Reasons to Analyze a Play

Series Summary

A play, or stageplay, is a form of literature written by a playwright, almost always consisting of dialogue between fictional characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than reading. The term "play" or "straight play" is often used in contrast to a "musical", which refers to a play based on music, dance, and songs sung by the play's characters. Many people, especially scholars, read plays for pleasure, or study them in an academic manner. Whether someone is acting in a play, directing a play, or just a scholar interested in various forms of literature, play analysis is a great way to discover everything there is to know about a play's characters, themes, directions, and the playwright's intentions. In this free video series, a college professor will teach you everything you need to know about analyzing a play, beginning with the title and moving on to basic dramatic questions, conflicts, form, characters, dialogue, and much more. You'll learn how to compare text to subtext, how to identify setting, and how to take the author into account. With these theatre tips, you'll have a greater understanding of the every aspect of plays and the stage!

Video Transcript

"Hi there. I'm Tracy Goodwin and I'm the red sweater lady. And, today we're going to be talking about how to analyze a play. And, this is the Francis Hodge version of Analyzing a Play. Now, who might analyze a play? Well, maybe you're an actor and you've been cast in a play or you've been assigned something in one of your theater classes. Or, perhaps you're directing a play and you want to do the best directing job that you can. Well, the best way to find out everything about a character. The best way to find out how to direct the play, trying to find out what the playwright's intentions were is to analyze the play. And, you can't really analyze a play unless you know the specific steps that you want to follow. And, actually there's some very detailed and very specific steps that you want to follow when you're going to analyze a play. And, we're going to walk through it step by step. I encourage every actor that I work with, whether they're doing a monologue or whether they're doing a scene or even if they've been cast in an entire play or movie to analyze the entire piece. That way they know the full concept of the character and his role or her role in the world of the play. So, let's get started."