The Art of Rehearsal: Conversations with Contemporary Theatre-Makers

201 Pages·2017·2.686 MB·English

by  Barbara Simonsen, Isabelle Reynaud, Deborah Vlaeymans

SCRIPT ANALYSIS FOR THEATRE
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SCRIPT ANALYSIS FOR THEATRE
TOOLS FOR
INTERPRETATION,
COLLABORATION
AND
PRODUCTION
Robert Knopf
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
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First published 2017
© Robert Knopf, 2017
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4081-8382-3
PB: 978-1-4081-8430-1
ePDF: 978-1-4081-8530-8
ePub: 978-1-4081-8518-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Cover Photograph © Geraint Lewis. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare,
A Royal Shakespeare Company Production directed by David Farr.
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To Katie

CONTENTS
Preface ix
acknowledgements xix
Introduction 1
1 The World of the Play 15
Given circumstances 16
Previous action 28
Dramaturgy 29
The writing of the play and order of scenes 32
Character 40
Environment 54
2 Structure and Action 59
Point of attack 60
Number of scenes 63
Number of locations 63
Number of characters 64
Number of plots 65
Type of causality 66
Actions and objectives 77
3 Process 129
Core action 129
Avant-garde 140
viii CONTENTS
4 Blueprints 145
Given circumstances blueprint 145
Character blueprint 146
Relationship blueprint 147
Structure blueprint 148
Environment blueprint 148
Appendices
A. Action Verbs 149
B. Sample Scores 155
select BiBliograPhy 171
index 173
BiograPhical 180
PREFACE
A History of Action-Based Approaches
to Dramatic Structure
KATIE KNOPF
This book proceeds from the assumption that every play contains a series of
peaks, or key moments, of different sizes; one of the principal tasks of script
analysis is to identify these moments and define the characters’ actions that
lead to them. This approach works equally well for almost any play, whether
it employs a predominantly climactic dramatic structure or an episodic one,
a masculine structure or a feminine one. The search for the most significant
and powerful key moments helps us chart a course through the otherwise
undefined landscape of the dramatic action; modulating these moments creates
the shape of the drama; and translating this shape into acting, directing,
and design choices is our ultimate goal. Even in a purely climactic dramatic
structure, smaller key moments lead to the final key moment, or climax, which
represent turns in the road and keep audiences guessing. Defining the moment-
to-moment journey is an art; as such, each theatre artist must make strong
artistic choices to distinguish his or her interpretation from others. Only by
recognizing the actions that create the journey, and by learning the language
with which to communicate and collaborate on shaping it, can theatre artists
turn script analysis into compelling theatre.
For well over 2,000 years, philosophers, scholars, and theatre artists have
devised methods to analyse and understand scripts. Aristotle wrote the earliest