Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, 2021; 20 (3): pp.

599-603
http://ilkogretim-online.org
doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2021.03.60

Techniques Used in Modern Drama

Safaa Kareem Ali, General Directorate for Education in Babylon, Ska1975@gmail.com

Thamer Mohammed Khadim , General Directorate for Education in Babylon,
thamer.alqaisi900@gmail.com
*Corresponding Author

Abstract. This paper aimed to analytically study techniques used in modern drama. It used a theoretical
method that focused on analyzing literature through context analyses methodology. But, the paper
analyzed emergency of modern literature in socio-historical way and its relation with both political and
social life in Europe between the two great wares. Modern literature has been considered the reason
behind the social and political changes occurred in Europe during that period of time. The paper dealt
with some techniques of modern drama like historio-graphical metafiction, Poioumena. Fabulation,
Pastiche, Metafiction, Temporal distortion, Magic Realism, Paranoia and Minimalism. The study concluded
that modern drama used a mix of techniques of drama. One of them was used to reinforce the dramatic
structure in modern and postmodern drama.
Keywords: analytically study, emergency, production, historiographical, metafiction
Received: 09.12.2020 Accepted: 13.01.2021 Published: 07.02.2021

INTRODUCTION
Modern literature can be considered as a break from the reality that governed the literature of the 19th
century. In term of the development of the characters, modern as well as postmodern have witnessed a
change represented by moving from focusing on the external realism to playing attention to the internal
situation for the conscious state. In lots of cases, it focuses on the modernist examples in the mainstream
of consciousness manners that have been noticed in James Joyce and Virginia Woolf styles or poems like
The waste Land of Eliot. Moreover, modern literature examines fragmentation in building characters and
narration (John Wilder, 1979).
Nevertheless, it is significantly hard to define modern literature due to the presence of little
agreement on the definite characteristics, importance and scope of modern literature. But, it works on
unifying features that often correlate with the concepts of the metanarrative and little narrative of Jean-
François Lyotard's, concept of drama of Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard's simulacra. Storr, Anthony
(2007), Charles Edelman (1988), Watson Curtis Brown (1960)
So, the modernist author explore the probability of the meaning as a replacement for the
modernist quest of meaning in unstable and unfair world meanwhile, postmodern novel usually a parody
in such subject. https://resource.acu.edu.au/trsanders/units/shakes_theatre/shakesthemes.html
However, Modern dramas, historically, date back to the world war conditions, sensibility of
disillusion, and seeking for battered life forhumanity. Nicoll, Allardyce (1968), E.W. Talbert (1963)
Historical Context of Modern Drama
As a result, to the two catastrophic wars there is a dismantled reliable structure for the religion. So, the
basic queries which are regarded to the existence and truth remains unanswered. Block, Haskell M. and
Robert G. Shedd (1961)
Individuals refuse the absolution in the traditional morality. The expression of all the realisms
and the consequence of post war time have been provided in modern drama. But, the structure of the
current drama could not offer an end to the requisite by the burgeoning contents that present as a
subject. http://kriticulture.blogspot.com. 12 May 2008. feb. 7 Jan. 2010.
In drama, attitudes, techniques, manners and forms do not fabricate naturally. They produce due
to the accumulation of resources contributed from the rights of drama for couple of ages. Nowadays,
modern drama is no longer an copy of ancient Roman and Greek drama, or the renaissance and middle
ages drama, or any other periodic drama in historical line of theatre. Subjects in modern drama look like a
outgrowth of many important developments and steps.
Additionally, it outlines an efforts to turn the undeveloped projects that is disturbing and
inconstant in social, artistic and other aspects into comprehensive ones (Henry V. Dir, 1998).
Hence, the theatre being a matter that is rebellion with the new forms conflicting the old ones. While the
traditional forms work as the basis for the modern ones. Like in humanity, there are conflicts in the stages
of concepts or the thoughts in theatre. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/3876/MAJOR-
WORKS-AND-THEMES.html#ixzz57aYDwzvD
In the last years of nineteenth century, modern drama establishes strong roots. This period is
characterized by restless criticism add to the significant disturbance in modernism. Leaders of modern
theatre like Ibsen, Hauptman and Gorki, Chekhov and Shaw indicated are affected by social and
ideological mess in their day. The modern drama is featured by the heritage of the protest and revolt
(George, 1890).
During the Modernist Period that ranged between 1845 and 1945, English drama is classified in to
three groups as following (Allardyce, 1927):
1. The first phase is featured by the drama of G.B. Shaw like Summary of Candida and John
Galsworthy. Both of them form the types of social drama represented on the drama of Ibsen.
2. The second phase which followed the first one involves the drama of Irish movement that
participated by particular forms like Yeats. It can be seen that dramaw had the state and spirit
of wave hited Europe during that period.
3. The third phase which is the final one involved the drama of Christopher Fry and T.S. Eliot. This
phase also witnesses the incorporation of poetic drama which inspired by Jacobean and
Elizabethan traditions.
It is noticed that the three groups normally represent the three principal phases in addition the
three various sides of the Modern Drama.
It is noted that the three categories actually reflect the three main different phases as well as the
three different facets of the Modern English Drama. Drama which is defined as a lively image of human
nature.
It represents the passion and changes of fortune to which it works as subjects for the interaction of
mankind. The dictionary AS Webster English defines drama as a composition in prose aimed to imagine
life style, characters or narrate story that often incorporate emotions as well as conflicts via actions and
dialogue normally drew for the dramatic performance.
While, Oxford dictionary indicated drama as a combination of porse and verse selected to be
performed on the stage involving a story being connected by dialogue and action and demonstrated by
costume and gesture like in the real life. Shorter Oxford Dictionary.
Many techniques adopted to modify forms in drama which are slow-down or stretch whears the
played time is short than the playing time and when drama continues, the story paused (Steffaie et al.,
1994).
The recent years have revealed a wide range debate about techniques of drama as it provides an
attractive and unique methodology to enrich the dramatic contextual line. Verena – Micheala (2014: 154)
Characteristics of Modernist Drama
Modernist drama, as previously mentioned, is a result to interaction of many elements that are varied
between history, political, and even social conditions. But comparing with the previous times, modern
drama as a mirror to literature is characterized by the following: Ribner, Irving (1965)
• A great range of its works concern the human passions.
• Historical works are based on the lives of some English events.
• It deals with the dangerous of civil war, political problems and deterioration of the political
medieval system
• Its Style used to be changed along with the career most of monotonous blank verses which are used
in modernist works.
• Blank verses consist not rhymed verses.
Technique of Drama
Narration is a complicated process. It contains several elements to be plotted in an integrated structure.
One of such elements is the technique used to support dramatic structure of drama. It can be said that in
the surrounding plots, hints could be used to recognize techniques. While, performance of the time of the
actions occurred in a perfect method needs to be carried out. Thus, once again, it is difficult to achieve a
real slow-down using the acting performance because actors are not capable of doing slow-down acting

600 | SAFAA KAREEM ALI Techniques Used In Modern Drama

just in a case of playing through slow motion, however the means of linguistic phase supported time
indication could be utilized to suggest that.
Different techniques are utilized in drama. In general, it needs to differentiate between
characters in drama and the characterizations presented by the author in the secondary text of drama
(authorical) in both states directly (explicitly) or indirectly Granville-Baker et al. (1934).
Thus, the techniques of modern drama rely on the methods, ways and devices utilized by author
to achieve their preferred ends. Baker used the quotes of Sir Arthur Pinero to illustrate the innovative
techniques with the representation during performance Alexander (1988). The hardest, most enthralling
and toughest part for the dramatist is to make compression of life on stage with no falsification. Steiner
indicated that no other kind of literature being so exhausted due to the discrepancy between objectives as
well as meanings. Modern drama efficiently mix Symbolism with Expressionism, Naturalism with
Realism, Existentialism with Surrealism in order to symbolize how disintegration and disillusionment
torn sensibility apart.
The masters of modern drama accomplish with each other in unforgettable way not due to their
innovative methods being applied, but because of the quality of perception that forms an unprecedented
rich and important expression from their art. Thus, the next five chapters examine the alterations,
discoveries, innovations and improvement incorporated in modern drama by couples of dramatists in
some of their works. Ibid (P.23)
So, when the characters perform in slow-motion, it can be realized that there is a kind of slow-
down or stretch. This is clearly seen in show of pantomime that is look like the techniques of slow-motion
utilized in films. Nevertheless, it is not applicable for the whole drama (Center for Distance Education,
2015).
Another distinction can be made between self-characterization and characterization through
others (Her one con go back to characterization techniques in narrative prose) narrative. Nevertheless,
ideas could be introduced in direct way using techniques like free and indirect discourse aa well as
interior monologue.
Hence, the advent of Expressionism is gained from these experimental techniques. After that, the
wrights of drama attain the mind of the figures and show the dynamism inside man by using some modes
of subjective experience and the representation of hallucination.
http://www.amazines.com. 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 2 Jan. 2010.
New dramatic dimension is created virtually in drama plays by Strindberg. The symbolization of
the external reality could be associated with unrealistic and illogical manners of the hidden self-outcomes
in the theatre of odd angulation and distortions.
In linear narrative, Fragmented episodes takes over. Multiple and depersonalized abstraction
replaced the heroism of the single figure. The utilization of ironic and epigrammatic method in speaking
leads to the dialogues being more nervous. It results in something like piercing soliloquies and bizarre
pantomime.
Common themes and techniques
As aforementioned, themes and techniques significantly influence drama and they usually utilize with
each other. For example, pastiche and Metafiction are typically utilized for irony. Nevertheless, they are
not utilized by all postmodernists nor the exclusive list of features. The techniques utilized in modern
drama can be detailed as following:
Pastiche
It means a combination of multiple elements. So, couples of genres are incorporated in it to make
appropriate narrative or comment on a combination of situations in postmodernity. We can find such
matter in William S. Burroughs's works because of his utilization to detective and scientific fiction. Add to
that Margaret Atwood utilizes fairy tales and science fiction (Elleke Boehmer, 2008).
Metafiction
It is usually utilized in the undermining the state of authority for the author so that the story being
advanced in a appropriate method for the emotional distance or commenting on acts of telling the story
(Dani, 2001).
Therefore, experiences of Vonnegut through the firebombing of Dresden form the great part of
the novel. This is the reason behind Vonnegut showed that the central narrative is artificial in constant

601 | SAFAA KAREEM ALI Techniques Used In Modern Drama

way. It consists of fictional features such as time travel and aliens (Maurice, 1972: 176)
Fabulation
Fabulation means sometimes utilizing metafiction in interchangeable way. It is associated with Magic
Realism and pastiche. It indicates refusing realism that could adopt the thoughts that literature not
restricting the ideas of verisimilitude in addition to copying. As a result of that Fabulation put a challenge
for the traditional notions of literature.
Poioumena
It is associated with Alastair Fowler who deal with allocating the kind of metafiction that the story could
be about the manufacturing process. Thus, Fowler indicated that the poioumenon may be determined to
provide good chances for searching boundaries of fictions and so the reality add to the limits of narrative
truth. http://www.morrissociety.org/JWMS/SP94.10.4.Nichols.pdf
Historiographic metafiction
It means the work that dealt with the actual historical characters or situations in fictional way. As
examples the work of Gabriel García Márquez (The General in His Labyrinth) that talks about Simón
Bolívar. Add to that Julian Barnes work, Flaubert's Parrot which is about Gustave Flaubert, Ragtime of E.
L. Furthermore, the historical characters like Harry Houdini, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Henry
Ford, Booker T. Washington, Rabih Alameddine's Koolaids, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung are introduced
in Doctorow.
Temporal distortion
Modernist literature commonly uses this technique. The central aspects in modern literatures are non-
linear narratives as well as fragmentation. It is introduced in deferent methods usually irony. A unique
example of that point features by historiographical metafiction. The non-linear works of Kurt Vonnegut
are featured mainly by distortion. perhaps Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five is the most well-known
example of that (Sellers, 2000: 219).
Magic Realism
The images of characters are drawn smoothly also the objects symolize in surrealistic method. Some of
the properties featuring this type of fiction are juxtapose the realistic and the fantastic shifts.
Magic Realism has been utilized in some works such as that of Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges who
published his Historia universal de la infamies in 1935 that is considered by some critiques as the first
magic realism work. Add to that the work of Gabriel García Marquez the Colombian novelist particularly
his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Paranoia
It could be illustrated in effective and well-known way by the works of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 as well as
that of Thomas Pynchon, the sense of paranoia. It is thought of the presence of chaos in the world in
addition to the ordering systems (Stephen, 2005: 113)
Minimalism
It is featured by focusing on a surface description in drama is expected to take the major role in
fabricating the story. In the minimalist story novel, character tends to be unexceptional (Pretty
Chaudhary and Ramen Sharma, 2011: 189)
One shore refers to retrospective technique which tends to contribute in weakening all
components of force for action. This obviously appears in French classical tragedy works. In which one
note both oratory and narrative happens of movement. In modern drama, the pushing force of both will
and movement of social contradictions helps in keeping the action full of blood and so vigorous. But
during the last drama, the crisis is diluted; introspections take its place in retrospection.

602 | SAFAA KAREEM ALI Techniques Used In Modern Drama

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603 | SAFAA KAREEM ALI Techniques Used In Modern Drama