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When you read a play, try to really read it: read it aloud, at least in parts, adding intonation and gesture – no matter how tentatively – and think about the space or spaces that the text delineates and creates. Take time to linger on what you are reading: the details matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH9e8pbg4gM
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a play reading, it is when a play is read out loud by actors with scripts in hand. The goal is for the playwright to hear the written words spoken by actors. … The goal of the first reading is for the playwright to hear how actors read and interpret the script.
The more plays you read, you’ll find yourself beginning to see and understand character archetypes. You will also see how character informs a story and this is extremely important for actors. You can also begin to see the intricacies and nuance of characters, and their motivations.
Reading is an interpretation that is entirely ones own. You get to find every character on your own. Seeing a play lets you experience that same thing but with the interpretation of others put over it. Seeing a play can be especially important if it’s an experience that you can’t know on your own.
Plays are meant to be performed (heard and seen), and reading them silently means everyone misses out on the experience entirely. Utilize active sessions by breaking the class into groups, assigning them scenes to read aloud as a group and to then discuss.
Drama is created and shaped by the elements of drama which, for the Drama ATAR course, are listed as: role, character and relationships, situation, voice, movement, space and time, language and texts, symbol and metaphor, mood and atmosphere, audience and dramatic tension.
The five elements of drama are the thought, theme, and ideas; action and plot; characters; language; and music. The spectacle, consisting of the scenery, props, costumes and special effects of a production, is also an element of drama.
Role and character, relationships, situation, voice, movement, focus, tension, space, time, language, symbol, audience, mood and atmosphere.
Practically, it means that plays make for quick reads. Even very long scripts like Angels In America and The Kentucky Cycle are shorter than most novels, and the vast majority of plays fall somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000 words — roughly the length of a short story — and can be read in an hour or so.
Watching a theatrical performance can bring it to life for you. When you’re studying a play – possibly Shakespeare, possibly an Aussie playwright – it can sometimes seem dull or even pointless.
The characters come to life, as does the way they relate to and interact with each other. And, particularly important in the case of Elizabethan or Jacobean drama, the language becomes more accessible. Not surprisingly, more pleasure and increased understanding is likely to be reflected in much higher grades.
The principle difference, to my mind, is time. Plays are experienced at a tempo the audience doesn’t select; a novel is read at the pace of the reader. … And there are architectural feats that make novels look extraordinary, and make plays look self-involved.
The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts (acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnTOxfu2RXw
A stage reading is a form of theatre without sets or full costumes. … In play-development workshopping, the stage reading is one of the forms of workshop, along with the rehearsed reading, the exploratory workshop, and the full workshop production. It is an inexpensive way to get a new play in front of an audience.
Your character is a set of beliefs that define what sort of person you are. Your opinion of another person’s character is based on the impression the person makes concerning his or her attitudes or actions toward things you value. Although character is related to personality, it is not the same thing.
Modern Drama refers to plays written in the 19th and 20th centuries whereas contemporary drama refers to plays written today. Modern dramatists include such playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, and Henrik Ibsen.