Introduction

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Introduction to Plays
comedy/tradgedy

Terms	Definition	Example
Comedy	There are multiple (many) types of plays. One type of play is the comedy. A comedy has a happy ending.	Fairytales - Cinderella Movie- Finding Nemo
Tragedy	There are two types of plays. One type of play is the tragedy. A tragedy has a dramatic or serious theme. A tragedy has a sad or unhappy ending. The main character or characters is destined because of a characteristic (such as greed, or a bad temper) or because of a conflict or disagreement between the character and other people.	Plays- Romeo and Juliet
Soliloguy	The act of talking to yourself. Talking while you are alone or talking as if you are alone.
Protagonist	The leader, hero (male), or heroine (female) of the play.	Cinderella - In Cinderella
Antagonist	The character that is in conflict with the hero of the play.	The Step-mother - In Cinderella
Prologue	An introductory speech before the first scene of a play. (Prologues can also occur as an introduction to poems and books.)	The introduction to Romeo and Juliet

How to read a play
When discussing a play (not talking about whether you liked it or not, but specific features or analyzing) one refers to specific parts by the ACT, SCENE, and LINE.

Act- Plays are separated into different groups or acts. For example, our play Romeo and Juliet has five (5) acts.
Scene- The place where the event will happen. Scenes are usually broken down by a single place or a specific time. For example, in Romeo and Juliet the first scene takes place in the the streets of Verona where an argument is taking place. The scene includes all of the events of the arguement such as the argument, a fight, and the explaination to other characters what happened.	1 5	Act 1 Scene 1 Sampson- Gregory, on my word we'll not carry coals. Gregory- No, for then we should be colliers. Sampson- I mean, and we be in choler, we'll draw. Gregory- Ay while you live, draw your next out of collar. Sampson- I strike quickly being moved.
Line- There are many more lines than scenes and acts put together. Each sentence or word spoken is a line. The lines are numbered every fifth (5th) line. For each scene the number of the lines start over at 1.

Another type of play are Musicals. These plays involve lots of music, singing, and musical intruments. The play tells its meaning through song and dance. Many plays have been turned into movies or movies have been changed into plays. Some examples are :

Hairspray	Beauty and the Beast

Both of these plays are also major motion pictures (popular movies). Click on the pictures to read about the movie versions.

About William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He was married to Ann Hathaway in 1582 and they had three (3) children. Ten (10) years later, Shakespeare became an actor and a playwright (someone who writes plays). Shakespeare built his own theater, The Globe. This theater was unique (different, special) because the shape of the building was in a circular shape (O) instead of a rectangle. Plays were performed during the day when the weather was good. (Electricity was not invented yet!)

The theaters would fly a flag to show people that the play would be performed. If it was rainy or the actors were not ready to perform, the flag would be taken down so people would know not to come. Shakespeare wrote many plays. Most of the plays that we have by him are not the same as his original works. Some of other plays by William Shakespeare are:

Othello	Macbeth

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