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What is a Play?
A play is a story devised придуманная to be presented by actors on a stage before an audience.
This plain statement of fact presents an exceedingly очень simple definition of the drama , — a definition so simple indeed as to seem at the first glance easily obvious and therefore scarcely
едва worthy
достойное of expression. But if we examine
the statement thoroughly
основательно, phrase by phrase, we shall see that it sums up within itself the entire theory of the theatre, and that from this primary axiom
we may deduce делать вывод the whole practical philosophy of dramatic criticism
.
It is unnecessary to linger задерживаться long over an explanation of the word story. A story is a representation of a series of events linked связанных together by the law of cause закону причинности and effect and marching forward маршируя вперёд toward a predestined culmination , — each event exhibiting imagined characters героев performing imagined acts действия in an appropriate
соответствующих imagined setting декорациях.
The phrase 'devised придуманная to be presented' distinguishes the drama sharply from all other forms of narrative
. In particular it must be noted that a play is not a story that is written to be read. By no means никоим образом must the drama
be considered primarily as a department of literature, — like the epic
эпической поэме or the novel, for example. Rather точнее, from the standpoint of the theatre, should literary method be considered as only one of a multitude of means which the dramatist
драматург must employ to convey передать his story effectively to the audience. The great Greek dramatists needed a sense чувство of sculpture as well as a sense of poetry; and in the contemporary
theatre the playwright драматург must manifest
ясно показывать the imagination фантазию of the painter as well as the imagination of the man of letters литератора. The appeal of a play is primarily visual rather than auditory. On the contemporary
stage, characters properly должным образом costumed must be exhibited within a carefully designed and painted setting костюмы illuminated with appropriate соответствующими effects of light and shadow
; and the art of music is often called upon призывается to render исполнять incidental aid побочную поддержку to the general impression. The dramatist
драматург, therefore, must be endowed
одарённым not only with the literary sense, but also with a clear eye for the graphic and plastic elements of pictorial графического effect, a sense of rhythm
and of music, and a thorough
полное knowledge
<118>
of the art of acting. Since the dramatist драматург must, at the same time and in the same work, harness
использовать and harmonise
the methods of so many of the arts, it would be uncritical to centre
studious
старательное consideration рассмотрение solely исключительно on his dialogue and to praise хвалить him or condemn осуждать him on the literary ground alone единственно.
It is, of course, true that the very greatest plays have always been great literature as well as great drama . The purely
чисто literary element — the final touch of style малая толика in dialogue — is the only sure antidote
противоядие against the opium
of time. Now that Aeschylus [i:skɪləs] Эсхил (древнегреческий поэт, родоначальник классической трагедии; 525-456 до н.э.) is no longer performed regularly as a playwright, we read him as a poet. But on the other hand it must be granted предпологать that many plays that stand very high as drama do not fall within the range
направление of literature.
(From: Hamilton C. The Theory of the Theatre. N. Y., 1939.)
b) Answer the following questions:
1. Why is the theatre sometimes alluded to as a "synthetic" art? 2. What arts are involved in the production of a play? Which of them do you consider especially important for a successful presentation of a play? 3. Do you share the author's opinion that the dramatist драматург must manifest
ясно показывать the imagination of the painter as well as the imagination of the man of letters and that he should possess a sense of music and a thorough
полное knowledge of the art of acting? One might say that these aspects of the play are rather the concern
of the director producing the play than of the author, aren't they? 4. Does drama
belong to literature? What is the author's opinion? What is your opinion?
Дата публикования: 2014-11-18; Прочитано: 1165 | Нарушение авторского права страницы | Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!