essay review drama

Essays About Drama: Top 5 Examples and 5 Prompts

The word drama covers many meanings and subjects; if you are writing essays about drama, discover our guide with interesting essay examples and writing prompts featured here.

What is drama to you? Many know it as a situation or event in which emotions run high. For others, the grand, intricate stage plays of Shakespeare and others of his time come to mind. Regardless, these and all other definitions of drama share one thing in common: emotion.

In all its forms, from theatre to television to cinema to even day-to-day interaction, drama is always centered around emotion, tension, and conflict- things we experience daily. Drama is, quite literally, our life, complete with all its imperfections, troubles, twists, and turns. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers

1. The History of Drama by Homer Stewart

2. why the news is not the truth by peter vanderwicken, 3. drama reflection essay (author unknown), 4. kitchen sink dramas by rodolfo chandler, 5. love yourself, not your drama by crystal jackson, 6. shakespeare’s theater: an essay from the folger shakespeare editions by barbara mowat and paul werstine, 1. what is drama, 2. types of drama, 3. the history of drama, 4. is the world over-dramatized today, 5. a dramatic incident of the past.

“Perhaps the most theatrical form of drama was opera which is still popular in today’s society. Broadway is certainly a sight that attracts thousands of people annually. In addition, the playwrights of today are striving to make the theatrical experience meaningful to the lives of viewers so that it is not just simply “pleasant entertainment”. Many themes that drama plays in modern times focus on are social problems, tragedies involving the elements of love and hate and as well as social problems that affect the inhabitants of today.”

Stewart gives readers a brief history of drama and its subjects. In different eras, the plays were based around themes and ideas prevalent in those times; for example, the Romantic Period focused on the “experiences of ordinary people.” He also references several playwrights, including Friedrich von Schiller and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In modern times, drama is centered around critical social issues while still managing to be engaging and entertaining.

“Pulitzer turned them into stories with a sharp dramatic focus that both implied and aroused intense public interest. Most newspapers of the time looked like the front page of the Wall Street Journal still does. Pulitzer made stories dramatic by adding blaring headlines, big pictures, and eye-catching graphics. His journalism took events out of their dry, institutional contexts and made them emotional rather than rational, immediate rather than considered, and sensational rather than informative.”

Vanderwicken criticizes the state of news today, saying that many stories are dramatized and outright fabricated to make them more entertaining. He attributes this to Joseph Pulitzer of Pulitzer Prize fame, who introduced He also gives historical examples of instances where the media has exaggerated – news today is too dramatic, and it must change.

You might also be interested in these essays about Macbeth .

“I felt that this learning experience is a very huge step because it takes us from doing a play which is very immature in to something that is big and has maturity in it. It helps me to practice in fluency, public speaking and mostly self-confidence. In the play I developed my ways of acting and how to put emotions in to the character, in which those emotions were not really me.”

This essay describes lessons one can learn from performing drama, such as confidence and speaking fluently. The author also reflects on an experience performing in drama, where the author learned to be more expressive, speak better, and become more hardworking. There is also a brief discussion on the elements of drama, including plot and setting. Drama is important and can teach you essential skills and lessons. 

“In the late 1950s in Britain, the “Kitchen Sink movement”, which is also known as “Kitchen Sink realism” occurred. This cultural movement stemed from ideas about working class activities. A typical writer of kitchen sink dramas is John Osborne, for example his drama “Look back in anger” which aroused many strong opinions when it was first performed as a drama. It is set in a small flat in the west midlands, which is typical of working class people.”

Chandler describes a period in drama where “kitchen sink dramas” depicted working-class stories. He uses John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger” as an example, briefly describing the play. Jimmy, one of the characters, was known as an “angry young man,” This term was later used to describe young people critical of the social and political state of the world.

“We learn to recognize co-dependence, narcissism, and toxicity for what they are rather than making excuses because we liked the look of someone. In other words, we grow up. We stay in love with our own toxic patterns and keep the cycle of damage going, or we recognize the collateral damage of all our drama and start wanting better for ourselves. We make choices. We experience consequences. If we grow up, we’ll even connect the two.”

Jackson’s essay discusses drama from another perspective, the drama that comes with love life. She gives readers tips on how to care for yourself better and look past all the tension, confusion, and drama that comes with dating. If we look at potential partners from a deeper, more constructive point of view, we can avoid toxic relationships and have a healthy love life. 

“When performance required that an actor appear “above,” as when Juliet is imagined to stand at the window of her chamber in the famous and misnamed “balcony scene,” then the actor probably climbed the stairs to the gallery over the back of the stage and temporarily shared it with some of the spectators. The stage was also provided with ropes and winches so that actors could descend from, and reascend to, the “heavens.””

In their essay, Mowat and Werstine discuss the conventions of performing Shakespearean drama during his time, including the performance of some scenes in different areas of the theater and men playing women’s roles. They also discuss how the theaters they performed in, such as the Globe Theatre, enhanced the plays’ dramatic effect.

5 Prompts for Essays About Drama

The word drama has many meanings and is used differently, as seen in the essay examples above. In your essay, give the word’s etymology, explain the different sides of drama, from theatre to school life, and give examples of how they exemplify the meaning. Explain how they are all connected as well. 

Drama in the context of theatre has four primary forms: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama. Discuss each type of drama and elaborate on its characteristics. If you wish, compare and contrast them as well. Be sure to give examples of plays when explaining them.   

In your essay, you can also discuss the different periods in the history of drama. Explain what occurred in these periods, how drama changed, and their effects on modern drama. You need not explore too many periods; just make sure you write about key developments and explain them adequately. 

In the world today, the resilience of survivors is glorified and dramatized, while we see media outlets making headlines out of mere gossip and celebrity news. From this, it can be argued that society is centered around making a drama out of nothing. Why is this the case? Discuss your opinion on this issue- feel free to research if you need inspiration. 

Look back to a past event marked by tension, emotion, and drama. Narrate the events and explain how they made you feel- did you learn anything from them? This can be either your own experience or just an event from history or the news. You can read this essay for further inspiration. 

Note: drama can mean different things to different people, so what you consider “dramatic” is up to you.For help picking your next essay topic, check out our top essay topics about love .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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How to Review a Play

Preparing to write a play review.

Below are some tips to help you prepare to write a play review:

The Nature of the Assignment

Because the performance of any play is such an ephemeral experience, writing a play review can be an exciting, though difficult, task. You have to be both spectator taking in and enjoying the performance and critical analyst of the production itself. You have to be able to provide a very brief summary of the play, a close objective analysis of the performance you attend, and an interpretation and evaluation of the entire ensemble of staging, acting, directing, and so on.

The review assignment asks you to analyze in an objective manner the relative success or failure of a given production. Note that you are not asked simply to summarize the plot or give an opinion regarding the text of the play being mounted; your review must be grounded in the production itself. Your job is to describe the production accurately, and then to render a value judgment of it based upon what you have seen and what you expected. The assignment will test your skill as a reader of the play and as an observer and critic of the production.

In addition to grounding your review on the production you witness, you must be careful to limit your review to a few essential observations in support of your thesis (which will be discussed below). You must concentrate on a few important ideas and aspects of the production and focus your attention on only what you consider the most significant parts of the production itself. Unlike a newspaper review, which can be loosely structured and superficial, your assignment is quite definite. You are not asked to cover a wide variety of production elements (i.e. performance of every actor, every costume change, every set change, every directorial decision, and so on); instead, the assignment demands that you develop a few key ideas in thoughtful detail.

Remember, too, that your stance is to be objective and critical, not impressionistic and merely nasty. A critic is not someone who simply “criticizes,” but a person who studies, analyzes, and then renders a rational judgment of what he/she has seen. Your tone will be very important in making your review reliable and intelligent.

Before You Attend the Production

Read the play before going to the production. (It is important to be prepared for the production you plan to attend; otherwise, you run the risk of having to see it several times.)

• In your mind, have a good sense of how a “standard” production might look, complete with a sense of what the characters might look like, the type of costuming that might be used, a suitable set design, and an appropriate rendering of the theme and tone of the work.
• Pick out, as you read, several critical or problematic points within the play that may be of particular interest to watch for in the production you are about to attend. If your instructor has asked you to pay particular attention to certain elements, make sure that you are prepared to recognize them in performance.

Attending the Production

Attend the play with an open mind, a willingness to accept the play as the director has presented it in production.

• Note any deviations from your concept of a “standard” production and try to find a good explanation for that deviation. (Is the director trying to “say” something new or different? Was your sense of the play somehow inaccurate, or were you shown new insights by the director’s production?)
• Why the choice of costumes, and why the set design?
• How did the actors deliver their lines (seriously, comically, realistically, formally)? Were there any significant actions or gestures that contributed to the play’s meaning?
• Were any “special effects” utilized (consider lighting, sound, audience participation, machinery)?
• Were any significant cuts made in the script?

After the performance, jot down the details you recall and talk about the performance with friends. You’ll need these details for your paper in order to substantiate your argument.

Evaluate the performance.

• Did the director miss any important opportunities to convey something you were able to see in your reading of the play?
• Would you have liked to have seen more attention paid to what you perceived as critical passages, passages the director seemed less interested in?
• Why would you have preferred this attention, and why do you think the director avoided giving the passage such attention?

Consider the following practical aspects:

• What kind of stage does the director have at his disposal? What kinds of restrictions does the stage impose on the director concerning movement and set design?
• Are the actors professionals, amateurs, or students? What restrictions does this impose on the director? Are the actors capable of dealing with the script’s requirements? (Be fair to the actors in your assessment of their talents and the level of their “craftsmanship.”)

Writing the Review

Below are some tips for writing play reviews:

Writing the Introduction

The introduction should include the following:

• The title of the play, the name of the playwright, and any pertinent historical information regarding them (other similar works from this period? by this writer?).
• The name of the director, the place and date of the production you attended, and the name of the production company (again, do you know of any previous work by this company? this director?).
• (Note that even if the production did not exactly coincide with your own conception of the play, you should not feel obliged to condemn the performance outright. Be open-minded and willing to weigh pros and cons.)
• (Note that this thesis asserts that Papp captured the essence of what is in the text itself — the expectations set up by the thesis are that the reviewer will then analyze the methods by which the director achieved this effect.)
• (This thesis suggests that “sympathy” was the director’s intention. Note also that the reviewer gives a strong indication of what he/she expected to find in the production.)
• Example: In You Can’t Take It With You, the acting by the family members on the open, exposed stage displayed an innocent and vigorous freedom, as well as a proud independence in their confrontation with accepted norms of behavior.

Writing the Statement and Summary

Include a brief thematic summary (but not a plot summary) of the play, and support that summary with concrete evidence from the text.

You can include this summary in the introduction; or, if you wish to expand the summary, include it in a separate paragraph following the introduction.

Writing the Body of the Paper: The Review

Remember that in the body of the paper you are obliged to deal specifically with each element of the production that you mentioned in the introduction and thesis.

In order to give your review a tight internal logic and cohesiveness, you should also discuss these elements in the order that you outlined in the introduction. Such points of discussion might include the non-technical (acting, directing) and/or the technical (lighting, scenery, costumes) aspects of the production.

For each element that you discuss:

• (Note the vivid description of what was seen, and the use of detail to convey that vividness. The passage will work nicely as evidence for an overall, positive evaluation of the production.)
• Interpret, Analyze, Evaluate : This part of the paper requires the most thought and organization and consequently receives the most attention from your reader. After you have finished describing important elements of the production, proceed to evaluate them.

For example, you would need to answer the following questions regarding the last description of Lear :

• Why were the lights dimmed at the beginning of the scene? (shock effect? slow unfolding of horror?)
• Why was the backdrop painted black? (contrast? mood?)
• Why was there no order to the skulls? Why seven? (emblem of disorder or chaos? significance in number?)

In other words, assume that everything used in production has significance, but don’t panic if you cannot find “answers” for all the questions raised by what you see in the production.

In the evaluation, you are given the opportunity to attack as well as commend the performance; if the production fails to answer questions that you feel need answers, then say so. If the question or problems are relatively minor, ignore them. Don’t quibble at the expense of missing the more important concerns.

Writing the Summary and Conclusion

Your conclusion should not merely recapitulate your thesis in a mechanical way.

Rather, you should try to show why your response to the play is valid and significant, based on what you have described in the body of the paper.

Do not add any significant new material, but don’t be afraid to leave your reader with something to think about.

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Introduction to drama, sample essay review.

A sample essay review on Company One Theatre’s production of Lydia Diamond’s Voyeurs de Venus.

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What this handout is about

This handout identifies common questions about drama, describes the elements of drama that are most often discussed in theater classes, provides a few strategies for planning and writing an effective drama paper, and identifies various resources for research in theater history and dramatic criticism. We’ll give special attention to writing about productions and performances of plays.

What is drama? And how do you write about it?

When we describe a situation or a person’s behavior as “dramatic,” we usually mean that it is intense, exciting (or excited), striking, or vivid. The works of drama that we study in a classroom share those elements. For example, if you are watching a play in a theatre, feelings of tension and anticipation often arise because you are wondering what will happen between the characters on stage. Will they shoot each other? Will they finally confess their undying love for one another? When you are reading a play, you may have similar questions. Will Oedipus figure out that he was the one who caused the plague by killing his father and sleeping with his mother? Will Hamlet successfully avenge his father’s murder?

For instructors in academic departments—whether their classes are about theatrical literature, theater history, performance studies, acting, or the technical aspects of a production—writing about drama often means explaining what makes the plays we watch or read so exciting. Of course, one particular production of a play may not be as exciting as it’s supposed to be. In fact, it may not be exciting at all. Writing about drama can also involve figuring out why and how a production went wrong.

What’s the difference between plays, productions, and performances?

Talking about plays, productions, and performances can be difficult, especially since there’s so much overlap in the uses of these terms. Although there are some exceptions, usually plays are what’s on the written page. A production of a play is a series of performances, each of which may have its own idiosyncratic features. For example, one production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night might set the play in 1940’s Manhattan, and another might set the play on an Alpaca farm in New Zealand. Furthermore, in a particular performance (say, Tuesday night) of that production, the actor playing Malvolio might get fed up with playing the role as an Alpaca herder, shout about the indignity of the whole thing, curse Shakespeare for ever writing the play, and stomp off the stage. See how that works?

Be aware that the above terms are sometimes used interchangeably—but the overlapping elements of each are often the most exciting things to talk about. For example, a series of particularly bad performances might distract from excellent production values: If the actor playing Falstaff repeatedly trips over a lance and falls off the stage, the audience may not notice the spectacular set design behind him. In the same way, a particularly dynamic and inventive script (play) may so bedazzle an audience that they never notice the inept lighting scheme.

A few analyzable elements of plays

Plays have many different elements or aspects, which means that you should have lots of different options for focusing your analysis. Playwrights—writers of plays—are called “wrights” because this word means “builder.” Just as shipwrights build ships, playwrights build plays. A playwright’s raw materials are words, but to create a successful play, they must also think about the performance—about what will be happening on stage with sets, sounds, actors, etc. To put it another way: the words of a play have their meanings within a larger context—the context of the production. When you watch or read a play, think about how all of the parts work (or could work) together.

For the play itself, some important contexts to consider are:

• The time period in which the play was written
• The playwright’s biography and their other writing
• Contemporaneous works of theater (plays written or produced by other artists at roughly the same time)
• The language of the play

Depending on your assignment, you may want to focus on one of these elements exclusively or compare and contrast two or more of them. Keep in mind that any one of these elements may be more than enough for a dissertation, let alone a short reaction paper. Also remember that in most cases, your assignment will ask you to provide some kind of analysis, not simply a plot summary—so don’t think that you can write a paper about A Doll’s House that simply describes the events leading up to Nora’s fateful decision.

Since a number of academic assignments ask you to pay attention to the language of the play and since it might be the most complicated thing to work with, it’s worth looking at a few of the ways you might be asked to deal with it in more detail.

There are countless ways that you can talk about how language works in a play, a production, or a particular performance. Given a choice, you should probably focus on words, phrases, lines, or scenes that really struck you, things that you still remember weeks after reading the play or seeing the performance. You’ll have a much easier time writing about a bit of language that you feel strongly about (love it or hate it).

That said, here are two common ways to talk about how language works in a play:

How characters are constructed by their language

If you have a strong impression of a character, especially if you haven’t seen that character depicted on stage, you probably remember one line or bit of dialogue that really captures who that character is. Playwrights often distinguish their characters with idiosyncratic or at least individualized manners of speaking. Take this example from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest :

ALGERNON: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane? LANE: I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir. ALGERNON: I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—anyone can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life. LANE: Yes, sir. ALGERNON: And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

This early moment in the play contributes enormously to what the audience thinks about the aristocratic Algernon and his servant, Lane. If you were to talk about language in this scene, you could discuss Lane’s reserved replies: Are they funny? Do they indicate familiarity or sarcasm? How do you react to a servant who replies in that way? Or you could focus on Algernon’s witty responses. Does Algernon really care what Lane thinks? Is he talking more to hear himself? What does that say about how the audience is supposed to see Algernon? Algernon’s manner of speech is part of who his character is. If you are analyzing a particular performance, you might want to comment on the actor’s delivery of these lines: Was his vocal inflection appropriate? Did it show something about the character?

How language contributes to scene and mood

Ancient, medieval, and Renaissance plays often use verbal tricks and nuances to convey the setting and time of the play because performers during these periods didn’t have elaborate special-effects technology to create theatrical illusions. For example, most scenes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth take place at night. The play was originally performed in an open-air theatre in the bright and sunny afternoon. How did Shakespeare communicate the fact that it was night-time in the play? Mainly by starting scenes like this:

BANQUO: How goes the night, boy? FLEANCE: The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. BANQUO: And she goes down at twelve. FLEANCE: I take’t, ’tis later, sir. BANQUO: Hold, take my sword. There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose!

Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch

Give me my sword. Who’s there?

Characters entering with torches is a pretty big clue, as is having a character say, “It’s night.” Later in the play, the question, “Who’s there?” recurs a number of times, establishing the illusion that the characters can’t see each other. The sense of encroaching darkness and the general mysteriousness of night contributes to a number of other themes and motifs in the play.

Productions and performances

Productions.

For productions as a whole, some important elements to consider are:

• Venue: How big is the theatre? Is this a professional or amateur acting company? What kind of resources do they have? How does this affect the show?
• Costumes: What is everyone wearing? Is it appropriate to the historical period? Modern? Trendy? Old-fashioned? Does it fit the character? What does their costume make you think about each character? How does this affect the show?
• Set design: What does the set look like? Does it try to create a sense of “realism”? Does it set the play in a particular historical period? What impressions does the set create? Does the set change, and if so, when and why? How does this affect the show?
• Lighting design: Are characters ever in the dark? Are there spotlights? Does light come through windows? From above? From below? Is any tinted or colored light projected? How does this affect the show?
• “Idea” or “concept”: Do the set and lighting designs seem to work together to produce a certain interpretation? Do costumes and other elements seem coordinated? How does this affect the show?

You’ve probably noticed that each of these ends with the question, “How does this affect the show?” That’s because you should be connecting every detail that you analyze back to this question. If a particularly weird costume (like King Henry in scuba gear) suggests something about the character (King Henry has gone off the deep end, literally and figuratively), then you can ask yourself, “Does this add or detract from the show?” (King Henry having an interest in aquatic mammals may not have been what Shakespeare had in mind.)

Performances

For individual performances, you can analyze all the items considered above in light of how they might have been different the night before. For example, some important elements to consider are:

• Individual acting performances: What did the actor playing the part bring to the performance? Was there anything particularly moving about the performance that night that surprised you, that you didn’t imagine from reading the play beforehand (if you did so)?
• Mishaps, flubs, and fire alarms: Did the actors mess up? Did the performance grind to a halt or did it continue?
• Audience reactions: Was there applause? At inappropriate points? Did someone fall asleep and snore loudly in the second act? Did anyone cry? Did anyone walk out in utter outrage?

Response papers

Instructors in drama classes often want to know what you really think. Sometimes they’ll give you very open-ended assignments, allowing you to choose your own topic; this freedom can have its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you may find it easier to express yourself without the pressure of specific guidelines or restrictions. On the other hand, it can be challenging to decide what to write about. The elements and topics listed above may provide you with a jumping-off point for more open-ended assignments. Once you’ve identified a possible area of interest, you can ask yourself questions to further develop your ideas about it and decide whether it might make for a good paper topic. For example, if you were especially interested in the lighting, how did the lighting make you feel? Nervous? Bored? Distracted? It’s usually a good idea to be as specific as possible. You’ll have a much more difficult time if you start out writing about “imagery” or “language” in a play than if you start by writing about that ridiculous face Helena made when she found out Lysander didn’t love her anymore.

If you’re really having trouble getting started, here’s a three point plan for responding to a piece of theater—say, a performance you recently observed:

• Make a list of five or six specific words, images, or moments that caught your attention while you were sitting in your seat.
• Answer one of the following questions: Did any of the words, images, or moments you listed contribute to your enjoyment or loathing of the play? Did any of them seem to add to or detract from any overall theme that the play may have had? Did any of them make you think of something completely different and wholly irrelevant to the play? If so, what connection might there be?
• Write a few sentences about how each of the items you picked out for the second question affected you and/or the play.

This list of ideas can help you begin to develop an analysis of the performance and your own reactions to it.

If you need to do research in the specialized field of performance studies (a branch of communication studies) or want to focus especially closely on poetic or powerful language in a play, see our handout on communication studies and handout on poetry explications . For additional tips on writing about plays as a form of literature, see our handout on writing about fiction .

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Carter, Paul. 1994. The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information , 3rd ed. Shelter Island, NY: Broadway Press.

Vandermeer, Philip. 2021. “A to Z Databases: Dramatic Art.” Subject Research Guides, University of North Carolina. Last updated March 3, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/az.php?a=d&s=1113 .

Worthen, William B. 2010. The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama , 6th ed. Boston: Cengage.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to write a good drama essay?

Essay paper writing

Thinking about the cultural heritage of a country, people usually remember music, paintings, costumes, and even cuisine, but often forget about drama. This art has taken various forms in different countries, and most nations have a great history of its development.

For ages, it has evolved from being merely entertainment for masses to something a lot bigger and more valuable. It started reflecting the real life, presenting both beautiful and ugly sides of it, teaching people important lessons, educating them, delivering certain messages, and raising public awareness.

Therefore, if you were assigned a drama essay, you have a wide variety of topics to choose from and viewpoints to consider. While picking the topic might not be the biggest issue, as you likely know a few plays you might want to review, the writing part might be a little tricky. Let us walk you through it though.

Drama essay outline

There is nothing special about the structure of dramatic essays. Its main elements are:

• Introduction. Start with a hook phrase, provide a few sentences with some background information on the topic, and end the introductory paragraph with a thesis statement showing the purpose of your paper.
• Body. If you are writing a typical 1-2-page essay, the body will likely consist of about 3-5 paragraphs, each with its own main idea and supporting sentences.
• Conclusion. The main task of this section is to restate the thesis statement, briefly overview the discussion you had in the body, and leave your readers some food for thought.

Drama essay format

The question of formatting always concerns students because it constitutes a considerable part of the overall grade. If you are a school student, you will likely be asked to use APA or MLA style. But if you study at a university, then the choice of formatting styles can be wider. Therefore, it is better to clarify which one would be the most suitable with your professor before you start working on your essay.

Drama essay help: best tips

Drama studies, the same as numerous other courses, require their students to work on different kinds of tasks, and many of them involve essay writing. Even though you are familiar with various types of papers and have certainly worked on a wide range of topics, the most frequent task you may be assigned is usually an analysis paper. No matter how many essays you have prepared before, drama writing assignments will be a unique, unusual, and unexpectedly enjoyable experience that will fascinate you each time.

As most professors try to help their students relish each drama essay assignment and approach it creatively, they often leave minimum instructions to follow. While some people see it as an opportunity to learn in comfort and recognize the limits of their own perception, others freeze in confusion, having no idea what to do next. It is completely natural to feel baffled when you are used to staying within limits set by teachers but are suddenly given so much freedom for experiments and action. It is just important to come out of this perplexed state and make a clear plan like this one:

Choose a play

Obviously, a drama analysis essay cannot be done if there is nothing to analyze. Therefore, it is important to pick the play first. Teachers can provide their students with a list of plays to choose from, and as you have no time to watch them all and then pick one, read brief descriptions of them on the Web, and go with the play you liked the most.

If you have no list, the situation gets a bit more complicated, but there is no need to worry, as you can create such a list on your own. Focus on the topic you are currently studying on the course, and search for plays that would have the needed time frame, country, exact theatre, or team of actors. Make your own little research on these plays to figure out what they are about and make the final decision on what you are going to analyze.

Think of the assessment criteria

The type of paper you are working on implies that you need to analyze certain aspects of the play you will watch, and it is crucial to decide what those things will be. If you have to focus on technical attributes of the play, then lights, quality of music, costumes, and decorations are the nice assessment choices. However, writing about drama, you will more often be asked to put the emphasis on something spiritual or emotional. In this case, it is better to examine acting itself, as well as the role of crewmembers, their involvement, language, feelings, and contribution to the play. You can always look up the criteria, but it is better to come up with a few on your own, write them all down, and make sure they all will be suitable for your essay on drama.

Outline, write, and revise

When you feel ready for writing about drama, create proper working conditions for yourself, and prepare an outline first. Find a place where nothing will bother you, turn off your phone, and take everything you need for writing. Look up how to structure the work, check out the outline provided above, or find a suitable sample and check how it is organized.

You can either use a similar structure or outline the drama paper on your own using the data you have. Think about the purpose of the work, the information you want to present, and the way you will shape your discussion. Start writing a drama review only when the outline is ready and make sure to proofread it when you finish.

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• Knowledge Base
• How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

• An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
• A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
• A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

• Who is telling the story?
• How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

• Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
• Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
• Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, August 14). How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide. Scribbr. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/literary-analysis/

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Movie Review — Review of the Series, Gossip Girl

Review of The Series, Gossip Girl

• Categories: Movie Review

About this sample

Words: 1381 |

Published: Jan 15, 2019

Words: 1381 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Works Cited

• Adler, R. B. (2005). Understanding Human Communication (8th ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Altheide, D. L. (2002). Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis. Aldine Transaction.
• Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. University of Texas Press.
• Beresin, E. V. (Ed.). (2013). Media Impact on Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Advances in Adolescent Development. Routledge.
• Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford University Press.
• Livingstone, S. (2005). On the Relation Between Audiences and Publics. In S. Livingstone (Ed.), Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere (pp. 17-42). Intellect Books.
• McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail's Mass Communication Theory (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
• Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior. Oxford University Press.
• Turkle, S. (1997). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Schuster.
• Van Zoonen, L. (2004). Feminist Media Studies. SAGE Publications.

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THE RISE OF K-DRAMAS: Essays on Korean Television and Its Global Consumption | Edited by JaeYoon Park and Ann-Gee Lee

Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2019. viii, 221 pp. (Figures, B&W photos.) US$39.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-4766-7747-7.

Korean television dramas (hereafter K-dramas), widely known as an initiative of the Korean Wave in the East Asian region during the early 1990s, have generated vigorous scholarly discussion. During the past decade, however, owing to digital media platforms, K-dramas have advanced their cultural leverage, attracting massive audiences in the Middle East, the Americas, and Europe. The global visibility of K-dramas has spurred scholars in media studies, fan studies, and cultural studies to investigate the meaning of K-dramas in global television. The Rise of K-Dramas: Essays on Korean Television and Its Global Consumption is a timely and salient response to such inquiries, offering an in-depth understanding of the sociocultural dynamics that K-dramas have produced on a local, regional, and global scale. Specifically, by touching on various issues of K-dramas from international fandom and identity formation to transnational production and adaptation, this edited collection reaffirms Korea’s position as “a creator and exporter of meaning in the global television market as well as a cultural mediator across various borders” (4).

The Rise of K-Dramas is composed of three sections and ten essays. Part 1 primarily examines K-drama fandom, consumption, and international relations, focusing on how K-dramas as soft power boost Korean culture industries, including food, tourism, and beauty. Dutch’s essay on the consumption of K-drama cuisine shows that food is an essential element for narrative and character development in K-dramas; moreover, international fans have constructed their activities to taste different types of real Korean food. Lee points out that the representation of soft masculinity in K-dramas encourages Western fans to dream about alternative romantic desires and to visit Korea with an expectation of “transnational affective intimacies with Korean men” (41). On a similar standpoint, Ann-Gee Lee explains the significance of Chinese women’s fascination with K-dramas and their contributions to vitalizing related industries, including tourism, fashion, and beauty. Liu and Yeh revisit two theoretical groundings—soft power and pop nationalism—in the discussion of the Korean Wave, maintaining that Korean cultural exports encourage foreign consumers to embrace local values and systems. Furthermore, these exports challenge China’s ban on Korean popular culture.

Part 2 contains three essays on identity formation and gender relations; each contributor offers an intensive analysis of the chosen media texts regarding the construction of social identities, such as gender and masculinity. Park pays particular attention to “gendered aging processes” (106) and “the social dimension of disability” (107) embedded in the K-drama, Dear My Friends . In her view, the show depicts older women’s solidarity in response to the gendered aspect of marginalization and cultural devaluation in Korean society; additionally, the show unveils the insensitive representation of disabled bodies in K-dramas. By analyzing two hybrids of romantic comedy and horror genres, Oh My Ghost! and The Master’s Sun , Sobhani underlines the intersection of “the spiritual and the mundane” (124) as a new trend in Korean media culture. Murell’s ethnographic study on kkonminam ’s soft masculinity reveals that K-dramas contribute to constructing positive images of kkonminam among Korean youth. She also argues that the representation of soft masculinity is closely associated with homosexuality and “a traditional Neo-Confucian Korean masculinity” (139).

Part 3 focuses on the production and adaptation process of K-dramas. Along with the continuous expansion of the Korean Wave, the Chinese and Korean media industries have increasingly attempted to co-produce TV dramas since the early 2000s. Based on an analysis of two co-produced dramas, Modern Family and Master Lin in Seoul , Chung argues that the Chinese government’s efforts to include multiculturalism in popular culture is clearly and consistently reflected in the localizing process of the two dramas, particularly in their description of international romance. Mazur et al. focus on the Korean adaptations of the American television series, The Good Wife and Criminal Minds . They underscore the centrality of Korean television culture in the East Asian region; in addition, the adaptation process embeds family values into the episodes of these shows. According to Kaptan and Tutucu, Turkish audiences also report family ties and intimacy as two of the primary reasons for watching K-dramas. At the same time, these viewers maintain a critical approach to the patriarchal values presented in Turkish adaptations and original K-dramas.

By employing various methodological approaches—textual analysis, ethnography, and industrial analysis—this edited volume has successfully mapped out the current trends and future directions of the Korean Wave phenomenon with respect to exploring the cultural impact of K-dramas within the past decade. In so doing, The Rise of K-Dramas reaffirms the power of fandom in the globalization of Korean media culture, adding case studies outside East Asia. The volume also enriches the Korean Wave scholarship by spotlighting the production context of K-dramas, such as the issues of co-production and the format trade. Despite these merits, there are certain shortcomings regarding the theoretical innovations in the volume. Some contributors revisit the concept of cultural proximity in understanding the transnational popularity of K-dramas and emphasize the notion of soft masculinity in the development of male characters. Such concepts have dominated the Korean Wave scholarship over the past decades; however, they are possibly insufficient in explaining the new phase that K-dramas have entered in the era of digital streaming services.

Texas A&M International University, Laredo                                                                

Last Revised: August 31, 2020

Free TV Show Review Essay Examples & Topics

Film and screenwriting students will often have to write a TV program review essay. There are several ways to approach this type of assignment. You might want to contrast several shows or write a critical analysis essay. Below, our team has outlined some advice that you might need when writing a TV show essay. We have also provided a list of examples that you can use for ideas or inspiration. Let us begin by exploring some definitions.

A television show (also known as a TV program or TV series) is a piece of media produced for educational, instructional or entertaining purposes. It is usually comprised of a certain number of episodes that make up a “season”.TV shows have different formats – they can be unstructured or follow a script or screenplay. Examples include cooking programs, reality TV, fictional dramas, etc.

To write a TV show review essay, you will have to watch and closely study your chosen program. You’ll need to focus on describing the characters, the setting, what it is about, and what emotions it evokes. Conduct semiotic analysis of the contents of the show and evaluate its premise.

In this article, you will find even more useful advice. We have also described the differences between a critique and a review of a program and provided some TV show analysis examples.

TV Show Essays: Critique vs. Review

Even though you might see TV show reviews and critique as interchangeable terms, there is still a difference. In the article, we will equate analysis with criticism since both types examine the work from different angles. However, a review is usually a part of such analytical essays.

In this section, we will explain in detail what are the differences between TV show critique and review:

• TV show critique:

It is an analytical paper that might be published years after the release of the show. TV show critique essays serve as an evaluation of the series. The writer can compare the series to other ones and provide an estimated effect on the viewers.

• TV show review:

A review of the TV show is consumer-oriented and serves as a recommendation for viewing the series. They can be found in popular magazines or newspapers, while critiques – in scholarly publications.

You can look at the TV show review essay examples, as well as critique samples below.

How to Write about a TV Show in an Essay

To write a flawless paper, you should understand what exactly you’re supposed to examine or discuss. That’s why it’s better to check TV show analysis essay examples and see how others dealt with the task. Besides, in this section, we’ve prepared some tips that can help you nail the assignment.

Things to cover in your TV program review essay:

• Summary . You should at least write a synopsis of the show or give a general description of what is happening in the TV series.
• Your impression . Ask yourself how the show made you feel. Did it produce any emotional response? How well were the dialogues written? Did you have to pause to understand what was happening?
• Performances. How well did actors portray the characters? Were they age-appropriate? If there are too many good actors, you can focus on the main ones and describe them.
• Director’s other works . If necessary, you can mention other notable works of the director. You can devote a paragraph to compare his other movies or shows to the one you chose.

Here are some tips for your TV show analysis:

Provide some general information:

• What’s the name of the show?
• How many seasons or episodes have already aired?
• What are the genre and intended audience?

Talk about realism:

• How real is the show?
• Do the actors look like ordinary people or models?
• Are their emotions realistic or politically correct for the time?
• Do they portray issues that happen in real life?

Elaborate on the script:

• Is it good?
• If you’re describing Reality TV, is the show scripted?
• Do people act, and if they do, how is it evident?
• How the show makes you feel?

Describe the overall impression:

• Would you recommend it? Why?
• What was the reason to start watching the show initially?
• What were the expectations?
• How did they influence your final impression of the show?

Thanks for reading! We hope this was helpful to you. In addition, you will find free essays about television shows via the links below.

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Drama review. On the 6.11.11 we attended a performance, which is based on the book the metamorphosis by Kafka.

Drama review

On the 6.11.11 we attended a performance, which is based on the book ‘the metamorphosis’ by Kafka. The play is about a travelling sales man named Gregor who wakes up to find out that he has turned into an insect. The action is also based about his family and how they cope with their son not being unable to help pay their debts as he is unable to do anything as a human now that he has transformed.  

The opening scene  is Gregor sitting quietly in the audience with an umbrella in his hand which he placed over his head so it appeared as if it was raining in the theatre. As the audience were settling down he was moving from row to row in a hurry finding another places to sit, as this was happening the sounds of rain and thunder could be heard. I found this interesting as it got my attention as I was focused on what the man was doing, so I thought it was good the way they had placed the actor in the audience. As the sounds of thunder appeared it made it obvious that it was part of the act and that the first scene is a rainy day.

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The stage set up was very crammed together, which gave the impression that the director was trying to create crust phobia in the play. There were two doors which did not have the physical appearance of a typical door, instead it was an outline of a door so I and the audience could see through it, the ‘doors’ were placed parallel to each other, and behind the door at the centre was a white sheet, the characters would move the doors at times and make sure the doors were in sync as they were moving. I believe the stage was set up in this way to represent the trapped, and crust phobic feeling Gregor had felt and what his life had become as he was unable to move or make contact with anyone as he seemed to have turned into an insect and no one around him even his family understood him, so the stage also symbolised Gregor’s loneliness. The white sheet was Gregor’s bed which was shown in birds eye view, which I found the technique the director used to make the sheet appear like a bed in birds eye view very clever, as the actor just stood up behind the sheet as he was asleep and as the doors were see through and as the audience seats were slyly high up it was able to give off the illusion that the scene was in birds eye view, which made me feel like I and the audience were invading Gregor’s space as it felt I and the audience were spying on the character. This made me feel like I was part of the play, so I think the way  in which the set design had been designed and the techniques used for the set was good as it created a lot of feelings and kept me interested in the play.

The director used masks to represent the ‘Samsa family’ however Gregor did not wear a mask, only Greta which is his sister, and his parents Mr and Mrs Samsa. The masks seemed to be used as a distancing device, as it demonstrated 2 dimensional characters to the audience. The use of the masks allowed me to examine the characters from a crucial perspective. The personalities of the characters were represented through the colour and design of the masks, for instance Mr Sama’s hot headed temper is symbolised through the red cheeks and deep red grove of his eyes. I believed this allowed the audience to identify the characters easier as there personality is literally marked on their faces. The mask was a good way of telling the story, as the whole story seems to be a metaphor, so the masks seems to fit within the theme.

In the play there was no specific song which was played, however there were  a repetition of the sound of a clock ‘tick tok,’  this was played  in between scenes, I believe the director done this to show how time flies and how the family grow increasingly frustrated with Gregor as they cannot cope with him. Also the characters produce the sounds with there mouths, for instance there was a scene where Mr and Mrs Samsa drag Gregor’s  writing desk from  his room, and the two actors created a shrill screaming sound with their voices, like when a nail is scratching against a chalk board. This was a creative method the actors used, and I was interested when they done so, as it kept me into the play.

Overall I enjoyed the play, I believe that it  was a very unique piece which they took from the book and were able to bring it to life yet bring an unrealistic vibe to the play which I found very interesting, which kept me engaged in the play throughout.

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• Word Count 849
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• Level AS and A Level
• Subject Drama

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• TV Drama Series Analysis

Introduction

The present essay provides a comprehensive analysis of a contemporary TV drama. I opted for Lost as an object of this research because of its popularity, original idea, inventive plot, and the complex relationship of the production and creative entities involved in its creation. The assessment will demonstrate a critical insight into the professional and industrial landscape, in which the contemporary TV drama is created and the interaction between the co-creators.

One of the most successful projects in the history of international serialization, Lost was launched in September 2004 and incorporated 121 episode. Its genre is a mix of adventure, mystery, suspense, science-fiction, and supernatural. A seemingly uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean becomes a shelter for several dozens of the Oceanic Airline’s Flight 815 surviving passengers. The six-year-long saga is a story of numerous ordeals and personal evolution. Each episode narrates dual timelines. Parallel to the events unfolding in the immediate present of the characters, the first three seasons present the audience with meaningful flashbacks. These digressions reveal the former character of the group members and allow understanding the way their experience on the island changed their identity. The second half of the drama delivers glimpses to the future. The drama’s finale introduces an innovative narrative strategy showing development of the character’s lives in the circumstances where the crash never happened. The basic plot is an ingenious interpretation of the eternal war between good and evil in the context of choices that people make in their daily lives. The island becomes a Purgatory for the wandering and lost human soles of the civilized world. It condemns each character to the furnace of hardships as a way to test his or her moral principles, life experience, and physical capacity. The main theme is supplemented by numerous secondary topics, such as true friendship, solidarity, self-sacrifice, the strife between science and religion, the concepts of insiders and outsiders, love, etc.

As envisioned by the film writers, the closing scenes compose an open ending by posing new mysteries and withholding answers to important questions. This strategy invites the viewers to become co-creators by employing own imagination and critical thinking. This approach firmly asserts the TV series as a unique cultural phenomenon. The idea brings the show beyond the common entertainment elements of the mass market and qualifies it as a tool of personal transformation towards enlightenment. 

Charged with intense emotions, invested with the high-degree of realism, and animated with vehement action, the narrative keeps the viewers on constant alert and forces them to empathize and identify with the characters. The epic ending empowers each follower with the power of self-awareness and self-determination. Just as every character of the drama, every viewer can find his or her true self.

Lost jumped on the bandwagon of success of the Chris Carter’s The X-files, which introduced the mystery, intellectual symbolism, conspiracy theories, and the idea of the insidious societies opposing the protagonists. The science-fiction drama tackled the most current trends in the professional and industrial landscape to deliver some of the most appealing products of the time. Ever since the advent of television, there have been three major forms of material presentation, i.e., the news, the shows, and the dramas. The latter arrived from the radio platforms and claimed the rightful place at the new media. The Golden Age of drama coincided with the rise of the national network giants: NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont.  In the 1950s, the live dramatized shows overcame the early technological limitations and received substantial sponsorship from corporations that realized the opportunity to address consumers in an innovative way. As the television concepts moved from classical productions and dramatic anthologies towards original scripts, the demand for the talented writers, Hollywood actors, directors, and camera professionals grew exponentially. This strategy contributed to the popularity of this form of television with the audience immensely. Not only it brought the quality of the artistic presentation to a completely new level, but also furnished the outreach to the gross national audience. By discarding the high culture approach of the classical telecasts and adopting an increasingly customer-oriented vision, the new TV product gained interest and unvaried love of the American households. The early dramas could not escape the adverse influence of McCarthyism, which forced the studios to commission the scripts that criminalized communism, praised the American values and patriotism, as well as avoided the burning socio-political themes of the time. The middle-class urban drama focus was narrowed to a number of individual moral challenges, such as alcoholism, generation gap, alcoholism, divorce, peer-pressure, etc. Presentation of these commonplace and unsophisticated values satisfied the needs of the network owners and the advertising companies. It also satisfied the interests of the housewives that appeared as the primary drama consumers. As the prosperity of the American economy was gaining momentum, TV audience expanded, and comedy ranked first among the preferences of the carefree consumers.

The 60s and 70s were satiated with a number of milestones that changed the national mentality, undermined confidence in the government, and curbed the universal optimism. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, President Nixon’s resignation, the Watergate Scandal, and the resulting turmoil opened a new era in the news broadcasting. The TV dramas tuned in grasping the opportunity to address the same issues by scrutinizing them in fictional contexts. They responded to and educated the growing political awareness and national consciousness. The television network administrations took over production and programming decisions and secured greater freedom for script writers. The entertainment broadcasts were among the first to break racial barriers, recognize the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, introduce African-American characters, as well as discuss structural poverty, discrimination, class stratification, etc. Westerns and urban sitcoms were substituted by numerous premiers that reflected the diversity of the ongoing social debates in various fields. In the 80s, the TV audience was fed up with a seemingly endless chain of problems avalanching on the American nation. They suffocated from the abundance of stress occurring in their real lives, discussed in the news and talk-shows, as well as recycled in popular drama series. The networks delivered the eagerly anticipated escape in the form of the utopias featuring the lives of the strikingly rich people.

The young generation of the postmodern era was keen on quality and real-life connection. The viewers welcomed the idea to identify and grow with their favorite characters. Instead of escaping the daily problems, they felt empowered and entitled to solve them through knowledge, experience, and professionalism. The networks responded by hiring the young writers to create appealing, intelligent and competent protagonists capable of fighting the system, solving complex problems, and improving the world around them. Family shows gave way to criminal drama, detective stories, and medical analysis. The X-Files became the epitome of this trend and spotted a yet unsatisfied demand of the TV-grown audience, i.e., the yearning for the restoration of confidence and faith, self-search, exploration of spirituality, and the endurance of human spirit. It proved that the audience became extremely sophisticated, intended to be involved and taken into account. People wanted to find the place for mysteries in common life, settle internal conflicts, push the boundaries of wisdom, and move along the modern path of enlightenment. 

Lost embarked on completing this monumental and complex task. The project combined the production efforts of the ABC Studios, Bad Robot Productions, and Grass Skirt Productions. Partners maintained the historical commitment to consistently high quality, respect to the viewer, non-discrimination, acknowledgment of diversity, and unreserved openness in tackling the most challenging socio-economic and political issues of the time. These principles were ameliorated by the rules of mass market production and the innovative approach to technological solutions. By embracing the robinsonade the ABC Studio has once again corroborated its eye for up-to-date consumer preferences. The concept emerged in the inventive mind of a visionary leader Lloyd Braun in 2003. The head of ABC was inspired by the idea presented in the full-length movie Cast Away and the intensity of emotions involved in the reality show Survivor. He thought of the opportunity to combine the comic element of the early CBS sitcom, Gilligan’s Island, and the high-pitched dystopian tragedy of the Golding’s Lord of the Flies. This unconventional proposal stood out against a background of the universal obsession with the criminal stories. Braun had to defend this risky and challenging initiative at the cost of his position at the company. 

Regardless the immense opposition, the ABC’s senior vice president, Thom Sherman, decided to trust Braun’s renowned instinct and ordered the sample script from Spelling Television, part of the CBS Corporation. The move indicated that outsourcing operations to competitive networks became common practice in the industry environment. The original pilot script of 2003 by Jeffrey Lieber was not approved. It incorporated corrections provided by J. J. Abrams on request of Braun a year later. Eventually, this confusion between the commissioning parties and authors required the involvement of the arbitration and the judgment of a shared creator’s title. Abrams agreed to the legal settlement by bargaining the inclusion of the supernatural elements and addition of a personal writing partner. His partnership with Damon Lindelof defined the overall style of the consigned drama, fixed the set of characters, limited the length of the project, and composed a mythological array accompanying the progression of events. As the studio wanted to make the drama less serialized and more reusable, it forced the creators to make the episodes maximally independent from one another. Abrams conceived the sound opening and the brand label before transferring the reins of power to executive producers, Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The partnership turned out to be extremely prolific with the former delivering 45 and the latter 39 episodes of Lost. Due to tight deadlines, the creative team was limited in their opportunities for script and characters modification. The smashing popularity of the show allowed revitalizing and diversifying the writing effort by other talents in the field, such as Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Elisabeth Sarnoff, etc. 

The launch of the two-part opening episode in autumn 2004 cost twice the price of an average pilot and unleashed the new era in the history of the American TV drama. Budget overruns and excessive risk-taking instigated the indignant board of directors to relieve Broun of his duties. However, by the end of the year, the overwhelming commercial and marketing success of Lost became an undeniable fact.

At the beginning, the casting decisions, as well as significant modifications of the script and characters were made by the ABC executive producers based on their personal choices. Later these working solutions were delivered on a more objective ground in reliance on the actors’ credits, script requirements, and audience’s preferences. Jack Bender embraced the roles of an executive producer and the chief director. The former sitcom actor, Bender knew the process inside out and was capable of making cost-efficient and impressive filming decisions. His unique vision allowed selecting suitable locations, combining technological competencies, and creating studio interiors. 

Notably, each of the executive producers was involved in some part of the creation process serving either as a writer, showrunner, or filming director. Such involvement provided greater control of the operations and budgets. It synchronized the team efforts and allowed delivering an integrated and high-quality product. A holistic approach to production of Lost was one of the major factors of its unrivaled success. 

The musical construct of the drama requires a specific mention. J.J. Abrams engaged his longtime associate, Michael Giacchino, to work on the unique themes for Lost. The duo worked together on other TV projects, like Alias and Fringe. This time, the result of Giacchino’s genius was a full-fledged unique music score. The composer orchestrated all of the pieces performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. He attached recurring tunes to specific locations and characters creating their inimitable image. Giacchino obtained original sounds by employing stomp performance techniques. The composer deliberately abstained from the use of popular songs to avoid setting the drama in a fixed American cultural context (Fernandez 2010).  This strategy allowed introducing minimum adjustment to the musical element in the international broadcasting environment. The soundtracks were such an immense success with the audience that they required independent releases by Varese Sarabande. 

The success of modern TV drama depends on the synergy and the smooth professional relationship between the key creative entities. Lost was a product of the coordinated efforts delivered by its writers, showrunners, and filming directors. The era when dramas were sponsored and commissioned by manufacturing corporations is long gone. Reputable studios, like ABS, consolidate executive producers capable of sharing the numerous functions involved in the production process. Such involvement secures comprehensive control and maximum cost-efficiency of the investment initiative. The executive producers make sure that composers and actors invited to the project understand the overall concept of the drama and are capable of contributing to it with a unique vibe. Nowadays, the key creators compete in the environment of the free market and constant innovation for the continually varying consumer preferences. Since the industry deregulated, the viewers set the trend for TV dramas. The scale of the projects and the required amount of funding forces the studios to establish partnerships and outsource some of the operations to fellow networks.

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Drama Essay Examples

Exploring the themes of knowledge and time in stoppard's 'arcadia'.

Arcadia, a play written by Tom Stoppard, is overwhelmed with futuristic thoughts and ideas that create intricate conflicts between characters. The leading difficulty is how the audience is forced to attempt to understand them. They have to try to grasp ideas from an array of...

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The Role of Gender in Trifles by Susan Glaspell

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