What are the Big Ideas in Drama?
When you’re writing about drama, you need to be able to articulate the writer’s purpose: why they have written the play and what they are hoping to achieve from it. This will help you to elevate your response. A playwright's purpose is closely linked to how they want the audience to respond to the characters, their actions and the wider ideas explored in the play.
As with novels, a theme tells you what the play explores and A big idea combines this with the writer’s intentions: it explains what the playwright is trying to say about that theme and why they have chosen to present it in this way. A strong big idea usually combines the playwright’s name, an analytical verb and a thematic statement about the play.
When writing about drama, you must consider the audience and the writer’s context. Playwrights make deliberate choices about how characters, relationships and themes are presented on stage, and these choices can shape how an audience responds to the ideas in the play.
How do you write about the Big Ideas?
You need to think about what the playwright is saying about a theme, how they have chosen to present this idea on stage, and how they want their audience to respond.
This is particularly important when writing about drama because the audience is part of the experience of a play. A playwright is not simply describing events for a reader; they are creating characters, dialogue, relationships and conflicts that are intended to be experienced on stage.
How you feel about a character can often be closely linked to what the playwright is trying to say. For example, if we are encouraged to dislike a character because of their behaviour, this may be the playwright's way of criticising or condemning their actions and, by extension, the wider theme that the character represents.
As with novels, you can develop Big Ideas by thinking about the theme and what the playwright is trying to say about it. Everything from the previous blog post is application. However, for drama texts, you also need to consider how the idea is presented on stage and how the playwright wants the audience to respond.
An easy way to think about it is like this:
Themes + What the playwright says about it + dramatic presentation + audience response = Big Idea
Theme: prejudice
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What the playwright says about it: prejudice can distort people's understanding of justice
How the playwright presents it: Through conflict between characters with opposing attitudes towards justice and prejudice.
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Audience response: encourages the audience to question their own assumptions about justice and prejudice
The key ingredients of a Big Idea statement
Once you've identified all four elements, you can use them to construct your Big Idea statement.
There isn't one set structure you need to follow when writing a Big Idea statement. The order of these elements can vary depending on what you want to emphasise and how you want to construct your sentence. However, a strong Big Idea will generally communicate:
HOW: How the playwright presents the idea.
ANALYTICAL VERB: What the playwright is trying to do.
WHAT: What the playwright is saying about the theme.
WHY: What they want the audience to think, feel or question.
A useful way to remember the ingredients of a Big Idea statement is:
HOW + ANALYTICAL VERB + WHAT + WHY
Dramatic presentation + playwright's purpose + message about the theme + intended audience response
Example Big Idea Statement:
Through the conflict between characters with opposing attitudes towards justice and prejudice, the playwright exposes how prejudice can distort people's understanding of justice, encouraging the audience to question their own assumptions.
Analytical Verbs
Just like with any big idea, analytical verbs are your best friend when it comes to articulating the playwright's purpose. They help you to explain what the playwright is trying to do and why they have chosen to present their ideas in this way.
Some useful analytical verbs for writing about drama include:
challenge – to encourage the audience to question an idea or assumption
provoke – to deliberately cause a particular reaction or response
expose – to reveal something that is usually hidden
condemn – to show that something is morally wrong or unacceptable
celebrate – to praise or emphasise the value of someone or something
warn – to alert the audience to something dangerous or problematic
criticise – to show the problems or weaknesses in an idea, behaviour or society
When writing about drama, think carefully about which verb best describes the effect the playwright wants to have on their audience. For example, challenge, provoke and condemn can all suggest that a playwright wants the audience to think critically, but they communicate slightly different intentions.
Using Evaluative Adverbs
You can also combine your analytical verbs with a well-chosen evaluative adverb. This can help you to be more precise about how the playwright presents an idea and the effect they want to have on their audience.
These pairings can work particularly well when writing about drama:
forcefully challenges
deliberately provokes
subtly exposes
powerfully condemns
carefully criticises
effectively celebrates
For example:
Shakespeare deliberately provokes his audience to question the relationship between power and gender.
This is more precise than simply saying that Shakespeare “shows” or “presents” an idea. It tells your examiner what Shakespeare wants his audience to think about and why.
Choosing the Right Analytical Verb
The analytical verb you choose needs to accurately reflect the playwright's purpose. You can't simply select the most sophisticated-sounding verb from a list and add it to your sentence.
Think carefully about the effect the playwright is trying to have on the audience. Is the playwright encouraging the audience to question something? Condemning a particular behaviour? Provoking an emotional response? Exposing an uncomfortable truth?
For example, saying that Shakespeare celebrates the pressures faced by female leaders would suggest that he presents these pressures positively. If the play instead exposes the damaging consequences of these expectations, celebrates would completely change the meaning of your argument.
Your analytical verb should therefore be chosen because it accurately captures the playwright's purpose, not simply because it sounds impressive.
Examples of Big Ideas (whole text)
Just like with novels, it can be really helpful to brain dump ideas for the whole text using:
Analytical verb: What is the playwright trying to do?
Theme: What issue is the play exploring?
Dramatic presentation: How does the playwright communicate this through the play?
Audience response: What does the playwright want the audience to think, question or feel?
And then refine those into proper sentences, using evaluative language to make your ideas more precise and refined (like below)
Big Ideas - Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare may have written Antony and Cleopatra to:
challenge → gender expectations → present Cleopatra as a politically powerful woman who refuses to conform to Roman ideals of femininity → encourage the audience to question traditional expectations of female leadership.
expose → power and ambition → present the conflict between Antony's personal desires and his political responsibilities → reveal the destructive consequences of allowing personal ambition and desire to undermine political authority.
criticise → imperialism → contrast Roman representations of Egypt with the play's more complex presentation of Egyptian culture and identity → encourage the audience to question Roman assumptions of cultural superiority.
You can then refine these ideas into more sophisticated statements:
HOW + ANALYTICAL VERB + WHAT + WHY
Shakespeare challenges traditional expectations of female leadership through his presentation of Cleopatra as a politically powerful woman who refuses to conform to Roman ideals of femininity, encouraging the audience to question restrictive gender expectations.
Through Antony's struggle between personal desire and political responsibility, Shakespeare exposes the destructive consequences of allowing ambition and desire to undermine political authority.
Shakespeare challenges Roman assumptions of cultural superiority by presenting Egyptian culture and identity in ways that complicate the Roman perspective. This forces the audience to question the values underpinning imperial power.
Big Ideas - Othello:
Shakespeare may have written Othello to:
expose → racial prejudice → present Othello as a respected military leader whose identity and belonging are undermined by the racist attitudes of Venetian society → encourage the audience to question the destructive consequences of racial prejudice and the exclusion of outsiders.
warn → jealousy and insecurity → present Othello's gradual psychological manipulation by Iago, showing how his insecurities are exploited and intensified → warn the audience about the disastrous impact of unchecked jealousy and the dangers of allowing suspicion to override reason.
challenge → gender expectations → present Desdemona as a woman who exercises agency in choosing her husband and challenges the expectations placed upon women in a patriarchal society → encourage the audience to question the control men exert over women's choices, identities and reputations.
You can then refine these ideas into more sophisticated statements:
HOW + ANALYTICAL VERB + WHAT + WHY
- Shakespeare exposes the destructive consequences of racial prejudice through his presentation of Othello as a respected military leader whose identity and belonging are continually undermined by the racist attitudes of Venetian society, encouraging the audience to question the exclusion of those perceived as outsiders.
- Through Iago's manipulation of Othello's insecurities, Shakespeare warns the audience about the destructive consequences of unchecked jealousy and the dangers of allowing suspicion to override reason.
- Shakespeare challenges the restrictive gender expectations of Jacobean society through his presentation of Desdemona as a woman who exercises agency in choosing her husband, whilst exposing how patriarchal attitudes ultimately undermine women's autonomy and control their reputations.
Key Takeaways
Your Big Idea should communicate what the playwright is trying to say about a theme, how they have chosen to present this idea and why they want the audience to respond in a particular way. Think of it as WHAT the playwright is saying, HOW they communicate it and WHY they want the audience to think, feel or question something.
