Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers, 3rd Edition

Preface to the Third Edition

This edition retains the same support for Formalist Analysis and for its central importance in acting, directing, and design that it had when it was first published in 1992. It is still a defense of close reading of the play itself in contrast to some of its alternative methods, including modern critical theory and its fascination with matters outside the play.

What has changed is the addition of a new chapter on Action Analysis. Formalist Analysis begins with specific observations and ends up by developing conclusions about the general sense of the whole play. On the other hand, some readers have expressed the wish to see the whole picture before beginning to look at the parts. Experienced actors, directors, and ...