Study Questions for Responses:
- IDEA: What is the subject of the play? What comment or statement is made about the subject? What was the playwright attempting to do in writing this work? Would you
classify the play as tragedy, comedy, melodrama?
- PLOT: Does the play have a good story? How unified are the events? How believable? Was it interesting? Why?
- TITLE: How is the title appropriate or inappropriate for the work?
- CHARACTERIZATION: Identify the central character(s). What motivates them? What facets of the character’s personality are revealed by what he or she does (action) in
the play?
- DIALOGUE: Did the dialogue approximate real conversation? Was there an attempt by the writer to create heightened language? Was the dialogue effective in creating a
distinctive world for the play?
- ACTING/SPEECH: Which actors were strong in their roles? Which were not? What were the primary reasons for an actor’s success or failure? How well did the actors
speak? Did their work seem spontaneous, relaxed, and natural? Were they easy to understand? Did they have clear and resonant vocal qualities? How precise was their
articulation? How well did they listen to each other? How well did they use gestures and movement to draw emphasis to their performance?
- Dancers/Dances: Were the dancers strong in their roles? Which were not? What were the primary reasons for a dancer’s success failure? How well did the dancers
emote? Did their work seem spontaneous, relaxed, and natural? Were they captivating? Did they have clear body language? How precise was the articulation of the
movement? How well did they dance in the space together? How well did they use gestures and movement to draw emphasis to their performance? Were there vocals? How
effective were the vocals? Were the vocals clear and resonant?