English Literature

What is play • The manuscript of a play, especially as prepared

script? for use by actors in rehearsals.

Elements

Title
It’s the name of the play.
​
Playwright
It’s the author of the play.

Characters
They are different people that take part in the story.

Cast
The actors and actresses in a play.

Setting
It tells the time and place where the play happens in.

Stage directions
They tell actors/actresses what to do and where to go on stage, how to move and how to say their dialogues.

Dialogues
​They are the lines the characters speak in the play.
 Taking on a role requires performers to accept
the physicality, attitudes and beliefs of the
characters they are playing
Consider the characters background,
motivations and point of view
Characters
Consider how the character moves, and how
they might sound

Make choices that create a strong character

who has purpose in the drama
 • A heightened mental or emotional state resulting
from uncertainty about how the conflict or
problem in a drama will be resolved

• Can be created through timing or blocking

Tension/Conflict
• As the audience anticipates certain outcomes in
the plot, the tension builds
 Time and Place

The setting, time period ,

duration, and sequence of
Past, present, future
the action of a story or
drama

Over one day, one week, one

In a room, on a beach, etc.
year, etc.