A Chinese proverb goes by the saying “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand”.
Drama is a collaborative art form. It comes from Greek words meaning “to do” or “to act”. A drama, or play, is basically a story acted out. And every play, whether serious or humorous, ancient or modern, tells its story through characters in situations that imitate human life. It examines and challenges established ideas and prejudices. Not only drama encourages critical and creative thinking and innovation but generates new ideas and reflects on trends in society. Through drama, an individual develops confidence in expressing their ideas as they seek to communicate with a variety of audiences, thereby influencing the society. It makes them more creative and helps to emerge with creative ideas and think critically.
Theatre is the branch of performing arts; concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle. Any one or more of these elements is performing arts is performing arts in addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays. The script of a play is the basic element of theatrical performance. In the case of many masterpieces it is the most important element. But even these dramatic masterpieces demand creative cooperation of artists other than the author. The actors, rather than merely reflecting a creation that has already been fully expressed in the script, give body, voice, and imagination to what was only a shadowy indication in the text. The text of a play is as vague and incomplete in relation to a fully realized performance as is a musical score to a concert.
In general, the truly memorable theatrical experience is one in which the various elements of performance are brought into a purposeful harmony. It is a performance in which the text has revealed its meanings and intentions through skillful acting in an environment designed with the appropriate measure of beauty or visual impact. Drama also requires plausibility, but in drama it must be conveyed not by a narrator but by the actors’ ability to make the audience “believe in” their speech, movement, thoughts, and feelings. This plausibility is based on the connection between the impression made by the actors and the preconceptions of the audience.