Prerequisite Knowledge
Students should have some experience with physical theatre and exaggerated movement as well as tableaux work.
Focus
These lessons introduce melodrama, a style of acting popular in the 1800s and early 1900s and can be taught in conjunction with “Learning from the Past” Part Two: Exploring the Style of Commedia dell’Arte. A culminating task based on both these mini-units is found in the “Part Two” document. This mini-unit is designed to encourage students to explore broad physical improvisational comedy and to introduce them to the stock gestures and episodes used in Melodrama in order to create their own comic episodes.
In this lesson, students will
- identify and describe various dramatic forms and the historical origins of these forms;
- discover the elements of Melodrama, including prominent themes, such as good and evil
- learn to identify the stock characters, such as the hero, heroine, and villain;
- demonstrate conventional exaggerated gestures for different characters;
- interpret and perform their versions of melodrama.
Materials and Resources
- CD player and fast paced piano music used for silent films
- Optional video clip of a Charlie Chaplin film, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or any soap opera
- Optional Melodrama plays for reference, such as
- Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn
- Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- The Streets of London by Dion Boucicault
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which has several dramatizations, the most popular by George L. Aiken (1853)
Special Notes
Origins
Melodrama comes from the Greek word melos or song—hence “music drama.” Signature music was used in Melodrama to signify particular characters when they entered the drama. Melodrama plots were based on romance and there was an excessive appeal to the emotions of the audience.
Play structure
Melodramas were usually structured in 2-5 acts. They were set in a simplified moral universe; good and evil was embodied in stock characters. Episodes were simple: the villain poses a threat, the hero or heroine escapes. The Melodrama finishes with a happy ending.
Plot and Character Elements
Melodramas used many special effects, including fires, explosions, drowning, and earthquakes. Characters were specific stock types such as the heroine, hero, and villain, etc.