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SYRACUSE STAGE ANNABEL DRUDGE STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
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Any piece of theatre is comprised of multiple art forms. As you explore Annabel Drudge with your students, examine the use of:
WRITING (see below) VISUAL ART/DESIGN (see next page) MUSIC/SOUND DANCE/MOVEMENT
Most (but not all) plays begin with a script — a story to be told and a blueprint of how to tell it. In his famous treatise, The Poetics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle outlined
TEACHING THEATRE
INQUIRY How are each of these art forms used in Annabel Drudge? Why are they used? How do they help to tell the story?
SIX ELEMENTS OF DRAMA that playwrights are mindful of to this day:
Plot What is the story line? Language What What happened before the play started? What does each character want? What do they do to achieve their goals? What do they stand to gain/lose?
do the characters say? How do they say it? When do they say it? Do they speak to one character differently than another? Why?
Theme What ideas are Music How do music wrestled with in the play? What questions does the play pose? Does it present an opinion on those questions, or leave it to the audience to decide?
and sound help to tell this story?
Character Who Spectacle What are the people in the story? What are their relationships? Why do they do what they do? How do their age/status/etc affect them?
visual elements support the play? This could include: puppets, scenery, costumes, dance, movement, and more.
Other Elements:Conflict/Resolution, Action, Improvisation, Non-verbal communication, Staging, Humor, Realism and other styles, Metaphor, Language, Tone, Pattern and repetition, Emotion, Point of view.
ACTIVITY At its core, drama is about characters working toward goals and overcoming obstacles. Ask students to use their
bodies and voices to create characters who are: very old, very young, very strong, very weak, very tired, very energetic, very cold, very warm. Have their characters interact with one another. Give them an objective to fulfil despite their environmental obstacles. Later, recap by asking how these obstacles affected their characters and the pursuit of their objectives. 6