Tips for Reading Plays

 form your own opinion, so you can discuss your likes, dislikes and different
perspectives/interpretations regarding the play.
 go in with a blank slate. Sometimes an uncoloured and unbiased personal perspective
is worth more than a thousand reviews.
 my tip for going to watch a play is not to read the reviews beforehand as this would
shape your idea of the play before even seeing it for yourself. Many Slovenian
theatres publish scanned versions of theater critiques on their websites, which might
incite you to read them up. However, it might be a good idea to give the critiques a
glance after seeing a play, to compare your views and experiences with the “official”
ones, even if you (mostly) don’t agree with them

Cause, Effect, Plot, Pacing, Who’s Who?

 after you read the play, go back to the beginning and summarize for yourself what
kind of events led to a final consequence.
 jot down any questions you have while reading. That way you know what to look for
when re-reading and it also helps you stay engaged and focused.

When and Where

 read the entire text twice. Take some time in between. It is incredible how the same
text can transform together with our mood, thoughts and feelings.
 re-read the play a couple of times, especially if you have characters that are built only
on dialogues, as their character is a lot more difficult to understand, because they
function according to the dialogue and therefore it is a lot more difficult to piece
together their personality and their intentions. Plus you find may Easter eggs in the
play if you re-read it a couple of times.
 if you can find a reading/audiobook of a play, you can speed it up and get through the
play faster.
 take your time, do not hurry.
 make sure you are well rested before you start reading, so you can really concentrate
on the play.

Perspective and Staging

 read the play from the eye of an author or director. Imagine the positioning of the
stage, the background and the time sequencing.
 my advice for watching plays is to be familiar enough with the play to notice the
changes the production made to the original text, because I think that is the most
interesting part of theatre.
 “here’s my tip for a better time at the theatre” – “Everything’s there for a reason: pay
attention to things like stage directions, props, and pauses, then think about how do
they interact with the dialogue at hand.”
 my tip for reading drama is to read the lines aloud and pretend you’re the one playing
the character(s).
  I would advise people not to skip over stage directions. They convey valuable
information about the atmosphere of each act, as well as the emotions conveyed
through each character. And yes, even pauses are important.

Characters
 pay attention to the characters’ habits and/or tics, since they might be important for
the plot.
 pay attention to the characters’ language (use of grammar, vocabulary, slang, etc.)
 pay attention to how the appearance of a character changes, as it can indicate the
change in the character’s mental state. For example, Mary’s hair in O’Neill’s Long
Day’s Journey Into Night.
 pay close attention to the relationships between the characters and how they develop
throughout the play.
 visualize what a given character looks like, how s/he sounds, etc. Often characters are
not described in much detail in plays. Hence, a reader should try and make a specific
image of the character in their head and subsequently enhance their reading (the
character becomes and feels more real to the reader if that makes any sense).
 if there are more characters with similar names or they share many letters in their
names and thus confuse the reader, try using colours or draw certain small symbols
(like a circle or a square etc.) next to their lines in order to better distinguish between
them.

Expectations
 consider the title of the play. What does it tell, imply? What expectations does it
arise?
 my tip for reading drama is to try and pick something that interests you - if you can
that is. Reading drama can often be demanding and choosing something you are
interested in makes things easier.
 pay close attention to the names of the characters and the title of the play – also think
of the possible (hidden) meanings of the names and the title
 before reading the play take some time to really look through the list of characters. It
is useful to know the relationships between them as well as their roles without having
to look at the list when you are already reading the play.
 read the drama (text) before you see the play. That’s how you will be able to
understand every part of the play, even in case you don’t hear or see every little detail.
You will also be able to understand better what the play is trying to evoke

Language and Delivery

 pay attention to the punctuation since it is as important as stage instructions.

 observe how actors say their lines and not just what they say.
 my tip for reading a play is that the reader acts out the play in his/her head, i.e. that
he/she reads each character’s line in a different voice.

Background Information and Backdrops

 another one: if you want to understand the play, you need to consider its historical
background.
  research its socio-historical context as it may be crucial for understanding potential
references and sometimes even the message of the play.
 start reading with the awareness that you are not reading a novel so the style of the
writing is going to be different, which should not stop you from reading the whole
play.

FEEDBACK

 “play” is preferable to “drama.”

o David Mamet: “The theatre exists to present a contest between good and evil.
In both comedy and tragedy, good wins. In drama, it’s a tie.”
o “drama” sounds slightly non-native
 “text” is vague and thus (potentially) derisory when referring to a work of art:

“Have you read my novel?”

“I have managed to get through your text…”

 “possible” and morebitni are not always the same. I’ll leave it to the experts (i.e. you!)
to figure out why not. Feel free to let me know.
 “its” and “it’s” are not the same. A tip: when you hand in anything, look through for
this error.
 “critiques” and “reviews” are similar, but not the same.
o “I read the critiques after the premiere” (German accent required)
o “I read the reviews after the premier” (New York accent preferred)
 “arise” and “arouse”

arise. The meaning of arise ‘to get out of bed’ has now given way to rise, except in
literary use, and its principal current meaning in ordinary speech and writing is ‘to
come into existence or be noticed’; usually with reference to abstract concepts such as
questions, issues, difficulties, complications, doubts, thoughts, opportunities, etc. See
also arouse.

arouse. Rouse is almost always preferred in the literal sense with a person or animal
as object. Arouse is chiefly used to mean ‘to call into being’ with reference to feelings
and emotions. Generally, if you rouse someone you wake them or stir them into
activity; if you arouse them, you excite them or make them angry or suspicious: The
word ‘theory’ has always aroused suspicion amongst the English, who see themselves
as practical people and sound empiricists—B. Bergonzi, 1990 / About five o’clock we
were roused by the distant thudding of an engine—S. Stewart, 1991.

From Fowler’s Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage

 “possible” and morebitni are not always the same. I’ll leave it to the experts (i.e. you!)
to figure out why not. Feel free to let me know.
 Fowler’s is worth reading on etc.
 “really” is often not really needed (this is covered in 102 English Tips; see a snippet,
below)
o “I don’t really love this” makes one ponder the difference between to “love”
and “to really love”