What is Drama of Ideas.

In this post I will discuss What is Drama of Ideas.
The drama of ideas is a new kind of play of the modern age. In Shavian plays, ideas are propagated. Characters embody ideas which are pitted against each other and at the end, the dramatist indicates in an obvious manner, his conclusions about the problem mooted in
the plays. Bernard Shaw writes: "Formerly, you had in what was called a well-made play an exposition in the first act, a situation in the second, an unraveling in the third. Now you have exposition, situation and discussion." In these plays, the characters are the
vehicles of ideas and they preach to the audience. The essence of the drama is conflict; in the well-made play the conflict of wills is represented by means of plot and character; in the thesis play we
have the conflict of ideas, which is made vivid to us through dialogue and discussion. In the play of ideas, plot and characterisation are of secondary importance; it is discussion that is of absorbing interest. In it, nothing occurs; the characters sit round and talk; here
conversation replaces action. Conflict develops and reaches a climax through conversations. The play of ideas depends for its success on the brilliance and brightness of dialogue.