Hello friends! Today is for my fellow directors, though I’ve used the concept in my design work and in my scholarly work as well. Play analysis is an important step to bringing a show to life. There are many levels to play analysis, so I thought I’d break them up over multiple posts. Today, we’ll be covering the first reading, or level one.
There are probably different methods of play analysis. I was taught this method when getting my degree in Directing. We used the textbook, Introduction to Play Analysis by Cal Pritner and Scott Walters. I’ll be using the principles that were taught in this textbook as a guide for this blog series.
Play analysis involves a unique process of gathering information from the title, the stage directions, and the dialogue, all with the goal of imagining everything on the page taking place live before an audience. This type of analysis leads to doing. The first reading is performed with special attention to information that we must act upon–information that we will eventually physicalize as directors, designers, and even actors.
Here are some techniques for performing a first reading.
Keep a pencil handy, and read the play in one sitting. The audience will also see the play in one sitting, so this gives you a better idea of the audience’s experience. Your first impression is very important for guiding your vision, and it’s easy to forget when spacing out reading. Most plays can be read within a few hours, so it’s a realistic goal. There’s a lot to absorb as a whole with the characters, the descriptions, imagining the time and space, the language, the play’s emotions and moods, etc. Mark items that will need attention later so that you can find them easily.
Note unfamiliar references or words. This may include cultures, time periods, and vocabulary. If it’s confusing for you, it will likely be confusing for the actors and the audience. Making sure you have a understanding of these references will help ensure that the audience understands.
Visualize the stage directions. The stage directions represent suggestions regarding the play’s setting, sound, light effects, and perhaps what the characters wear or how they behave. They are often italicized and/or in brackets. They could be written by the author or by the editor. They could also be a combination of both. Some plays have little to no stage directions (such as Shakespeare) while others give directions in great detail (most modern playwrights). Part of your responsibility as the analyst is to ask if the playwright provided the directions, what is its purpose? Is it important to the storytelling, or is it there to affect your thinking about the characters? It’s also helpful to create a floor plan at this stage marking the general layout of the set, the doors, and any major items of furniture. Take away–pay careful attention to the stage directions during level one. You can choose to use them or throw them out later.
Gather information from the dialogue. Read the dialogue with the assumption that it will reveal something important (because it does). It often gives information on the setting and cultural information such as economic condition, education levels, religious affiliation, and ethnic prejudices. Dialogue also reveals information about the characters and their relationships. It reveals what information one character knows that another doesn’t know. Shared and unshared information affects the plot and the character’s relationships.
My acting teacher taught me that every character has an objective that they are constantly fighting for. Think of dialogue as one way that the character is fighting for their objective. Dialogue becomes an action with this mindset. Dialogue reveals the character’s tactics for reaching their objective in regards to every other character they interact with. Pay special attention to how the characters speak differently to each other.
Be aware of the play’s mood. Does it give you the impression of being comic or serious? Does it make you want to laugh or to cry? Whatever your reaction, pay attention to the information that made you feel that way. Ask yourself: what is my emotional response to the play? What made me react that way? How might an audience react to this performance? Something to remember–the mood grows not out of subject, but out of the way that the subject is treated. Comedies and tragedies can cover the same topics, but they treat them differently. Dramas are often a mixture of the two genres.
In summary – Questions to ask during your first reading:
- What was your gut response to the play? Which characters seemed to the most interesting? The least? Which parts of the play grabbed you? Which bored you?
- What is the play’s story? Review the basic plot.
- What unfamiliar words or references did you encounter? Make a list for future research.
- Make a diagram of the floor plan if it’s described.
- When and where is the play set? Where did you get that information? from the dialogue or the stage directions?
- Who are the characters, and what is their relationship to each other? How did you learn about them? From the stage directions or the dialogue? From their treatment of others?
- What was the overall mood of the play? Mostly serious? Comic? Tragic?
- Did you find yourself identifying with certain characters? Lacking sympathy for others?
Play analysis lays the foundation that the production will be built on. If it’s weak the production will suffer. We can’t have that now can we? Thanks for reading! XOXO.
The Struggling Artist 