WHAT TO LOOK FOR: While viewing the play you should observe the following:
(take notes so that you won’t forget)
- The significance of the major characters and how they contribute to the message or theme of the play
- Basic elements of the plot
- The quality of the acting
- The quality of the sets, lighting and costumes
- The quality of the music and lyrics
ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPER:
(3-4 pages, double-spaced, 12 point type, one-and-a-half inch margins)
1st paragraph should state the general characteristics of the play (was it primarily comic, tragic, satiric, psychological, political, sociological, etc.), and your general opinion of the play. The rest of the paper should be devoted to --
A DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF:
- theme (the overall message the play is delivering i.e. Crime does not pay)
Please note:
- I consider the theme to be the most important element of a good play paper. What the play is really all about is the most important thing.
- What was the playwright trying to tell you?
- What was the point of the whole thing?
- Theme is not simply a re-telling of the plot.
- the characters (what kind of characters are the actors representing: good, evil, confused, ethnic types, hot-headed, etc)
- plot
- acting (how well are the actors getting across the characters they are playing)
- staging
- musical elements (how well are they performed and what do they add to the play)
- Wrap it up with your own thumbs up or down -- in other words, give me your opinion of the play’s merit. Would you recommend this play to your friends? Why?
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