Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers This page intentionally left blank Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers Fourth Edition James Thomas AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other- wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ( ϩ 44) 1865 843830, fax: ( 44) 1865 853333, E-mail: [email protected] . You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage ( http://elsevier.com ), by selecting “Support& Contact ” then “ Copyright and Permission ” and then“Obtaining Permissions. ” Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application submitted British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-81049-2 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com 09 10 11 12 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America For my respected colleagues at the Moscow Art Theatre School and for the great director Anatoly Efros. Their inspiring examples make a life in the theatre signifi cant. This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface x Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix CHAPTER 1 Action Analysis 1 Events 2 Action Analysis and Nonrealistic Plays 25 CHAPTER 2 Given Circumstances 38 Time 40 Place 45 Society 49 Economics 56 Politics and Law 58 Learning and the Arts 58 vii Spirituality 60 The World of the Play 60 Given Circumstances in Nonrealistic Plays 62 CHAPTER 3 Background Story 70 Technique 73 Identifi cation 77 Background Story in Nonrealistic Plays 89 CHAPTER 4 External and Internal Action 93 External Action 94 Internal Action 102 External and Internal Action in Nonrealistic Plays 11 4 CHAPTER 5 Progressions and Structure 129 Progressions 129 Structure 141 Progressions and Structure in Nonrealistic Plays 150 CHAPTER 6 Character 168 Objectives 169 Actions 172 Adaptations — An Aside 176 Confl ict 177 Will Power 179 Values 182 Personality Traits 186 Complexity 188 Relationships 190 Character in Nonrealistic Plays 191 The Score of a Role 193 CHAPTER 7 Idea 200 Idea in the Words 201 Idea in the Characters 210 Idea in the Plot 214 The Main Idea 218 Idea in Nonrealistic Plays 222 Postscript on Action Analysis 228 CHAPTER 8 Dialogue 229 Words 230 viii Sentences 232 Length 233 Speeches 239 Punctuation 239 Special Qualities 245 Poetry 246 Theatricality 251 Dialogue in Nonrealistic Plays 259 CHAPTER 9 Tempo, Rhythm, and Mood 263 Tempo 264 Rhythm 276 Mood and Atmosphere 279 Tempo, Rhythm, and Mood in Nonrealistic Plays 282 Closing Notes on Nonrealistic Plays 283 CHAPTER 10 The Style of the Play 287 Given Circumstances 287 Background Story 292 Plot 295 Character 302 Idea 304 CONTENTS Dialogue 306 Atmosphere 308 A Final Word 312 Appendix :Further Questions for Script Analysis 314 Bibliography 318 Index 324 ix CONTENTS Preface New in this Edition This edition contains new information about analysis of nonrealis- tic plays. Plays that depart from everyday reality in whole or in part, in content or in form, are being produced to a greater extent than ever. Because this type of writing does not coincide with observable reality, it is called nonrealistic. Throughout history much of dramatic literature has employed nonrealistic elements. Although some ele- ments may be nonrealistic, the plays themselves do not of necessity assert anything against realism itself. Nonrealistic plays, on the other hand, assert something against realism. They assert that realism itself is artifi cial, outmoded, or even contrary to the laws of nature. The plays singled out in this new edition are labeled nonrealistic because they are assertively so. Several of them were included in earlier edi- tions; however, they were treated there in terms of what they have in x common with plays in general. This edition also addresses the spe- cial challenges nonrealistic plays present. Nonrealistic plays have not displaced traditional or realistic works, and yet they are among the most representative plays of our time. Whether they will sooner or later become marginal and theatre will move in other directions remains to be seen. The reason for singling them out in this edition is to suggest that even novel and unusual devel- opments in drama continue to employ the basic features of dramatic form (plot, dialogue, character, idea, tempo –rhythm –mood), although in nonstandard ways. If this is true, then formalist analysis and its deriv- ative, action analysis, should be capable of providing ways to under- stand them. Furthermore, there should be no need for actors, directors, or designers to change their vocabulary, methods, questions asked, or means of coming to terms with the plays. The degree of diffi culty is without doubt greater than with realistic or classic plays, but the danger of being “out of sync ” with contemporary mentality is a worse prob- lem. On balance, the diffi culties encountered when trying to under- stand nonrealistic plays ought to be no greater than those encountered when trying to make sense of the contemporary world in general. This edition also gives increased attention to script analysis for designers. In most discussions of script analysis, the director is mentioned quite frequently. Ever since Stanislavsky, and Vsevelod Meyerhold, the role of the director has gained increasing importance. In fact, the notion of the director as the “primary creative thinker ” has become so ingrained in us that it has become, in effect, the theatre’s metanarrative, that is, a general explanation of all accumulated theat- rical knowledge and experience. Under this metanarrative, designers concern themselves essentially with the technical requirements of the play and turn to the director for the interpretive elements of their work. But this metanarrative never was entirely true, even for those directors who supposedly created it. From Stanislavsky and Meyerhold to Peter Brook and Julie Taymor, script analysis has always been more than the work of directors, or of actors either. Theatre production has invariably worked best when all the members of the production team develop a personal relationship with the play itself as well as with their specifi c creative tasks in the production. The increased attention given to design issues in this edition is intended to reinforce to this point of view. As a further point, the term mise-en-scene in the book refers collectively to scenery, lighting, costumes, sound, and makeup. Elements in the play suggest the mise-en-scene, which in turn theatricalizes the play. The new material goes together with routine editorial mainte- nance. I have continued to clarify inexact defi nitions, improve and xi update examples, and cull and update the Bibliography. The con- cepts of objectives, actions, and qualities have been reexamined to address the bothersome lack of clarity surrounding those terms. The revised Appendix includes additional questions for script analysis. This Book and Its Point of View This book is the outcome of teaching and directing experience acquired in theatre programs with a variety of educational objectives. In all of them, I found that at some point in the curriculum teachers require their students to analyze plays in a methodical fashion before the practical experience of acting, directing, and designing. Most the- atre programs require at least one course devoted to this purpose. In the process of teaching these and related courses, I have examined the- atre textbooks concerned with the craft of performance and literature textbooks concerned with the literary aspects of drama. I found very few intelligible, wide-ranging discussions of the dramatic potentials of a play explained in a way that is useful for actors, directors, and designers in their creative work. As a consequence, in too many cases, I found otherwise talented students unable to employ their talents to best advantage because they did not know how to study plays from a practical theatre point of view. PREFACE This book is designed to teach the serious theatre student the skills of script analysis using a formalist approach. By this, I mean fi rst that it uses a standard system of classifi cations to study the written part of a play, excluding performance, scenery, and so forth. Formalist methodology also means that the book does not cover all the topics included in the usual dramatic literature textbooks. There is no exten- sive attention to dramatic forms or styles; no scrutiny of historical – critical theories or sociopolitical implications; and no attention to the life, mind, or personality of the author (although the book relates to all these matters). This approach is not new. We know how scientists adopt the practice of neglecting certain data outside their own spheres of interest. Likewise professional theatre artists tend to avoid outside details and turn instead to the play itself when they are looking for the key to their work. The scientist and artist know all the time that the neglected information exists, but they act as if it did not for the special purposes of their work. I admit that this kind of restricted approach can claim no scholarly pretensions. The aim is practical and intended fi rst and foremost for the theatre. Most of this book deals with play analysis, but since the acts of thinking and reading are very well connected with this process, I xii have provided an Introduction that I hope will make those activities a little clearer.