Download How to Read a Play - Emporia State University

Commentary by Jim Bartruff
From materials by Ronald Hayman
and David Ball
The Old Testament

Then the King’s countenance was
changed, and his thoughts
troubled him so that the joins of
his loins were loosed and his
knees smote one against the other.
And the King spake, and said,
“Whosoever shall read this
writing and show me the
interpretation thereof, shall be
clothed with scarlet and have a
chain of gold around his neck.”
(Daniel 5:7)
HAMLET

Polonius: What do you read my lord?
Hamlet: Words. Words. Words.
Polonius: What is the matter, my lord?
Hamlet: Between who?
Polonius: I mean the matter that you
read, my lord.
Hamlet: Slanders sir…
Polonius: Those this be madness, yet
there is method in in’t.
How do you read a play
for the purpose of
production?
It is a manuscript heavily
dependent upon the special
methods and techniques of the
stage.
In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S
DREAM, Bottom says…

“First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on.”
(Act One, Scene 2)
Analyzing a script requires
some effort!
ACTION
OBSTACLE
CONFLICT
THEATRICALITY
IS WHAT MAKES
A PLAY INTERESTING.
Theatricality elicits a strong
audience response.
Exposition provides a context for
action.
CHARACTER

Is always revealed through action…
Image

There are two kinds of communication…
1) The domain of science or philosophy describes
phenomena one part at a time…like dictionary definitions or
isolated element by isolated element. This type of
communication specifies and limits. (Rational, Scientific)
2) The second kind does not deal with a single
element of time, but rather, expresses a collection of
multiple, simultaneous elements…the domain of art. This
form of communication expands and evokes. (Instinctive,
Artistic)
Without images, we need paragraphs of description. Yet an
image can communicate many words in a single image.

“Words. Words. Words.”
Images in Titles

The Dance of Death (Strindberg)
The Glass Menagerie (Williams)
The Children’s Hour (Hellman)
Ghosts (Ibsen)
The Seagull (Chekhov)
Don’t ignore the titles…what do the titles evoke?
Theme

What is the play about?
Theme is an abstract concept made concrete by
a play’s action. Theme is not meaning; it is a
topic in the play. Theme is a result; it emerges
from the script’s workings…look for it last in
your reading.
Background

Every kind of information is useful…on the author, on the
era, the environment, etc. The most useful information often
comes from other works by the same author.
Trust the playwright

Oftentimes, directors give up rather than trying to find
the point of a difficult or arcane section of text. Think
twice before cutting…
To be, or not, to be, that is the question.
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.
Families

Family relationships are at or near the center of almost
every play…
Oedipus
Hamlet
Death of a Salesman
CLIMAX
BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
READING AND REREADING
THINK OF THE SCRIPT AS A TOOL. BEFORE
YOU PICK IT UP TO USE, KNOW WHICH IS
THE HANDLE AND WHICH IS THE BLADE—OR
YOU MIGHT CUT YOUR THROAT.
What else?

 Setting
 Use of space and time
 Stage directions about action
 Sound and sound effects
 Silence
 Masks and disguises
 Irony
 Meaning and experience
Hamlet to the players

…but let your own discretion be
your tutor: suit the action to the
word, the word to the action; with
this special observance that you
o'erstep not the modesty of nature:
for any thing so overdone is from
the purpose of playing, whose end,
both at the first and now, was and
is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up
to nature; to show virtue her own
feature, scorn her own image, and
the very age and body of the time
his form and pressure. (III.2)
Online sources

UNC Writing Center
Other Sources

 Hayman, Ronald. HOW TO READ A PLAY, Grove Press,
1977.
 David Ball. BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS, A
Technical Manual for Reading Plays, SIU Press, 1983.
 Eugene Giddens, editor. HOW TO READ A
SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY TEXT, Cambridge University
Press, 2011.
How do you…

…read
a script?