21STCENLITQ2

• Plot

  This contains the story that the play narrates. The events in the play should be clear to the audience and have a logical connection with each other.
• Plot

  The action and movement. in the play begin from the initial entanglement or conflict, through rising action, climax, and falling action to resolution.
• Characters are interwoven with the plot, and they are the ones that move the action of the play forward. Each character should have their own distinct personality, age, appearance, beliefs, socio-economic background, and language.
• Theme/Thought

  It refers to the central idea of the play.
• The theme also contains the message that the play gives to the audience. It may be clearly stated in the title, through dialogue or action, or it may be inferred after watching and analyzing the entire performance.
• Language/Diction

  It is the word choices made by the playwright and how the actors enunciate the language.
• Language/Diction

  Language and dialogue delivered by the characters move the plot and action along, provide exposition, and define the distinct characters.
• Language/Diction

  Each playwright can create their own specific style in relationship to language choices they use in establishing character and dialogue.
• Music/Rhythm

  Music can encompass the rhythm of dialogue and speeches in a play or can also mean the aspects of the melody and music compositions as with musical theatre
• Music/Rhythm

  Each theatrical presentation delivers music, rhythm and melody in its own distinctive manner. Music is not a part of every play. But, music can be included to mean all sounds in a production.
• Music/Rhythm

  Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor's voices, songs, and instrumental music played as underscore in a play.
• Music/Rhythm

  Music creates patterns and establishes tempo in theatre. In the aspects of musical, songs are used to push the plot forward and move the story to a higher level of intensity.
• Music/Rhythm

  Composers and lyricists work together with playwrights to strengthen the themes and ideas of the play. Character's wants and desires can be strengthened for the audience through lyrics and music.
• The spectacle in the theatre can involve all of the aspects of scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production.
• Spectacle refers to the visual elements of the play created for theatrical event and the qualities determined by the playwright that create the world and atmosphere of the play for the audience's eye
• A paper that contains a formal, written discussion of a performance of a play or musical is called a theater critique. However, the process of analyzing a piece, whether it is a prose or a poem, is called literary criticism.
• Formalistic

  Stresses items like symbols, images, and structure and how one part of the work relates to other parts and to the whole
• Philosophical

  Focuses on themes, view of the world, moral statements, and author's philosophy
• Biographical

  Aims to find the connection between the piece and the author's personal experiences
• Historical

  Focuses on the connection of work to the historical period in which it was written; literary historians attempt to connect the historical background of the work to specific aspects of the work.
• Psychological

  Focuses on the psychology of characters.
• Sociological

  Focuses on man's relationship with others in society, politics, religion, and business
• Archetypal

  Focuses on connections to other literature, mythological/biblical allusions, archetypal images, symbols, characters, and themes
• Feminist

  Examines images of women and concepts of the feminine in myth and literature: uses the psychological, archetypal, and sociological approaches; often focuses on female characters who have been neglected in previous criticism.
• Feminist critics attempt to correct or supplement what they regard as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective
• For nascent critiques

  Script analysis often starts with identifying the "given circumstances" or the characteristics of the world of the play explicitly or implicitly found in the script.
• For nascent critiques

  These given. circumstances place the action of the play in context for actors, designers, and audience members. Some of these are clarified in stage directions, while others are inferred from characters' lines. As you read the script, each of the following should be identified:
• For nascent critiques

  Time

  The specific time the scene takes place. Time of day, time of week time of year. For example, how would a scene that takes place in the middle of a winter night compare to a scene that takes place on a hot afternoon minutes before summer vacation?
• For nascent critiques

  Period

  The general or historical time period in which the play is set (e.g., the Dark Ages, the 1950s, or in the faraway future.) How might the period influence the dialogue? How might the costumes or set pieces reflect the period?
• For nascent critiques

  Place

  The specific place on stage where the action occurs. (e.g., a fancy living room, a sterile doctor's office, or a ravaged battlefield). Is it an interior or exterior location? What sort of set pieces could suggest the place for the audience? How would characters feel or behave in this place compared to other places?
• For nascent critiques

  
  

  Locale

  The general region where the play is set (e.g., New York City, the rural American South, under the sea.) What makes this locale unique compared to other locales?
• For nascent critiques

  MoodThe atmosphere, or feeling of a scene. (e.g., suspenseful, humorous, chaotic) What about the scene that causes this mood? Caution: Avoid having actors "play the mood," but instead focus on their objective. For example, many humorous scenes are funny because characters are not getting what they want. The humor of the scene rings more authentically when the actors are not focused on "being funny," but are focused on their character's objective in the scene.
• For nascent critiques

  ThemeWhat ideas does this play make you think about? Does it have a question that it sets out to answer or explore? How do the events of the play develop these ideas?
• For intermediate critiques What distinguishes drama from other forms of writing is that it is made primarily of dialogue characters speaking to each other (or to the audience), with some actions indicated through stage directions.
• For intermediate critiques

  Unlike prose, drama largely does not include narration, unless the playwright has included a narrator character. Because dialogue is the primary medium of drama, all dialogue should serve two purposes: revealing character and furthering the plot. When analyzing a scene, it is helpful to think about it in terms of text, context, and subtext:
• For intermediate critiques

  TextThe actual words written by the playwright and spoken by the actors. As you analyze the text, look up any words, expressions, or references that are unfamiliar.
• For intermediate critiques

  Context The situation surrounding the characters, which influences the decisions they make. Where are the characters? Why are they there? Where were they before the beginning of this scene?
• For intermediate critiques

  Subtext Where are they going after this scene? The underlying meaning of what the characters say. For example, suppose a character says, "Everything is fine." The meaning, or subtext, of this phrase changes depending on their tone and body language. Are they being serious, or sarcastic? To look for the subtext within dialogue, consider what each character wants and what obstacles they face. Why do they say the words. they do? Does it help them move toward their objectives?
• For advance critiques

  All plays can be reduced to a few basic ideas: a character wants something, something hinders the character from achieving what they want, and the character tries different tactics to get what he or she wants
• For advance critiques

  There may be all manner of variations on this formula, but all drama stems from conflict arising from characters pursuing what they want despite obstacles. As you reread the script, the following ideas must be identified: Objective What the characters want or need within the given moment. It helps actors to frame their objective in statements beginning with "I want" or "I need." All characters should have objectives, not just the protagonist.