After being a part of English Day drama competitions, I felt like writing a post on the importance of dramas to enlighten our readers. Drama is a living art; unlike movies or written stories, actors and audience meet face to face developing a live interaction. It is not as easy as it is seen to perform in a drama. It requires an enormous set of skills and unique characterization. Therefore, drama is an important tool in the system of education to develop characters to the society.
What Is a Drama
A drama is a work of literature written for the intended purpose of being performed for an audience. Dramas serve the function of entertainment for the audience. Tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama are the four main types of drama. Dramas are written in detailed scripts and actors perform the written line giving moods, voice and characterization to impart the message towards the audience.
Why Drama
Drama is a mode of entertainment; It activates the body and mind. Therefore, it is a good method of teaching and molding characters in an enjoyable way. Usually the learner likes to participate in a lesson actively. Through a drama they learn a number of skills unknowingly. Throughout the process, the learner develops skills like use of language, performing skills, teamwork skills which ultimately leads to the personality development of the person taking part in a drama.
Language
Dialogues in the dramas provide an authentic practice of target language. Therefore, it is considered as the best communicative method to teach language too. Whether it is English or any other language, drama provides a real life experience in using language. By doing classic and variety of dramas, the character is exposed to a vast range of grammar, language patterns and vocabulary. It further helps the learner the usage, pronunciation and methods of delivery of the language. No ordinary lesson can teach the moods and etiquette in language rather than dramas which use language in a real setting. Drama is not just a stage for acting but it provides a stage for learning language too. Proper use of language obviously helps developing a confident character.
Performing Skills
As we have already mentioned, drama is a living art, it is based on performing. In the modern day lives, career or at social presence, a person needs to develop a strong base to stand upright. Acting on a play or a drama opens the door to eradicate stage fright. A person who can stand and act before a live audience develops the ability to stand before any social occasions without any fear. As we have already mentioned, it is not an easy task to stand on a stage and perform something. Drama helps a person to develop those skills without knowing that they learn them. As seen, most celebrities were born first on the stage before becoming film stars.
Team Work
Team work is vital for humans as social creatures. To stage a successful drama, whole team should work as one, it is a unique experience; those who have tasted it know it. Through drama it can be easily taught how to work as team to reach a common goal. Learner can learn to respect each other’s strengths and weaknesses and use their available resources to win a target. No book can teach that! We have experienced that the students who work in a drama crew develops a strong bond of friendship rather than ordinary class members.
Personality Development
Personality is determined by the way how we deal with the situations that we face in life. The skills associated with dramas prepares the learner to achieve socially upright personality which would help him or her to lead a successful life. Through dramas, the character gains communicative skills, social skills and positive qualities like empathy, determination, handling pressure, working according to situations and much more. If we look at the social arena, we can witness some great personalities born on stage.
Humanistic Qualities
As one of our legendary trainer Mr. Indunil said, there are lots of vacancies for humans in the world. Dramas deal with human experiences. Through reading and living in them, the character can learn positive human qualities like empathy, happiness, sharing and caring. It teaches the character to handle situations, be indifferent to victory and defeat, applause the goodness and grunt at the unjust. Dramas can be one of the greatest tools to develop positive human qualities in children. That is why they are included in syllabi.
Voice
If we consider about school children, most students suffer from issues with regard to their speech. When they do a public speech, performance or singing a song as well as speaking something in day to day lives, most find it difficult to deliver a clear, correct and audible speech. Sometimes this leads to failures and develops anxiety in their lives. The voice and speech trainings done in drama rehearsals help the learner to develop a clear, proper pronunciation and voice projection.
As a trainer of dramas, I always find a multitude of positives of stage dramas which provides skills related to personal development. Doing a drama does not mean doing it in a larger scale. It can be done in any settings and any time duration. The larger the stage and time is the larger the effects it can produce. It is an enjoyable and entertaining tool for any setting. Most of the times this art is used to criticize human follies and enlighten them. Whatever the setting is, drama provides ample openings to develop good characters to the society.
What are your experiences related to dramas? Are you a director or an actor or actress in a stage play? Sharing your experiences related to this field will enrich this post more. Please leave a kind comment regarding your experience in the comment section. If you find this post is useful you can share it using the social share buttons below.
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