Script Analysis
What is a script?
● A written story that is intended to be performed by actors in front of an
audience.
● Different from other types of literature
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Use actions to express ideas of narrative, not words
● Written as dialogue and stage directions
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Actors know what to say and do on stage.
● Each production can interpret the script in their own way
Act & Scene
Setting
Elements of a
Script
Character
Stage directions
Dialogue
Narration
● Acts
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Large sections of a play that contain the
main action
Defined by elements like rising action,
climax, and resolution
Divided into smaller parts called scenes.
● Scenes
Act & Scene
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Usually a few minutes long
Represent actions happening in one place
at one time
Can occur when there is a change in the
play's setting, characters, or plot
Often marked off from the next scene by
a curtain, blackout, or brief emptying of
the stage
Setting
The place or type of surroundings
where something is positioned or
where an event takes place.
Character
A person in a novel, play, or movie.
Stage Directions
● Usually written in italics
● Show what the characters are doing
● Three main types of lines:
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Dialogue
Monologues
Soliloquies
Dialogue: An exchange of spoken words
between two or more characters
Lines
Monologue: A long speech given by a single
character
Soliloquy: A type of monologue where a
character expresses their innermost thoughts
or feelings, but it's not meant to be heard by
the other characters.
Soliloquy
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare's character Hamlet
delivers a soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, beginning with
the famous line, "To be, or not to be—that is the
question". This speech gives the audience insight into
Hamlet's depression and loss of will to live after
learning of his father's murder.
Narration
Usually just one voice explaining a
story or a series of events,
Narration
In the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, the
chorus presents the story to the audience
and provides background information.
The chorus is a single narrator, a concept
that Shakespeare borrowed from Greek
theater, where the chorus was an ensemble
that kept the story moving.