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 ○ Use actions to express ideas of narrative, not words ● Written as dialogue and stage directions ○ 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 ○ ○ ○ 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 ○ ○ ○ ○ 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: ○ ○ ○ 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.
