This could be written by an african or a non african but it most picture the experience of the people and their environment. This is a very long period encompassing thousands of playwrights with very. The movement which had started early in germany made its way in england drama and several modern dramatists like j. Changes in societies generally lead to new forms of dramatic expression. He sees modern african drama as that form of drama that has been influenced by the european language and tradition still reflecting the african culture and experiences in it which may or not be written by africans. Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since aristotle s poetics c.
Unlike the stories that are meant to be read, drama is meant to be performed in front of an audience. Article pdf available in journal of english language and literature 6. In summary, a drama has many of the same elements as prose and novels. Western civilisation and culture began to creep into african sociocultural milieu, first, with the contact of europeans with africa, a consequence of berlin conference in the quest for imperial pilfering of african resources and, later, consolidated by the unstoppable wave of globalisation. Pdf african drama in the efl classroom chances and. African literature is as diverse as the continent itself, but several characteristics and themes prevail throughout much of the written works emerging from africa. Language and drama florian janner seminar paper english language and literature studies linguistics publish your bachelors or masters thesis, dissertation, term paper or essay. A story is dramatized, which means the characters and events in the story are brought to life.
Characters play an important role in the drams whether it is a major or minor one. Topics range from studies of major dramatic authors and formal literary dramas to improvisational theatre and popular. Directed toward a local audience, it uses nigerian themes, ranging from. Early 20th century african drama this week the course introduces the student to african drama traditional and modern. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. People interpret drama in different ways, and what are considered the key elements of the medium may vary, depending on whether youre in the audience or actually part of the cast. Themes in the literary traditions of contemporary africa are worked out frequently within the strictures laid down by the imported religions christianity and islam and within the struggle between traditional and modern, between rural and newly urban, between genders, and between generations.
Origin and forms of drama in the african context mineke schipper. Apr 12, 2002 the theatre scene is buzzing in south africa, with over 100 active spaces across the country offering everything from indigenous drama, music, dance, cabaret and satire to west end and broadway hits, classical opera and ballet. A drama is a serious, intense, or wellplotted story that elicits emotion. Mar 25, 2009 african drama as the name implies,is any drama that embodies the yearnings,experiences and the sensibility of the african people. Oral tradition and african theatre by mineke schipper the theatre is always a mirror of human existence, and theatrical expression is always linked to a specific time and place and culture. All communities accept that their later drama has roots in. What features made the soliloquy an important feature of the renaissance drama. Munro, elmer rice have made experiments in the expressionistic tendency in modern drama. African literature is meant in large part to be educational as well as entertaining.
It follows then that modern african drama will need a basically dif ferent set of critical canons from those which may be. In 1962, ngugi wa thiongo of kenya wrote the first east african drama, the black hermit, a cautionary tale about tribalism discrimination between african tribes. The main characteristics of african indigenous education was to develop a person at different stages of their lives so that they could become a valuable member of the tribe and community. The prose is often mythological or historical and can include tales of the trickster character. Modern novel characteristics in english literature the note of disillusionment against the realism in fiction and too much concentration on material values of life was sounded by psychological novelists of the age like virginia woolf and a few critics of modern life like samuel butler, huxley, forester etc. African theatre, effectively, the theatre of africa south of the sahara that emerged in the postcolonial erathat is to say, from the mid20th century onward. African languages at the university of south africa promoter. Reality and knowledge about it are socially determined and therefore rela. What are the characteristics of african literature. A drama, or a play, is a piece of writing that is presented almost exclusively through dialogue. This to him is true because, a cursory study of modern african plays reveal that they owe much of their style to oral tradition.
African literature the influence of oral traditions on. Another way to describe the characteristics of drama would be to look at it in terms of the steps that a production needs to go through between inception through to. Expressionism is another important feature of modern drama. Modern drama is defined as that written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, primarily in europe and north america. African drama as the name implies,is any drama that embodies the yearnings,experiences and the sensibility of the african people. For instance, there is often a great emphasis on the history, culture and customs of a group of people when telling their stories.
The modern drama is characterized by its unique subject matter like the romanticism of the poor, the strict depiction of real life and the use of symbols, imagery and metaphors. Describe how a particular storys or drama s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. Some elements of traditional african drama which have been adapted to literature and film include, songs and dances, mask and masquerades, proverbs, idioms and other aspects of language, history. It combined a brilliant sense of mime, colourful costumes, and traditional drumming, music, and folklore. A brief description of each character should be included in the drama. Language and drama publish your masters thesis, bachelors. The characteristics of traditional drama theater duke. It is one of the literary genres, which is an imitation of some action. Modern african drama and improvisation mineke schipperde leeuw in his origin and forms of drama in the african context argues that modern african drama is a by product of traditional african drama.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. This book, which also emphasizes the existence of a link or a sense of organic continuity within african literary tradition, between the precolonial and postcolonial forms of drama and theatre, will be of interest to general readers and a valuable guide to students and scholars of african literature and society. African literature is literature of or from africa and includes oral literature or orature, in the term coined by ugandan scholar pio zirimu as george joseph notes in his chapter on african literature in understanding contemporary africa, whereas european views of literature often stressed a separation of art and content, african awareness is inclusive. Modern novel characteristics in english literature english. African traditional drama and issues in theater and performance. As a result, the move towards a more authentic form of drama on the stage in the midlate 19th century is often considered one period.
The role of orature in african sociocultural space. Drama can be defined as a dramatic work that actors present on stage. Dramatic language is ultimately always constructed or made up and it. Aug 29, 2012 modern african drama refers to a dramatic activity, an identifiable body of works or a critical analysis that emerged in african as a result of its encounter with the europeans in the period of. Western culture now is regarded as frontline civilisation. Morals and lessons are typically woven into wellcrafted and engaging stories. Realism and naturalism theatre conventions the two schools of thought and subsequent movements in the theatre were distinct and separate, though blurred with historical time lines and similarities in style. Feature definition is the structure, form, or appearance especially of a person. Such performances are rituals, masquerades and masquerading, music and dance, wrestling, outing ceremonies and festivals.