Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers, 3rd Edition

APPENDIX A

Supplementary Topics for Script Analysis

Throughout this book a play is treated as an independent object with its own self-contained context. A good play becomes even better, however, when its external connections as well as its internal features are understood. After studying the life of the author, his or her other works, and the author’s world, a play becomes more fascinating, the characters grow, the plot thickens, and the whole work seems to mushroom. It becomes part of something on a scale greater than itself. In other words, while Formalist Analysis and Action Analysis can reveal the internal qualities of a play, outside information is necessary for a completely professional understanding.

Topics to guide the initial steps of ...