Introduction to play analysis / Cal Pritner, Scott Walters, University of North Carolina-Asheville.

Includes index.

Why Analyze a Play? -- What Is Analysis? -- Reading at Multiple Levels -- The Glass Menagerie -- The Influence of Aristotle, Stanislavsky, and Others -- Play Analysis Leads to "Doing" -- Techniques for a First Reading -- A Structural Concept of Comedy Tragedy, and Drama -- A First Reading of The Glass Menagerie -- Questions for a First Reading of Any Play -- Concepts in Conflict Analysis -- The Structure of Dramatic Conflict -- Process for Determining the Conflict -- Conflict in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions about the Conflict-Resolution Structure in Any Play -- Given Circumstances: Stated and Implied -- Accuracy and Given Circumstances -- Research Sources -- Backstory: Events and Relationships that Precede the Play -- Setting: The Play's When and Where -- Social Systems that Affect the Characters -- Cultural Norms -- Plays in Translation -- Plays in Fantastical Settings -- Plays Emphasize Different Given Circumstances -- Gathering Information on Given Circumstances in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions about Given Circumstances in Any Play -- Organizing Information about Given Circumstances -- Contracts vs. Conventions -- Presentational and Representational Contracts -- Realistic and Nonrealistic Contracts -- The Theatrical Contract in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions about the Theatrical Contract in Any Play -- Aspects of Characters -- Stage Directions as Character Information -- Language Informs Us about Characters -- Dialogue Suggests Characters' Physical Actions -- Characters Evoke Conflict, and Conflict Reveals Character -- Characters in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions about Characters in Any Play -- The Scene as a Unit of Conflict -- Conflict Analysis Applied to Scene 2 of The Glass Menagerie -- Smaller Units: Actions and Beats -- Actions and Beats in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions on the Conflict-Resolution Structure in Any Scene -- Types of Supplemental Research -- Summary -- Conflict vs. Theme -- Relating Other Elements to Conflict -- Questions about Synthesis in The Glass Menagerie -- Questions about Synthesis in Any Play -- Testing and Enriching Our Analysis through Outside Resources -- Conclusion -- The Text of Hamlet -- The First Reading -- Given Circumstances -- Theatrical Contract -- Character, Language, and Thought Process -- Conflict Analysis -- Supplemental Research -- Synthesis -- How to Set Hamlet? -- Character Maps.

In this indispensable companion to any theatre class in which scripts are read and interpreted, Pritner and Walters offer five sequential levels of reading designed to lead to a deep understanding of the text. Level one imagines the play as performed in front of an audience; level two examines the deep structure of the conflict; level three examines given circumstances and the type of relationship the play creates between the audience and the production; level four looks closely at characters' behavior and reactions to their given circumstances, surveys conflict in each scene, and encourages supplemental research about the play; finally, level five synthesizes the information acquired from the preceding levels. Each chapter introduces a concept that is then explored by studying its application to The Glass Menagerie, chosen for both its accessibility and its complexity. Other plays discussed include works by Moli�ere, Shakespeare, Sophocles, and August Wilson. End-of-chapter questions are applicable to any play -- Provided by the publisher.