dramatic discourse and drama pedagogy: studying and interpreting drama texts for performance

1. Dramatic Discourse and Drama Pedagogy: Studying and Interpreting Drama Texts for Performance Mike Ingham Dept. of English Lingnan University

2. PART ONE: THEORY: Dramatic Discourse Dramatic discourse: constructs hypothetical worlds and imaginary contexts through verbal and non-verbal signifiers Interaction may simulate or symbolically represent the real (offstage) world discourse, but compressed and codified in meaning according to conventions of theatre time/space, etc. Artifact/text carries specific messages/ideologies and unified constructed meanings. Real-life meaning is not constructed and mediated within an author/director/ producer/ choreographer-controlled framework

3. 1. Dramatic Dialogue and Conversation �It is important to remember that dramatic dialogue is constructed by playwrights for audiences to overhear. Thus, the basic issue is not � as often in real life � �What did a speaker mean me to understand by their utterance in this particular context,� but �What did a playwright mean me to understand by one character�s utterance to another in this particular context?� (Culpeper, J. Language & Characterisation, 38.)

4. Communication Model in Dramatic Discourse: Addresser 1 ? Message ? Addressee 1 (playwright) ? (audience) ? Addresser 2 ? Message ? Addressee 2 (character A) (character B) Diagram: The Discourse Structure of Drama (Short, M. 1989)

5. Structure of dramatic/ conversational interaction: definition of terms EXCHANGE � coherent semantic unit of dialogue �brief/long; e.g. adjacency pair ? MOVE � an initiation of a fresh topic by one speaker within a longer exchange/ scene/ segment ? TURN � a specific utterance within a sequence either prompted by a question/request or self-nominated

6. Dramatic codes: dress; movement; space; time; lighting; set design; spoken or sung language Two-way communication; performers and director encode meanings in theatrical context; audiences construct meanings and react: clap, boo; yawn; get up and leave; etc. Dramatic worlds draw from, imitate and are metaphors for the world outside the theatre The constructed world of theatre is mimetic (imitates and acts out) interpersonal communication, not identical to social transactions of world outside, even if it reflects knowledge and experiences of actual world

7. Similarities and differences via-a vis conversation Conversational redundancy features � pause , hesitation, repetition, overlapping, simultaneous speech etc. � may be imitated in dramatic dialogue, BUT absence of detailed conversational features used for analysis in CA (e.g. intonation contours, marking of stressed syllables, verbalised sounds and paralinguistic information, longer gaps, muddled and irregular syntax) is evident in dramatic playscripts; Punctuation conventions, syntactic structure and lexical cohesion, stage directions to convey attitudinal information, all features of written texts; writing is more �orderly�; dramatic dialogue intended to evoke the feeling of speech; however is primarily a pseudo-speech written form (unless the dramatic dialogue is devised and improvised in performance)

8. Co-operative principles: Conversation vs. Dramatic dialogue Grice�s maxims of courteous conversational interaction: quality (true), relation (relevant), quantity (brief) and manner (clear) Dramatic dialogue tends to violate these maxims frequently Drama depends on conflict, surprise, reversal, final disclosure, etc. so co-operative principles may not apply; much of the time dramatist has no interest in making her/his dialogues or monologues true, relevant, brief and clear. In dramatic discourse subtext (i.e. underlying meaning) is crucially important

9. Moves, Exchanges and Turn-takingStructure of Dialogue/ Conversation: a) Ideational information: subject; topic; theme b) Indexical/ interpersonal information: speakers� attitudes or apparent attitudes c) Transaction management: control, domination, organization of discourse/ dialogue/ exchange. d) Strategies: moves; turn-taking and turn allocation; adjacency pairs (e.g. A: How are you? B: I�m fine, thanks); initiatives; exchange/ move boundaries (opening & closing); discourse markers; recurrent features and repetition; dominating and subordinate speaker; speech acts: illocutionary and perlocutionary force; inferencing & implicature; importance of questions � tag questions, wh-questions

10. 3. Speech Acts and Discourse Acts Speech acts (�doing things with words� - interpersonal in nature; they tend to involve first-person subjects and performative verbs; more commonly framed in active voice and indicative or imperative mood. E.g. �Give me all your money�, �Marry me!�, � I protest!�, �I declare this building open�, �I apologise� etc. Speech act theorists often concentrate on individual speech acts in real-life contexts but a series of speech acts within a discourse, e.g. dramatic discourse, not discrete but syncrete: interconnected discourse acts

11. Classes of Speech Acts a. Verdictives � judgement e.g. convict/find guilty, acquit, estimate, judge, calculate, assess, rate, analyse, diagnose, reckon, interpret, etc. b. Exercitives � influence, assertion, decision-making, exercise of power e.g. appoint, name, marry, baptize, excommunicate, grant, permit, forbid, advise, claim, pardon, command, instruct, declare open, resign, nominate, announce, repeal, proclaim, warn, fine, sentence, reprieve, direct, etc. c. Commissives - obligation, intention, commitment e.g. promise, give my word, undertake, agree, consent, oppose, challenge, intend, propose to, guarantee, bet, swear, shall, engage (myself), etc. d. Behabitives - expression of attitude, reaction to attitudes of others e.g. thank, apologise, commiserate, congratulate, approve, disapprove, don�t mind, protest, welcome, bless, curse, drink to/ toast, wish, dare, defy, etc. e. Expositives - expression of views, arguments e.g. affirm, doubt, believe, emphasise, illustrate, refer, explain, etc.

12. 4. Dramatic Discourse and Characterisation:Representation and Attribution Inferring characteristics and narrative meaning from actions, gestures, intonation, facial expression, etc. Real world perception and attribution vs. Constructed dramatic representation of real world. Implicit information a) to audience b) to other characters: making assumptions, attribution of character and personality features: positive, negative; connotation and denotation of character; �Self�-presentation; self-disclosure/ �confession� exposition: in the presence of others; in the absence of others, e.g. soliloquy/ monologue to convey thought processes �Other� presentation; in their presence and in their absence; 3rd person narration, voiceover etc.

13. Social context and relations: language and power/ class attributes: clothes; grooming, accent, intonation/ vocalization, dialect/ idiolect Politeness/impoliteness: context dependent;hedging; assertiveness, etc; role-playing; what characters �want�; motivation of character; consistency/ inconsistency of character: �roundness� and �flatness� of characters; ambivalence of characters: stereotyping/ stock types: e.g. heroes, villains, domestics Stage directions; subsidiary information

14. 5. Insights from semiotics: Saussure: distinction between langue (theoretical rules of language) and parole (actual utterances); rule system is contrasted with communicative instances of usage Signifier/ signified: signifier � the action or words of the message or communicative act; signified � interpretation placed upon the signifier; what is meant or understood by the words/ actions Arbitrary, binary relationship between linguistic signifier and signified in speech communities echoed in the context of theatre; things and people on stage may stand for/represent other things and people outside theatre Language system (langue) corresponds to codes and conventions of a dramatic genre in general, while the pragmatics (utterances of real speech, i.e. parole) correspond to actual spoken dialogue of particular performances

15. Three Types of Signifier Icon: a sign which resembles the object it signifies (the signified); e.g. a photograph, a cross in a church representing the cross of crucifixion; a portrait or realistic painting; a human actor representing a real-life person, e.g. an actor playing Sun Yat-sen (Bodyguards and Assassins) Index: a sign that indicates the object it signifies in a causal relationship; e.g. smoke indicating fire, a rumbling sound signifying an earthquake Symbol: a sign that is arbitrarily related to its referent (the signified); e.g. most words in the spoken or written form (except onomatopoeia �bang�, �crash� etc. and pictograms/hieroglyphics in the written form of language), most national flags, abstract art, traffic lights, etc.

16. Kinesic codes: the body and movement; rules and conventions for interpreting movement in a culture in terms of character, role, type, action, etc. Proxemic codes: spatial relations between actors on stage and between performers and audience Deictic codes: Language and gesture � indicating, pointing to someone or something; identifying; person deixis � personal pronouns Pictorial codes: Visual aspects; theatrical illusion; visual metaphor/ symbolism � visual aesthetics Linguistic codes: spoken or sung language in performance; use of surtitles/ translations; house programme notes etc.

17. PART TWO: PRACTICE; Drama Pedagogy for the HKDSE syllabus1. Implications for teaching the drama elective Understanding features of dramatic discourse useful: a) students asked to produce short scripts b) well written dramatic discourse provides a model for interpretation/ commentary c) help to avoid cliched, predictable, formulaic scenarios; encourage appreciation of more complex, life-like dramatic discourse Understanding of performative and discourse features also important in HK Speech Festival

18. 2. My reflections on personal experience and current practice Drama as educational tool: extra-curricular/ personal/ social development etc. Focus on civic/social themes personal development etc. but not on target language and discourse Drama as language art and discipline (second language context) focus on English language in spoken form; tertiary, secondary, primary levels Performance-presentations and drama productions endow students with qualities - confidence; initiative; fluency; awareness of phrasing and speech contours; highlight teamwork and interactional skills; role-playing � a useful tool for career/postgraduate situations

19. 3. Micro-features of dramatic discourse: paralanguage, prosodic features, phonological awareness Importance of; Projection and clarity of diction; emotional speech � changes in vocal inflection to reflect mood, rising tension etc.; avoiding monotonous delivery ; observing marked beat/pause in text for emotional effect; accurate pronunciation Prosody: rhythm, intonation, pitch, changes in volume, word and phrasal stress, juncture, etc. Practice activities, e.g. tongue-twisters; minimal pairs; short exchanges, etc.

20. Case Studies The History Boys (2004) by Alan Bennett set texts for undergraduate Eng Drama course at Lingnan � scene extract Twelfth Night (1599) by William Shakespeare Lingnan group�s scene extract for this year�s national university Shakespeare competition � video extract

21. References and recommended reading Bowles, Hugo (2010) Storytelling and Drama: Exploring Narrative Episodes in Plays Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Culpeper, Jonathan (2001). Language & Characterisation: People in Plays and Other Texts. Harlow: Longman. Fortier, Mark (1997) Theory/Theatre. London: Routledge Fowler, Roger (1996) Linguistic Criticism. Oxford: OUP Herman, Vimala (1995). Dramatic Discourse: Dialogue as Interaction in Plays. London; Routledge. Short, Mick (1989) �Discourse Analysis and the Analysis of Drama� in Carter, R. & Simpson, P. (eds.) Language. Discourse and Literature: An Introductory Reader to Discourse Stylistics. London: Unwin Hyman, 139-168