Three extracts from three plays
You work with three short extracts, each from a different play. Choose extracts that differ in period, style or genre (for example one realistic, one comic, one from a classical text).
For each one, know the whole play in a few lines: story, main idea, where this extract falls and why it matters. An extract is a window; you must know the room it looks into.
Reading the text first
Start from the words, not from ideas for fancy staging. Ask:
- Who is there and how are they related?
- Where and when does it happen?
- What does each person want in this scene, and what stops them?
- What changes between the start and end of the extract?
- What clues are in the language (long or short lines, questions, pauses, repeated words)?
These facts are the given circumstances. Every choice you make later must fit them.
The performer's choices
A performer shows meaning through voice, body and space.
- Voice: pace, volume, pitch, pauses, emphasis on key words.
- Body: posture, gesture, facial expression, gaze.
- Space: distance between characters, who stands higher, who blocks whose way.
- Relationship: closeness, status, trust or fear.
Test options: say one line three ways. Move two steps closer, then two steps away. Note what changes and why it fits the text.
The designer's choices
A designer shapes how the stage looks and sounds.
- Set: shapes, levels and objects; open space or crowded room.
- Lighting: colour, brightness and angle (warm = friendly, cold = distant, low side light = threat).
- Sound: music, silence, noises off stage.
- Costume and props: colour, age, status, what a character carries.
Each design idea needs a reason from the text: for example "cold blue light because the characters are no longer close".
The director's concept
A concept is one clear idea that guides every choice. Example: "The scene is an interrogation." Then the actor sits stiff, the light is hard and cold, the space is tight.
- State the concept in one sentence.
- Decide what it says about the theme.
- Make acting and design choices follow it.
- Test: would the audience understand this without being told?
A concept must respect the text. If the lines do not support it, change the concept, not the lines.
Exploring practically and recording it
Practical methods to try:
- Hot-seating: someone answers questions in character.
- Still image: freeze the scene to show relationships.
- Thought-tracking: say a character's hidden thought aloud.
- Role-reversal and repeating the scene in different styles.
Keep a short log: what you tried, what happened, which text line supports it and what you will keep. When you write up, use the pattern Point - evidence from text - effect on audience.
Try it: take any two-person scene. Perform it once close and warm, once far and cold. Write two lines on which version fits the text better.
Key formulas and definitions
- Start: given circumstances = who + where + when + wants
- Performer = voice + body + space + relationship
- Designer = set + light + sound + costume
- Director = one concept that joins everything
- Write-up: point - evidence from text - effect on audience
Worked examples
1. Two sisters argue in a kitchen at night. One has just lost her job. List the given circumstances.
Who: two sisters. Where: kitchen. When: night. Wants: one wants comfort or help, the other wants to avoid blame. The job loss is the pressure.
2. The text has short lines: "Go." "No." "Please." How could a performer use this?
Short lines suggest tension or hurt. Use sharp pace and pauses, little movement, and a shrinking distance as the plea begins.
3. A designer picks red light for a calm family scene. Is it justified?
Only if the text supports it (for example hidden anger). Without a text reason, warm soft light fits better. Every design choice needs evidence.
4. Write a one-sentence concept for an extract in which two old friends meet after years.
A fragile reunion where both are afraid the other has changed. (Soft warm light, slow approach, hesitant pauses.)
Common mistakes
- Choosing exciting effects with no link to the text. Always find a line that supports your choice.
- Changing everything at once. Test one change at a time so you know what caused the effect.
- Describing the scene instead of explaining the effect on the audience.
- Having a concept that contradicts the words. If the lines resist it, change the concept.