Play Analysis: Basic Dramatic Question

Video Transcript

"Alright, now we're ready for letter "D", which is the basic dramatic question. So alright, I've already given you the first clue, it's going to be a question. You're asking a question about the whole play. What's the point of the whole play. If we're talking again about Equus, which is, if you don't know the play, Equus is about a young boy who, he loves horses and he actually ends up, they kind of become his god, and he blinds six of them because he does something he thinks they won't approve of. So, if I were asking the basic dramatic question of Equus, even though there's lots of different story lines that are going on, we've got the Psychiatrist, who's struggling with his own life, we've got the mother, who's struggling with why her son could commit such a crime, a lot of different things going on in the play just as there are in most plays and movies. But what is the one question that we can ask that sums up the whole point of the play? Well, if we were doing Equus, my basic dramatic question is, "Why did he do it"? Why did Alan blind the six horses? So you have to take a look at the whole play, the whole picture and then if you were allowed to ask one question, and get one answer about this entire play, what would that question be?"