Drama
Drama is the expression of ideas, feelings, and human experience through movement, sound, visual image, and the realisation of role. In drama, real or imagined actions and events are enacted by placing a role in a setting of time and space, where action and tension create a focus. These dramatic elements combine with contrasts between movement and stillness, sound and silence, and darkness and light to communicate meaning in drama.
In process drama, which is not intended for an audience, participants build belief in roles and situations and explore them together, negotiating, interpreting, and reflecting on role and meaning.
Drama intended for audiences may take place in formal and informal performance settings. It may be experienced as a fully developed theatre production; in such forms of live entertainment as cultural festivals and street theatre; and in works for electronic media, such as film, video, and television. Communication in drama involves performers and audiences in interpreting meanings and developing skills of critical judgment.
Drama permeates our everyday lives and serves a variety of purposes. It enables us to understand ourselves, the people around us, and the world in which we live, enriching the lives of individuals and giving voice to communities.
Drama is integral to children's play and is found in the oratory, rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations of traditional and contemporary world cultures. Drama both expresses and is defined by the culture from which it emerges. Dramatic works may be regarded as social and historical texts that make a vital contribution to individual, social, and cultural identity.
