Drama language in realism: elements of drama and Stanislavski's processes

In Unit 1 you work within realism, a form of drama usually performed in the representational style, which tries to show recognisable people living recognisable lives. The audience is invited to believe that what happens on stage could be happening in a real room. The elements of drama are the building blocks you select and combine to achieve that illusion, and the first four concern the people in the drama and the world they inhabit.

Character in realism means a person with real, defined traits: a history, desires, fears and habits that make their choices make sense. Those traits drive motivation, the reason a character does what they do. Realist characters rarely say everything they mean, so the actor must find the subtext, the thoughts and feelings that sit underneath the spoken words.

Role is flatter than character: the syllabus glossary describes a role as a concept, persona, stereotype or dominant trait that lacks depth or backstory. A role can be a persona (the public face a character presents), a stereotype (a simplified social type such as the bossy older sibling) or an archetype (a pattern that recurs across many stories, such as the mentor or the outsider).

Realism usually builds a detailed character on top of a recognisable role, so the audience first identifies the type and then discovers the individual.

Relationships are the connections between two or more characters. A key part of any relationship is status: who holds power, and how that power shifts. Situation in realism is a specified setting (a particular place and time) together with the given circumstances, the facts of the world that shape behaviour: social class, the season, recent events, what each character knows.

Situation also carries the themes and issues of a realist play, such as family duty, migration, gender roles or money, because realism tests ideas by placing believable people under realistic pressure.