Introduction
When the latest installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was released, fans were surprised to find that this was not the usual novel they’d come to expect from the series at all… this was something new, something different, something unexpected…this was a PLAY!
Fans were not sure how to approach the new genre, they felt suspicious, and, perhaps, betrayed. But reading a play is actually a lot like reading a novel in some ways: You need to think about character, plot, and theme. But unlike a novel, you need to think about what the characters look like (who would play Harry?), what they wear, how they move, and what the stage looks like on which they perform.
Plays often use less narrative description and rely on dialogue to provide clues about the environment in which the characters exist. Sometimes, depending on the playwright’s style, stage directions can help readers know what the set looks like or how actors should deliver a specific line. Otherwise, these choices are left to the director and their creative team. When you read a play, you get to make the choices for how a play looks and sounds that would otherwise be up to the director.
Reading a Play vs. Seeing a Play
Most plays are written not to be read in books but to be performed. True, plays are meant to be seen on stage, but reading a play may afford advantages. Not everyone has the time nor the opportunity to see a production. Even if you have the resources, opportunities and selections available to you, there is no way for you to see ALL of the wonderful plays in existence. Therefore, reading a play will expose you to the story and masterpiece while allowing for imagination and innovation on your part. A play is literature before it comes alive in a theater, and it might be argued that when we read an unfamiliar play, we meet it in the same form in which it first appears to its actors and its director. If a play is rich and complex or if it dates from the remote past and contains difficulties of language and allusion, to read it on the page enables us to study it at our leisure and return to the arts that demand scrutiny.
But even if a play may be seen in a theater, sometimes to read it in print may be our way of knowing it as the author wrote it in its entirety. Producers of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and other masterpieces often leave out whole speeches and scenes, or shorten them. So reading a play allows for the reader to see first hand what the creator envisioned and not some aspiring Spielberg’s version. There are also the actors to consider. Each actor brings his/her own take to the play and to the character he/she is playing. There are often layers upon layers of interpretation to wade through before really getting at the original play. Reading the play gives you a chance to create the character, to imagine the scene, and to “see” what you want to see.
Most plays, whether seen in print or in a theater, employ some conventions: customary methods of presenting an action, usual and recognizable devices that an audience is willing to accept. In reading a great play from the past, such as Othello, it will help if you know some of the conventions of the classical Greek theater, for example.
When we read a play on the printed page and find ourselves swept forward by the motion of the story, we need not wonder how and from what ingredients the playwright put it together. Still, to analyze the structure of a play is one way to understand and appreciate a playwright’s art. Analysis is complicated, however, because in an excellent play the elements (including plot, theme, and characters) do not stand in isolation. Often, deeds clearly follow from the kinds of people the characters are, and from those deeds it is left to the reader to infer the theme of the play–the general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from it. Perhaps the most meaningful way to study the elements of a play (and certainly the most enjoyable) is to consider a play in its entirety.
The most important thing to remember when studying a play is that most plays were not written to be read but to be performed in front of an audience. It is important to pay attention not just to what is said by characters, but to whom, to who else on stage can overhear this and to how other characters would react. Also pay attention to stage directions and to implicit directions in what characters say so that you can form a mental picture of what characters are doing. Consider how characters’ lines might be spoken differently by different actors and how this would affect the meaning.
A good exercise is to look at a play from the perspective of a director, a casting director, a props and scenery manager, a costume-team leader or a lighting engineer. Think about the decisions that all these different people would make in order to bring the script to life on the stage. It is very difficult to understand how plays work as theatre without having first-hand experiences of performances, so if it is at all possible, you should see a live performance of the play that you are studying. Failing this, watching film versions of the play is also helpful. Seeing more than one production is a good way to understand how different directors can interpret the same script in very different ways and will help you to start thinking about what you would do in their position.
Find the Film
If at all possible, rent and watch a version of the play you’re reading. Many libraries have collections of recorded stage performances, and it will help you immensely to see the drama performed even if (as is often the case with Shakespeare) it is an abbreviated version. Of course, it goes without saying that if you can see it performed live, by all means do so.
Practice: Look up the title of a Shakespeare play on a movie database website. See if you can find a direct film adaptation (Taming of the Shrew) and a modern retelling of a play (10 Things I Hate About You, based on the same play).
Remember which Characters are on Stage
It’s easy to skip the stage directions when you read, but resist the temptation. Knowing who is on stage at any given time helps you figure out what characters are aware of at any given time. Also, remember that when only one character is on stage, you’re usually going to get a glimpse of that character’s thoughts and motivations.
Practice: Halfway through reading a scene, stop reading and, from memory, see if you can name every character currently on stage. Perhaps even draw out the stage to see who is doing what, where.
Hear the Play
Before the 20th Century, when people described the experience of a play they would say not that they “saw” a play, but that they “heard” a play. Unlike movies or television, with close-ups and cutaways, a play happens in real time, and it happens in your ears. Read out loud important scenes or read parts with others. This lets the sometimes hidden drama of a printed play out into its natural element.
Practice: Many plays can be found in their audio-only formats. This is especially true of Shakespeare plays. See if you can find and hear a CD or mp3 version of the play you’re studying.
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Summary
More often than not, directors are some of the most skilled play readers out there. Directors are able to read a play and simultaneously see and hear it in their minds. They can visualize the numerous possibilities for how a given scene might look or sound in different kinds of theatres and in front of different audiences.
As you become more used to reading plays, you too, will be able to more naturally see the characters and hear the dialogue spoken in your imagination. You will also begin to understand how slight changes in elements like costume, scenery, or delivery, can alter the meaning of the scene or the relationship between two characters. No two productions of a play are ever the same, often because of decisions that different directors make about their production to different effects. As you read for class, keeping elements in mind like, casting, setting, historical context in mind, will help you to form your own strong interpretation of the text.
