Dramatic Structure and Meaning in Theatrical Productions

Author:	Price, Thomas
Year:	1992
Pages:	364
ISBN:	0-7734-9897-4 978-0-7734-9897-6
Price:	$239.95

Introduces a new general theory of dramatic form, together with a detailed, practicable method for the analysis and critical understanding of plays and screenplays. The author proposes that any play or screenplay can ultimately be understood as conforming to one of just seven dynamic types, and that knowledge of the kinetic and modal signatures of these skeletal `plots' provides the key for decoding the metaphorical significance of a drama's action and imagery. Examples range from ancient Greek drama to modern opera libretti to contemporary film, and from acknowledged dramatic masterpieces to more popular works. Will help drama professionals and students better grasp a work's conception and intention, and help the non-professional audience better understand a play or movie.

Reviews

"The author's criticism and dissection of these seven plays is very vivid and concrete and detailed to the point that he indicates the positive and negative frequency of appearances of the images which are used for a particular character. . . . no one has like Thomas Price undertaken a dialectical and binary analysis of the various aspects of this work concentrating upon it with such comprehensiveness, profundity, and detail. . . . this kind of analytical method introduces the audience and readership to an entirely brand new world. . . . a good volume worth being read by those who research drama and study literature." - Foreign Literatures

"The most concerted elaboration of structuralist homology available in contemporary dramatic criticism and theory . . . a metacritical synthesis, a system of systems. . . " - R. T. Knighton