As an audience member, it is fun to think about the play or movie you saw. This will help you enjoy and understand it. A good way to do this is to use four steps:

1. Describe what you saw and heard
2. Analyze the production - the play script, the acting, the design, and the design - think about what the artists chose to do
3. Interpret the play; find out what it means to you
4. Evaluate the play ; decide what you liked and what you'd like to see changed

Click on My Vocabulary to add these four new words to your dictionary.

A Beginning List of Questions
1. Describe what you saw and heard. Tell the story.
2. Analyze the show, look at the parts.

• Playwriting, what about the story was clear and original?
• Acting, did the actors concentrate, always think about their character? Did you believe they were the characters? Did their actions or pantomime show what was happening?   Did their dialogue help to tell the story? Could you hear what they said?

3. Interpret the play

• Tell how the play makes you feel.
• Think about what the play means. What did it tell you about people in general?

4. Evaluate the play

• What did you like?
• If you were to do it again, what would you change
  to make it easier for the audience to understand and enjoy the story and the characters?

An Advanced List of Questions to Critique a Play
1. Tell what the play was about, describe it.

• Where did it take place? What sounds did you hear?
• Who were the characters and what was the story?
• Was the play realistic? Did the characters seem like real people in a real setting? Or was it fantastic as if it was in a whole different world, not like ours at all?

2. Think about what the playwright, designers and actors did, analyze the play.

• The playwright made choices when he or she wrote the play
  • Which characters were interesting? Why?
  • What dialogue really fit the characters and helped you understand them? What dialogue helped to tell the story?
  • How did the setting help tell the story?
  • Was the story interesting, fun, scary? Why?
• The actors rehearsed the play
  • Which characters did you believe? Why? When did they listen to one another and sound and look as if they were talking to one another?
  • How did the actors move?
  • How did the actors talk?
• The designers made choices when they created the setting and costumes, lighting and sound
  • Did the set designer and costumer choose to make the setting and costumes seem real, like we would expect to see in real life? Or did they choose to make it seem fantastical, not real? How did that help tell the story?
    
  • What colors, lines and shapes did the set and costume designers choose? How did this help set the mood and tell the story?
  • Which props and costumes helped you know about the time and place of the play?
  • Did the lighting seem real or unreal? How did that help tell the story? Did the lighting help you see what was happening?
  • Were there sound effects? How did they help tell the story? Was there music? Did it help set the mood and tell the story? When?

3. How did the play make you feel? What did it make you think about? Interpret the play.

• How did the characters and play make you feel? Why?
• What was the play saying about people in general, or about life? What did the play mean to you?
• What might the play mean to your friends or family?

4. Think about the whole play, what did you particularly like. What would you like changed? Evaluate it.

• Did you enjoy the play? When was it particularly interesting or funny or scary? Is there anything you’d like to be different about the story.
• Which actor/characters did you particularly like? Is there anything you would ask the actors to do differently?
• Which settings and costumes were attractive? Which one made the play more interesting? Is there anything you’d ask the designers to do differently?
• Who would you tell about the play so they might go to see it?
  

Questions about Seeing a Movie or Video
These questions are very similar to those for watching a play, but you also need to think about what the camera let you see.

1. Tell what the movie or TV show was about, describe it

• Who were the characters?
• Where did the story take place?
• What was the story?
• Did the movie seem like real life or was it very fantastic, like a cartoon or science fiction story?

2. Think about what the screenwriter, the actors and the cameraman did, analyze the play

• The screenwriter made choices when he or she wrote the play
  • Which characters were interesting? Did they belong in this story?
  • When did the dialogue fit the characters? When did the dialogue tell the story? How did it do this?
  • When did the settings fit the story?
  • Was the story interesting, funny, scary? What made it so?
• The actors rehearsed the play
  • How did the actors move?
  • How did the actors talk?
  • When did you believe them?
• The camera person made choices about what the camera saw.
  • When and how did the camera show what happened in the story?
  • When and how did the camera let you see how the actors felt?
  • When did the camera let you see the setting? Why was this effective?
  • When did the camera images and effects add to the meaning of the drama – the close ups, the fades, the transitions from one scene to another?
• Sound designers make choices about what the audience hears
  • Which sound effects helped tell the story?
  • How did the music help set the mood and tell the story? When?

3. How did the movie or TV show make you feel? What did it make you think about? Interpret the movie.

• How did the characters and movie make you feel? Why?
• What was the movie saying about people in general, or about life? What did the play mean to you?

4. Think about the whole movie or TV show. What did you particularly like? What would you like to see changed? Evaluate the movie or video.

• Did you enjoy the movie? When was it particularly interesting or funny or scary? Is there anything you’d like to be different about the story, the characters or the settings?
• Did you believe in the characters? Is there anything you’d like to be different about the acting?
• Did the camera person help you see the action and the setting? Is there anything you’d like the camera person do differently next time?
• Who would you tell about the movie so they might go to see it?