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A guide to the core building blocks devisers and performers use to shape meaning, including tension, contrast, symbol, role, status, space, and climax.
The elements of drama are the fundamental tools that performers and devisers use to build meaning into a piece of theatre. Examiners want to see that you understand these elements individually and can identify how they are combined in performance to create effect. The key elements are tension, contrast, symbol, role, status, space, and climax.
Tension is the sense of anticipation, unease, or excitement created for an audience or between characters. There are several recognised types of tension you should know: tension of relationships (unresolved conflict between characters), tension of task (a character racing against time or struggling to complete something difficult), tension of surprise (an unexpected event or reveal), and tension of dramatic irony, or mystery, where the audience knows more, or less, than a character. Devisers deliberately build tension to keep an audience emotionally invested and to drive the narrative forward.
Contrast means placing two opposing ideas, moods, or actions next to each other so their differences stand out, such as following a chaotic, loud scene with one that is completely silent and still. Symbol is an object, action, gesture, or image used to represent a bigger idea, such as a single chair on an empty stage representing loneliness. Role is different from character: a role is a more general function a performer takes on, such as 'the victim' or 'the authority figure', which can apply across many different specific characters.
Status describes the perceived power or social standing of a character in relation to others on stage, and is shown physically through posture, eye contact, and use of space, as well as vocally. Space refers to how performers use the stage area, including levels, proximity, and blocking, to communicate relationships and meaning. Climax is the moment of highest tension or dramatic intensity in a piece, usually occurring shortly before a resolution, and devisers plan carefully to build towards this moment across a whole performance.