The Four Elements: New Models for a Subversive Dramaturgy

This article presents a model that is useful in the creation of new works as well as the analysis of existing pieces. Through exploration of the qualities of The Four Elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth), artists as well as academics can discover characteristic behavior and interactive patterns in characters and their relationships with each other and with the world of the play. Exercises are offered to apply the models. Universal understanding of the elements gives this methodology the potential to work across cultural divides and in a range of situations.