The Art of Rehearsal: Conversations with Contemporary Theatre-Makers PDF
Preview The Art of Rehearsal: Conversations with Contemporary Theatre-Makers
SCRIPT ANALYSIS FOR THEATRE RELATED TITLES FROM BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING: The Art of Rehearsal: Conversations with Contemporary Theatre-Makers edited by Barbara Simonsen, Isabelle Reynaud and Deborah Vlaeymans ISBN 978-1-4742-9201-6 A Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical by Elizabeth L. Wollman ISBN 978-1-4725-1325-0 Directing: A Handbook for Emerging Theatre Directors by Rob Swain ISBN 978-1-4081-2765-0 The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen: Critical Approaches from ‘Snow White’ to ‘Frozen’ edited by George Rodosthenous ISBN 978-1-4742-3416-0 Reader in Comedy: An Anthology of Theory and Criticism edited by Magda Romanska and Alan Ackerman ISBN 978-1-4742-4788-7 Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design edited by Joslin McKinney and Scott Palmer ISBN 978-1-4742-4439-8 Studying Plays by Simon Shepherd and Mick Wallis ISBN 978-0-3409-8514-4 The Story of Drama: Tragedy, Comedy and Sacrifice from the Greeks to the Present by Gary Day ISBN 978-1-4081-8312-0 SCRIPT ANALYSIS FOR THEATRE TOOLS FOR INTERPRETATION, COLLABORATION AND PRODUCTION Robert Knopf Bloomsbury Methuen Drama An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Methuen Drama An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Imprint previously known as Methuen Drama 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2017 © Robert Knopf, 2017 Robert Knopf has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-1-4081-8382-3 PB: 978-1-4081-8430-1 ePDF: 978-1-4081-8530-8 ePub: 978-1-4081-8518-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Cover Photograph © Geraint Lewis. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, A Royal Shakespeare Company Production directed by David Farr. Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. To Katie CONTENTS Preface ix acknowledgements xix Introduction 1 1 The World of the Play 15 Given circumstances 16 Previous action 28 Dramaturgy 29 The writing of the play and order of scenes 32 Character 40 Environment 54 2 Structure and Action 59 Point of attack 60 Number of scenes 63 Number of locations 63 Number of characters 64 Number of plots 65 Type of causality 66 Actions and objectives 77 3 Process 129 Core action 129 Avant-garde 140 viii CONTENTS 4 Blueprints 145 Given circumstances blueprint 145 Character blueprint 146 Relationship blueprint 147 Structure blueprint 148 Environment blueprint 148 Appendices A. Action Verbs 149 B. Sample Scores 155 select BiBliograPhy 171 index 173 BiograPhical 180 PREFACE A History of Action-Based Approaches to Dramatic Structure KATIE KNOPF This book proceeds from the assumption that every play contains a series of peaks, or key moments, of different sizes; one of the principal tasks of script analysis is to identify these moments and define the characters’ actions that lead to them. This approach works equally well for almost any play, whether it employs a predominantly climactic dramatic structure or an episodic one, a masculine structure or a feminine one. The search for the most significant and powerful key moments helps us chart a course through the otherwise undefined landscape of the dramatic action; modulating these moments creates the shape of the drama; and translating this shape into acting, directing, and design choices is our ultimate goal. Even in a purely climactic dramatic structure, smaller key moments lead to the final key moment, or climax, which represent turns in the road and keep audiences guessing. Defining the moment- to-moment journey is an art; as such, each theatre artist must make strong artistic choices to distinguish his or her interpretation from others. Only by recognizing the actions that create the journey, and by learning the language with which to communicate and collaborate on shaping it, can theatre artists turn script analysis into compelling theatre. For well over 2,000 years, philosophers, scholars, and theatre artists have devised methods to analyse and understand scripts. Aristotle wrote the earliest
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