Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

26 Chapter 2 What Is a Play?
That drama is a category of literature does not
mean that it is necessarily serious, much less
profound. Shakespeare, for example, is best
known for his tragedies, but his comedies are
among the greatest theatrical achievements
of all time. This hilarious 2014 production of
his Comedy of Errors was directed by Blanche
McIntyre at the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre in London, with Matthew Needham (left)
as Antipholus of Ephesus and Jamie Wikes as
Dromio of Ephesus. © Geraint Lewis
Megan Mullally and Nathan Lane laugh it up in
Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play, a theatrical
satire about the theatre itself, which opened
on Broadway in the 2014–2015 season. © Sara
Krulwich/The New York Times/Redux
Dramaturgy: The Construction
of Drama and Dramatic
Performance
A play is action, but it is patterned action. Unlike the
action of, say, a street riot, dramatic action has clearly
identifiable components and a specified beginning and
ending. Even when improvised or radically experimental,
a play’s dramatic action tends to be crafted in
well-understood compositional patterns. We call these
patterns a play’s dramaturgy.
Action provides a play’s thrills and excitement; dramaturgy
provides momentum and meaning by allowing
the action to become increasingly compelling and significant
as the play heads toward its eventual climax and
resolution. Dramaturgical devices lead an audience to see
the play’s action as consequential rather than as a random
series of events. So while a street riot may be action, dramaturgy
would lend structure and shape by determining
how we experience the riot: Which characters do we follow?
What events do we see unfold on stage? What information
do we find out—and when? Action gives us the
block of clay, but dramaturgy sculpts it. And the most
successful dramaturgy, even when buried deep within a
play’s dialogue and appearance, can create a profound
engagement with the audience’s thoughts, fantasies, and
feelings.