| The drama is one of several methods of telling
a story. It differs from the novel in that the story is not told directly
by the author but is acted on a stage by actors before an audience. Strictly
speaking, a printed play is not a play at all until it is acted. So, in
reading plays, we should visualize as well as we can the stage for which
the play was written; that is, we must imagine seeing and hearing the
characters in action. The playwright has special
restrictions not imposed on the novelist or short-story writer. He is
restricted in time by the patience and endurance of the audience. He
is restricted in space by the physical limitations of the stage and
the kind of visual backgrounds the theater affords. One more restriction
on the playwright is that he must keep himself out of the picture. He
cannot, like some novelists or short-story writers, come forward, interrupt
the action, and tell the audience what he means by a certain scene or
explain to them what is going on in the minds of his characters. He
cannot point out the moral; the play must explain itself.
Most critics agree that the essence of drama
is conflict. A conflict is a clash of actions, ideas, desires or wills.
It may happen in different forms: man against man, man against environment
or man against himself. The conflict becomes more and more intensified
as the play moves on until it reaches its climax, the point of greatest
excitement or tension. When the story is over, we are able to see what
it all amounts to, what the playwright has been gradually disclosing
throughout the play. Only then can we define and assess the theme, a
kind of generalization about life embodied in the story.
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