In which two ways do extras function in a drama?

a. they speak the majority of the dialogue and can be static, dynamic, or well-defined.

b. they generally deliver the prologue and epilogue of the play and provide background information.

c. they are minor players who don’t speak many lines.

d. they are generally referred to by their occupation; a servant is simply called servant

The answers are C and D: They are minor players who don’t speak many lines. They are generally referred to by their occupation; a servant is simply called servant.

An extra on a play can be used for several purposes, but in general they are part of the setting and the scene and they allow the main characters to be developed in a properly contextual manner. Extras usually don´t have many lines, and the few lines they do speak tend to work more as cues than content. Finally, servants are so immaterial that they are usually not named, but rather they are referred to by their occupation or generic trait (servant, maid, boy, girl, etc.).

the correct answers are:

c. “never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue.”

d. “‘it has never been heard,’ was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later.”

e. “this man had come with others to commiserate with okeke.”