An Octoroon - The Art Of Dramatic Composition: A Prologue
Script Analysis:
1000 Words
Use two other resources:
Background information:
May include: What is the play, who wrote it, when is it from, what style is it written in, who commissioned it, how popular has it been over history, where is it most popular, etc.?
Then break down basic needs of play:
PERFORMER: How many actors are needed? How many parts could be played by the same actor?
STAGE(time): How many scenes does it have? How many represented locations? Special locations (mobile ones, people on a walk, water, etc.)? In other words, what is the scripts expected space of performance?
AUDIENCE: What is the show's relationship to its audience? What kind of world(s) does it support, build, offer to the audience? (does the audience sit there and watch, move about, have intermissions, etc.)
Describe the Stasis of the play. Describe the exposition, is it spoken? In the stage directions? Does the exposition describe stasis or does it set up the action to disrupt to stasis? What event disrupts stasis, and how? Are there more disruptions to stasis across characters?
Describe the characters in terms of their actions! What do they do, their deeds define them in drama.
What happens that makes something else happen? What is the synopsis of the domino of events in the play?
What appears to be the climax?
How does the play resolve in language? In image?
What are possible themes? What evidence supports your conclusions regarding themes? How do these themes find fulfilment in performance as opposed to in the script?