Engl 209: Contemporary British and American
Literature
Notes About Reading Drama
Reading drama is
differentfrom reading fiction because it is so much sparer. The author tells
thereader or actor very little about the characters, usually only in
thestage directions which the viewers of a play don't
see.
Both actor and reader,then,
have to read the stage directions carefully and to make inferencesfrom what is
learned about characters in the dialogue. From what the characterssay, you
have to construct an interpretation of who they are.
Characters
The first thing youwant
to get straight about the play is the characters; plot in drama islargely
defined by the interactions between CHARACTERS. So there are twothings you
need to figure out:
1. What happens and
hashappened to each character and who they are as a result of these
events.
We call this finding
the"through-line".
A good way to
establisha through-line is to think about motivation:what makes each
character tick? What do they want, what motivatestheir actions and
words?
Actors often think
interms of finding the"SPINE" ofa character, the essential quality that holds them
together.
2. How the
charactersinteract.
We call this finding
the"cross-lines".
This play is about a
family,so we have to understand how each of the family members relates to
eachother. How does Ozzie relate to Harriet? How do they both relateto
Ricky and to David? How do David and Ricky relate to each other?Then
we have to look at the other crosses. How does Zung relate toDavid and
to the other members of his family? What is each character?srelationship
with every other character?
What is each
character'srelationship with every other character?
What do we find out
aboutthe history of each character in the play? What does their past tell
usabout them now?
Pick a character to
specializein. Using that character's past history, construct your sense of
that character'sspine or motivation. What makes him or her tick? What is
their ruling passion.How do they relate to each of the other
characters?
Plot
Traditionally
(sinceAristotle) plot in plays has been described in terms of a four-part
movementfromcomplication to reversal throughrecognitionto
resolution
The complicationis the beginning of the
action, where all the conflicts gets set up, thewires get crossed, the
people oppose each other, the lovers get lost fromone another etc. What gets
complicated in this play?
The reversalor "PERIPETIA" is a
sudden turn inthe action of a play, the moment in a tragedy where the hero
falls (likewhen Adam bites the apple or Macbeth murders the king). Are there
any suddenturns in this play?
Another kind of
crisiscan be a crisis ofknowing, a sudden illumination,
understanding,or recognition (like when Oedipus finally figures out
thathe isthe murderer he has been searching for). What are the
crucial moments ofrecognitionin the play? Who recognizes what? What does this tell us about
theTHEMESof the play, the meanings it is exploring, the message it
wants to getacross?
The resolutionis the way the play gets
resolved in the end. If it's a comedy, the playgenerally ends with a
marriage, a party, a dance. Comedies end with thehero's integration into
society. Tragedies are about the hero's isolationfrom society, so they
typically end in death or exile. How does this playend? Is it a comedy or a
tragedy?
What seem to be themost
dramatic moments in the play? Where are the crises?
Theme
Other ways of gettingat
the THEME involve paying attention to what the playwright
emphasizes.
Whatideas and concerns are repeated, brought up again and
again?
Whatideas have the strongest, most vivid imagery and/or figurative
languageassociated with them?
Whatwould you identify as the most important line in the
play?
Goto Initial
Study Questions for Sticks and Bones
since July 26,
1997.
