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Approaches to Unseen Text

Contents

Contents: Page:
FOREWORD AND INTRODUCTION 3
   
PART ONE: GAINING EXPERIENCE: THE VARIETY OF STYLES 4
NATURALISM: FOR WHICH STANISLAVSKI WOULD BE APPROPRIATE 5
EPIC PLAYS: WHICH INCLUDE BRECHTIAN FEATURES 11
PLAYS WITH DREAM-LIKE, SURREAL QUALITIES, SUITABLE FOR
ARTAUD, GROTOWSKI, CRAIG, OR BROOK		 19
COMEDY 27
PLAYS IN VERSE OR HEIGHTENED LANGUAGE 38
THE GREAT MAJORITY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY PLAYS WHICH
TAKE FROM A RICH MIX OF INFLUENCES		 46
SUMMARY OF FIRST APPROACHES TO UNSEENS - THE FINDINGS
FROM PART ONE		 55
A QUICK STYLE TEST 56
   
PART TWO: LOOKING AT TYPICAL INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONS 60
SET DESIGN 60
TECHNICAL ELEMENTS 68
ACTING QUESTIONS 69
STAGING A SECTION AS DIRECTOR 78
THE COMPULSORY QUESTION 83
   
TWO FULL-LENGTH PRACTICE EXAM PIECES 88

 

FOREWORD

The more I have worked on this book, the more I have become convinced that this is the right approach to the whole syllabus - and the best starting-point for ANY syllabus. All syllabuses require an understanding of all aspects of theatre and of styles and that is what this book tries to do. Of course, there are many references to the AQA examination, since that was my starting-point, but the work in these pages would be an invaluable starting-point to any theatre course, because of its emphasis on both practical work and play analysis from the director's, designer's and actor's point of view.

Also, though the Unseen Text AQA test occurs as part of the A2 examination process, I would suggest that the work here is started long before - right at the beginning of a sixth form course - whether you are studying this syllabus or another. The work is useful for all and will teach any student a lot about theatre in general and about how to approach a text of any kind. The wide variety of plays covered will be an eye-opener to many students and be a useful resource for any drama department.

 

INTRODUCTION

The Unseen part of the AQA syllabus has always been a stumbling block for many candidates. Often quite high-flyers in other areas will fall down on their marks in this section of the exam alone. This guide is an attempt to address this problem and give some methods of working for this difficult part of the exam.

As always with all areas of this 'A' level, the best approach is to be as practical as possible. This exam tests the students' ability to read a piece of playtext and to be able instantly to visualise it - to see it coming to life in the mind's eye. It is a sophisticated test and one that many adults without much practical experience would balk at. But it is a fair test providing the students have been trained throughout their course to do everything in a hands-on practical fashion.

Yes, I know that in the actual examination, the students will have to sit and write, but the ability to visualise a script is not a natural skill for many - it is something that should be learned through experience - as much experience as possible with as many different styles of script as you can lay your hands on. And this experience must be carried out practically, for then the students have much to call on. Note the insistence always that: 'You should refer explicitly to relevant experience of drama and theatre in your answer.' This is stated as a part of every question and should help you realise that to answer this question successfully, the students need to be crammed with as much 'experience' as possible in the hopes that some part of it will prove 'relevant' when the time for the test comes.

Experience of course covers both 'seeing' and 'doing.' Schools who are not in an area rich with all types of drama should not worry too much; of course a variety of professional productions would be helpful but the students need also to experience what it is like to participate in as many styles as they can - exploring acting, directing and technical application. And no, I am not suggesting that the poor over-stressed youngsters should put on numerous productions - that would clearly not be feasible. What I am suggesting could fit into a short course, which this book aims to give you.

Any other experience over and above this can only be beneficial. Encourage them to see anything they can - other schools' productions [I still don't understand why more schools don't tell neighbouring schools about anything they are putting on - sharing experience like this would be so helpful], amateur productions and, of course, as many professional pieces as they can. Most areas are within reach of a number of the excellent touring productions that go around the country every year. If you can't always organise trips, at least encourage the students to go under their own steam whenever they can. And take in the strange and wacky as much as the more traditional offerings. In fact, the wackier the better - this will give the kind of variety of experience these students
need.

 

GAINING EXPERIENCE: THE VARIETY OF STYLES

In my opinion, the right approach to this area of the course is once again, and always, through practice first and only then is the time , out of the understanding gained practically, to move into written work.

To start the course, try to cover as many styles of theatre as you can. Of course, you are free to use your own library of plays, but for those who do not have extensive resources, I have tried to include snippets from as many plays as possible. The board tend not to use period plays - though the syllabus does not state that they won't. I suspect anything where the language is too difficult at a first reading would be considered unfair to use as an unseen. I have concentrated therefore on plays from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - at least through a modern translation.

Covering as many plays and styles in this way will increase the students' particular personal 'file' for reference and enable the part of the syllabus that states 'They must refer explicitly to other plays, practical experience and/or theatrical ideas encountered throughout the course to illustrate their answers....' to be broached.

There is not a great deal of point in expecting students to identify all the kind of labels that critics are fond of: kitchen sink drama, anger, absurd, cruelty etc. This would be expecting too much. However, it is possible to identify broader styles of theatre and this will be very helpful. This is the starting point, then; establishing the main ingredients of a particular style. It must always be recognised, though, that there are cross-overs at all times; this is why simple labels do not work. Many plays, best approached with a naturalistic acting style will share features of other styles in their presentation. For the purpose of this examination, that is all to the good. An unseen play may contain Brechtian features and those of Stanislavski, for instance, AT THE SAME TIME. Indeed many modern plays are a rich mixture of styles and influences which should be seen as a help, not a hindrance, to the students. Providing they are trained throughout at spotting these influences and cross-referring with their own experience all the time, they will have no problem.

 

NATURALISM: FOR WHICH STANISLAVSKI WOULD BE APPROPRIATE

Looking at the broad scope of the purely naturalistic play first, here are a few extracts: A, B and C. In all three cases, as I have done throughout this first half of the course, I have quoted the opening of the play.

Read all three of the following first:

A. THE OPENING OF 'ROOTS' BY ARNOLD WESKER first performed in 1960

A rather ramshackle house in Norfolk where there is no water laid on, nor electricity, nor gas. Everything rambles and the furniture is cheap and old. If it is untidy it is because there is a child in the house and there are few amenities, so that the mother is too overworked to take much care.

An assortment of clobber lies around: papers and washing, coats and basins, a tin wash-tub with shirts and underwear to be cleaned, Tilley lamps and Primus stoves. Washing hangs on a line in the room. It is September.

Jenny Beales is by the sink washing up. She is singing a recent pop song. She is short, fat and friendly, and wears glasses. A child's voice is heard from the bedroom crying 'Sweet, Mama, sweet.'

JENNY good-naturedly
Shut you up Daphne and get you to sleep now. [Moves to get a dishcloth.]

CHILD'S VOICE
Daphy wan' sweet, sweet, sweet.

JENNY going to cupboard to get sweet
My word child, Father come home and find you awake he'll be after you. [Disappears to bedroom with sweet.] There - now sleep, gal, don't wan' you grumpy wi' me in mornin'.

Enter Jimmy Beales. Also short, chubby, blond though hardly any hair left, ruddy complexion. He is a garage mechanic. Wears blue dungarees and an army pack slung over his shoulder. He wheels his bike in and lays it by the wall. Seems to be in some sort of pain - around his back. Jenny returns.

JENNY
Waas matter wi' you then?

JIMMY
I don' know gal. There's a pain in my guts and one a'tween my shoulder blades I can hardly stand up.

JENNY
Sit you down then an' I'll git you your supper on the table.

JIMMY
Blust gal! I can't eat yit.

Jimmy picks up a pillow from somewhere and lies down on the sofa holding pillow to stomach. Jenny watches him a while.

JENNY
Don't you know what 'tis yit?

JIMMY
Well, how should I know what 'tis.

JENNY
I told mother about the pain and she says it's indigestion.

JIMMY
What the hell's indigestion doin' a'tween my shoulder blades then?

JENNY
She say some people get indigestion so bad it go right through their stomach to the back.

JIMMY
Don't be daft.

JENNY
That's what I say. Blust Mother, I say, you don't git indigestion in the back. Don't you tell me, she say, I hed it!

JIMMY
What hevn't she hed.

Jenny returns to washing up while Jimmy struggles awhile on the sofa. Jenny hums. No word. Then -

JENNY
Who d-you see today?

JIMMY
Only Doctor Gallagher.

JENNY wheeling round
You see who?

JIMMY
Gallagher. His wife driv him up in the ole Armstrong.

JENNY
Well I go t' hell if that ent a rum thing.

JIMMY rising and going to table; pain has eased
What's that then?

JENNY moving to get him supper from oven
We was down at the whist drive in the village and that Judy Maitland say he were dead. 'Cos you know he've hed a cancer this last year and they don't give him no longer'n three weeks don't you?

JIMMY
Ole crows. They don' wan' nothin' less than a death to wake them up.

JENNY
No. No longer'n three weeks.

GIRL'S VOICE off
Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!

JIMMY
There's your sister.

JENNY
That's her.

GIRL'S VOICE off
Yoo-hoo! Anyone home?

JENNY calling
Come you on in gal, don't you worry about yoo-hoo.

Enter Beatie Bryant, an ample, blonde, healthy-faced young woman of twenty-two years. She is carrying a case.

JIMMY
Here she is.

JENNY with reserve, but pleased
Hello, Beatrice - how are you?

BEATIE with reserve, but pleased
Hello, Jenny - how are you? What's that lovely smell I smell?

JENNY
Onions for supper and bread for the harvest festival.

BEATIE
Watcha Jimmy Beales, how you doin' bor?

JIMMY
Not so bad gal, how's yourself?

BEATIE
All right you know. When you comin' to London again for a football match?

JIMMY
O blust gal, I don' wanna go to any more o' those things. Ole father Bryant was there in the middle of that crowd and he turn around an' he say [imitating], Stop you a'pushin' there, he say, stop you a' pushin'.

JENNY
Where's Ronnie?

BEATIE
He's comin' down at the end of two weeks.

JIMMY
Ent you married yit?

BEATIE
No.

JIMMY
You want to hurry then gal, a long engagement don't do the ole legs any good.

 

B. THE OPENING OF 'CHEKHOV IN YALTA' BY JOHN DRIVER & JEFFREY HADDOW, first performed in 1978

Lights up on the patio terrace of Anton Chekhov's villa in Yalta. Downstage Left, a path leads off towards the sea. Upstage Left is a stone wall beyond which is a Tartar cemetery. Stage Right, a walkway skirts the side of the villa leading off Upstage towards the front of the house. Farther Right can be seen the edge of a sub-tropical forest bordered by a well-tended row of acacia trees. The rear facade of the three-storey villa dominates the Upstage area. Two entrances lead from the patio into the house, one small entrance Stage Right to the kitchen, and one larger double-door arrangement opening into the parlour. On the terrace is a grouping of wicker furniture - armchairs, sofa, table - Downstage left is a small gazebo. It is spring. Morning fog covers the ground. In the distance can be heard the sound of the sea. A boat whistle blows.

Masha Chekhov appears at a second floor window in a frumpy housedress. She is a plain, hard-working woman who has devoted much of her life to looking after her brother's welfare. Looking off to the right, she becomes very excited.

MASHA
Fyokla! [She disappears into the house, still yelling.] Fyokla, get up! He's coming. Up, up, up, up, up! [Brandishing a broom, she chases Fyokla, the maid, an unself-consciously voluptuous creature.] Come on, come on, he's here. Get the samovar. *

FYOKLA going into the kitchen
Tired.

MASHA sweeping Fyokla out of the house with the broom
Trollop! Strumpet! You should have thought of that last night.

FYOKLA from kitchen
Last night, miss?

MASHA wiping the dew from the patio furniture
I saw you sneaking back from the cemetery.

FYOKLA returning with the samovar
No, miss.

Sound of carriage approaching.

MASHA
I watched you climb in through the window.

FYOKLA setting down the samovar
It wasn't me.

MASHA
Liar! Go get his blanket. [She shoos Fyokla back into the house.]

Anton Chekhov enters with medical bag. He is forty, but looks much older. He is in a highly energised state common to sufferers of consumption, a state which, though giving the appearance of robust health, is in reality an exhilaration brought on by fever.

CHEKHOV
What a night!

MASHA wiping off the chair
Antosha, come, sit. Rest.

CHEKHOV pacing around
But it was worth it. On the way back here I saw a curious thing. A drunken ice merchant had run his cart into a ditch. He was sitting on a block of ice, sobbing and tearing his hair out. I can probably turn that into a very amusing story.

Masha is trying to lead him to the chair without success. Fyokla enters with blanket.] Fyokla, there's a crate in the droshky. * Fetch it here, will you?

MASHA snatching the blanket and sending Fyokla off. Leading Chekhov to chair.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Out all night in your condition. Why does God give me such a brother? [She finally gets him seated, places the banket over his legs.] Where were you?

CHEKHOV
At Tolstoy's estate. It's all very generous of him to go about preaching independence of spirit to his peasants, but it's only succeeded in making them afraid to ask for medical help when they need it.

Fyokla enters with a crate containing a live chicken.

MASHA
What is that?

CHEKHOV
My fee. These people have no money. [Fyokla takes the chicken to the kitchen.] I delivered a baby, set a few limbs, pulled a tooth ... Then for the rest of the night, I had to sit and listen to Tolstoy expound on the simplicity of the Russian soul. [He pops up out of the chair.] God, I'm hungry. Must be the sea air. Fog is burning off. The weather is going to be perfect today. I'm so bored here, unimaginably bored. [He coughs as he takes a cigar from his pocket and pats his jacket for matches.] Masha, do you have some matches?

MASHA disapprovingly, indicating cigar
Anton ...

CHEKHOV
It was a gift from Tolstoy.

MASHA
Please, you promised. [He reluctantly hands the cigar to her. She leads him off once more to the chair.] Antosha, I know you're having one of your good days, but you know very well all this exhilaration is not natural. Your cheeks are flushed with fever. It'll catch up with you. It always does.

Fyokla has fallen asleep over the samovar. Chekhov takes out his notebook and begins writing as Masha takes a bottle of medicine and spoon from her apron. Seeing Fyokla, Masha bops her on the head with the spoon.

FYOKLA
Ow!

CHEKHOV
Semyon! That's a good name for an ice merchant.

MASHA reaching for the notebook
No writing. Just rest.

CHEKHOV jerking notebook back angrily
No, Masha, no! Now just go away and leave me alone.

MASHA stops Chekhov's speech by shoving a spoonful of medicine in his mouth
I'd appreciate it, Anton, if you would use some of your boundless energy to speak to Fyokla. She was in the cemetery with her corporal again last night.

Masha exits into the house. Fyokla serves tea, starts to go.

CHEKHOV
Fyokla, come here. What were you and that soldier doing in the cemetery last night?

FYOKLA
We were ... picking mushrooms, sir.

CHEKHOV
You know how much that upsets my sister.

FYOKLA
Picking mushrooms, sir?

CHEKHOV
Masha tells me your nocturnal harvesting companion is known throughout the district as a notorious cad. Now, believe me, I understand the temptations and the joys of your midnight trysts...

FYOKLA
Thank you, sir.

CHEKHOV
But if you cause a scandal, Masha will make all of our lives a living hell. Do you understand?

FYOKLA
I think so, sir.

CHEKHOV
That will be all, Fyokla. By the way, I'm looking forward to mushrooms for lunch.

FYOKLA
Yes, sir, I'll go to the market and buy some. [She exits.]

CHEKHOV
Hm. The body of a goddess, the brain of a flea. [He takes out notebook again. Writes.]

* Samovar = Russian tea-urn Droshky = Russian four-wheeled open cart

 

C. THE OPENING OF ' A DOLL'S HOUSE' BY HENRIK IBSEN, first performed in 1879

A comfortably and tastefully, but not expensively furnished room. Backstage right a door leads to the hall; backstage left, another door to Helmer's study. Between these two doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, with a window down-stage of it. Near the window, a round table with armchairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, slightly upstage, is a door; downstage of this, against the same wall, a stove lined with porcelain tiles, with a couple of armchairs and a rocking-chair in front of it. Between the stove and the side-door is a small table. Engravings on the wall. A what-not with china and other bric-a-brac; a small bookcase with leather-bound books. A carpet on the floor; a fire in the stove. A winter day.

A bell rings in the hall outside. After a moment we hear the front door being opened. Nora enters the room, humming contentedly to herself. She is wearing outdoor clothes and carrying a lot of parcels, which she puts down on the table right. She leaves the door to the hall open; through it, we can see a Porter carrying a Christmas tree and a basket. He gives these to the Maid, who has opened the door for them.

NORA
Hide that Christmas tree away, Helen. The children mustn't see it before I've decorated it this evening. [To the porter, taking out her purse.] How much - ?

PORTER
A shilling.

NORA
Here's a pound. No, keep it.

The Porter touches his cap and goes. Nora closes the door. She continues to laugh happily to herself as she removes her coat, etc. She takes from her pocket a bag containing macaroons and eats a couple. Then she tiptoes across and listens at her husband's door.

NORA
Yes, he's here. [Starts humming again as she goes over to the table, right.]

HELMER from his room
Is that my skylark twittering out there?

NORA opening some of the parcels
It is!

HELMER
Is that my squirrel rustling?

NORA
Yes!

HELMER
When did my squirrel come home?

NORA
Just now. [Pops the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth.] Come out here, Torvald, and see what I've bought.

HELMER
You mustn't disturb me!

Short pause; then he opens the door and looks in, his pen in his hand.

HELMER
Bought, did you say? All that? Has my little squander-bird been overspending again?

NORA
Oh, Torvald, surely we can let ourselves go a little this year! It's the first Christmas we don't have to scrape.

HELMER
Well, you know, we can't afford to be extravagant.

NORA
Oh, yes, Torvald, we can be a little extravagant now. Can't we? Just a tiny bit? You've got a big salary now, and you're going to make lots and lots of money.

HELMER
Next year, yes. But my new salary doesn't start till April.

NORA
Pooh; we can borrow till then.

HELMER
Nora! [Goes over to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] What a little spendthrift you are! Suppose I were to borrow fifty pounds today, and you spent it all over Christmas, and then on New Year's Eve a tile fell off a roof on to my head -

NORA puts her hand over his mouth
Oh, Torvald! Don't say such dreadful things!

HELMER
Yes, but suppose something like that did happen? What then?

NORA
If anything as frightful as that happened, it wouldn't make much difference whether I was in debt or not.

HELMER
But what about the people I'd borrowed from?

NORA
Them? Who cares about them? They're strangers.

HELMER
Oh, Nora, Nora, how like a woman! No, but seriously, Nora, you know how I feel about this. No debts! Never borrow! A home that is founded on debts and borrowing can never be a place of freedom and beauty. We two have stuck it out bravely up to now; and we shall continue to do so for the few weeks that remain.

NORA goes over towards the stove
Very well, Torvald. As you say.

HELMER follows her
Now, now! My little songbird mustn't droop her wings. What's this? Is little squirrel sulking? [Takes out his purse.] Nora; guess what I've got here!

NORA turns quickly
Money!

HELMER
Look. [Hands her some banknotes.] I know how these small expenses crop up at Christmas.

NORA counts them
One - two - three - four. Oh, thank you, Torvald, thank you! I should be able to manage with this.

HELMER
You'll have to.

NORA
Yes, yes, of course I will. But come over here, I want to show you everything I've bought. And so cheap! Look, here are new clothes for Ivar - and a sword. And a horse and a trumpet for Bob. And a doll and a cradle for Emmy - they're nothing much, but she'll pull them apart in a few days. And some bits of material and handkerchiefs for the maids. Old Anne-Marie ought to have something better, really.

HELMER
And what's in that parcel?

NORA cries
No, Torvald, you mustn't see that before this evening!

HELMER
Very well. But now, tell me, little spendthrift, what do you want for Christmas?

NORA Me?
Oh, pooh, I don't want anything.

 

Now, consider the following question as a whole group, through discussion:

What features do these three extracts have in common? Consider what you notice about the stage directions - in general - and what you notice about the characterisation - in general.

[Here is a teacher's check-list for the above:
Detailed stage directions, often with very specific moves suggested. Detailed descriptions of setting, which in all three cases suggest 'real' places, detailed furniture and props, etc.
The characters depict 'real' people in that the playwright has made every attempt to give them credibility through the language they use [appropriate to status and class, for instance] and the descriptions given of them in the stage directions.]

These two areas are the ground-base for the naturalistic style - and the style can usually easily be spotted through the detailed stage directions alone. For those who do not study Stanislavski, it is important here that they should have some idea of what naturalism as approached by this practitioner stands for.

Stanislavski believed in making every attempt to discover and illumine what the playwright was trying to do with his play. In other words, he believed in being true to the text, not in imposing a directorial idiosyncratic slant on it.
He wanted to give characters depth and psychological reality, by seeking to disclose their hidden motivations and what is going on in their head - which will then be revealed by the manner in which they act on stage and will dictate how the lines are delivered.
Every effort was made to make characters, their dress and the settings 'real' and accurate as to period detail. Naturalistic plays are supposed to be 'slices of real life'.

In each of the three extracts quoted, a Stanislavskian approach would be entirely appropriate and those who have studied Stanislavski could refer to his System in their written answers as part of the proof of their 'theatrical ideas encountered...'

Bearing this in mind, without the need to labour through the System, help the students realise the psychological implications of a character through the following:

Look at the last few lines of the first extract from where Jenny asks 'Where's Ronnie?' Ask them to read it aloud as if:

In extract B, look once again at the last part, after Masha exits.

Try Fyokla's character once she is alone with Chekhov:

In extract C, look at just after the opening, from where Nora tiptoes across and listens at her husband's door.

Choose someone to act this move out, plus the line following, as if:

This brief exercise should be enough to prove to the students how important interpretation is. What the Unseen Test is doing is asking students to expose not just the obvious surface of an extract but also what lies underneath. This is particularly true of a piece written in the naturalistic style and justified interpretation is part of what they are going to have to do if their examination piece is in that style.

Take the last exercise a little further now. Discuss in each case how each of the two interpretations suggested changes the responses of the other characters involved. Remember that responses are not necessarily part of the written piece - Jenny does not speak after her question, for instance - but her face and body language will reflect what she perceives from Beatie's answer.

How does Chekhov respond if Fyokla is being saucy and flirtatious? He could take on a bit of light flirtatiousness into his tone too - even though he seems to be ticking her off. This would give the impression that they are in a sort of temporary conspiracy against Masha, which would work very well. Or you could try to make him sterner - but he is not succeeding very well - and see how that feels.

In the final excerpt - how does Nora's hum get affected by each suggested sub'text? If she is a little frightened of her husband, how will her following two lines in response to his teasing come out? And what is the motivation behind the putting her macaroons in her pocket and wiping her mouth?

Try all the above out practically. It is important that the students realise that though interpretation is imperative and a large part of what is being tested - it cannot be arbitrary. It needs to be tested out by examining how it affects the next few lines and actions, to see if it is workable and justifiable.

It is this skill that can only come with practice - and it is why I suggest that most of your early work on Unseens is done mainly 'through practice' - getting up and trying things out. This will go a long way towards training the ear and eye of the students and get them into the all-important habit of testing everything out and not going necessarily for the first impression.

Now divide the class up into small groups and allocate one of the excerpts to each group. With the excerpt, they should all do the following:

1.Using whatever is lying about in your studio - even if it is only chairs, blocks, or whatever - map out, by following the directions in the text, the setting for the extract.
Prepare a short statement, to read out to the rest of the class, describing this setting. This statement should include imaginative details which will add to the atmosphere of the extract, e.g. colour scheme, general condition of the furnishings, any additions you would like to make that would further set the piece in its period, or its social class, or would contribute to the atmosphere of the piece as the group perceives it.
This last may be hard early on, especially since these particular extracts are so short - but they could at least decide whether their piece has a light feel to it - or whether there are darker hints [Beatie and the absent Ronnie, Chekhov's TB, the unequal relationship between Nora and Torvald Helmer, for instance.] Even if they cannot as yet think how a setting could reflect or hint at darker issues within the play, they should at least show an awareness of its potential to do this.

2.Without words, move through the scene, following the stage directions carefully and using the set they have 'built' as best as they can.
Prepare a brief statement to read out about what this exercise revealed. Did it raise any questions, for instance as to how an action was performed? Were other movements than those the playwright suggests necessary? Why? Aim to give a justification to each move made. E.g. Jimmy struggles awhile on the sofa - he is manipulating his back because of the pain in it, but perhaps with some extra irritation because of his mother-in-laws words on which he has just commented.

3. Work through the lines of the play, trying to decide what the characters are thinking, what the lines and actions reveal about them and their feelings about the other people in the scene.
Once this is done, have each character taken by two people [if you have enough students] one to deliver the line in the way that has been decided, the other to say what the character is showing through the line.

4. For the sake of completion, you could act it out 'properly' if you like.

5. Prepare a final statement which gives a brief synopsis of each character and its 'journey' through the extract. Make sure that this, MOST IMPORTANTLY, includes any decisions you have had to make as to INTERPRETATION, i.e. selection of one state of mind [Fyokla flirtatious or brainless, for instance] and how that has affected the final result.

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