Seeing and Hearing Theater

"Drama [theater, film, and television] has become immensely important in our time. More human beings than ever before see more drama than ever before and are more directly influenced, conditioned, programmed by drama than ever before. Drama has become one of the principal vehicles of information, one of the prevailing methods of "thinking" about life and its situations" (Martin Esslin, THE FIELD OF DRAMA, 1987, 13).

It is possible to see and hear just the story of a play or film -- and with less realistic drama even that may be difficult. But with careful questioning of all elements of the performance -- the script, the directing and acting, the setting, costuming, lighting and sound -- it is possible to gain an understanding of the choices of the artists involved as well as a rich understanding of life.

The process of the drama critic starts with a description of the play and production, followed by analysis, interpretation, and finally, evaluation.

Description

• Where did the play take place; what was the environment?
  
  
• Who were the major characters?
  
  
• What was their story?
  
  
• Was the play realistic? Did these seem like real people in a real setting?

Analysis

• Playwright choices about the script (text)
  How were the characters related to one another?
  What were their motivations -- what did they want?
  How did they determine story events?
  How did the environment affect the characters' actions and the story?
  What was the major problem in the story? Was it solved?
  How?
  What was the time sequence of the play? Were there flash-backs?
  What kind of language did the characters use? Did any of them speak differently than others? Why?
  
  
• Actor choices
  How did the actors move and speak? Did they seem like "real" people? If not, why not?
  How did they relate to the other characters?
  
  
• Designer choices
  What choices did the costume designer make about color and materials for the costumes?
  What did the set designer include? for props (hand held objects) and set pieces (furniture, trees, houses, etc.)? What was left to the imagination? What colors, lines, shapes, textures, levels did the set designer use?
  What choices did the lighting designer make about the color, intensity (lightness or darkness) of the light, and about light patterns? How did this affect the play?
  What choices did the sound designer make about music (was it fast, slow, loud, soft) and sound effects?
  What design elements were symbols used to tell about the characters and the story?
  Did the costume colors and shapes suggest anything about the characters and how they were related to one another?
  Were any of the set choices about objects, color, etc. symbolic of what was happening in the play? (For instance, a setting that has bright colors suggests happy, comedic plays, grays and blacks, sad, tragic places. A tree could represent life. A hand prop might symbolize the feelings or fears of a character; for instance, a guarded suitcase may symbolize the evil secret of past deeds.)
  
  
• Director choices
  What was the period/style of the play production (the time and setting, the way it was done--modern, historical, realistic, non-realistic)?
  What tempo (fast, slow) did the director choose for the play?
  What stage pictures (how the actors were arranged in the setting) helped to tell the story and share the mood of the play?
  Did all of the elements, script, acting, design fit together? Why or why not?

Interpretation

• Did the playwright and director want to make a comment about life now? What do you think it was?
  
  
• How did the characters and play make you feel?
  
  
• What did the play mean to you?
  
  
• What might it mean to others?

Evaluation

First it is important to understand why a play was created, who it was created for, the effectiveness of the artists' choices in sharing a feeling and meaning for the play. Then we will have earned the right to discuss what we liked or did not like about the play and this particular production.

• Why do you suppose the playwright wrote this play? Why did the director and producer chose to produce the play now?
  
  
• When did the playwright's choices of character, environment, story, and language create a mood and have meaning for you? When didn't they? Why?
  
  
• When were the actors able to tell the story? When weren't they? Why?
  
  
• Which designer choices helped to set the mood and tell the story? Which didn't? Why?
  
  
• Who would enjoy this play? This production?

In the classroom discuss:

• What was successful about the scene we just did? (Consider especially playwright and actor choices.)
  
  
• If we were to do it again, how might we change it? Why?

(Adapted by Lin Wright from " Learning to Look/Looking to Learn" by Mary Stockrocki, 2000.)