2022 LCAPA-LICENCE 3 DRAMA

LECTURE and TUTORIALS

Associate Professor KOUAKOU Jules

A- ASPECTS OF DRAMA

I- Theoretical Underpinnings
Aspects of drama consists in defining concepts and notions related to the field and determining
most popular plays.
1.1- Conceptual Definitions
Anthony M. Rafanan’ synopsis Lecture of Drama encapsulates the different aspects that
playwrights and critics have conferred on theatrical studies from classical times to the
contemporary epoch. In Poetics (2008), Aristotle determined the different elements of what
has come to be known as drama, namely the theme, plot, character, language, rhythm and
spectacle.
Rafanan expands Aristotle’s findings. He defines drama, determines the different types of
plays, and exemplifies each of their components in a critically analytical approach.
As per Rafanan

“Drama is a unique literary form because it is designed to be acted out on a stage

before an audience. The word ‘drama’ comes from the Greek word ‘dran’ meaning to
act or to do. As “literature in action,” drama brings a story to life before our eyes. Unlike
most works of fiction that rely heavily on narration, the story of a play or drama is told
through dialogue and action and is integrated with the setting that the audience
observes-largely from scenery and props.”

He pursues that
 “a dramatic work is usually called a play, but if you want to specify what type of drama
it is, you can call it a comedy, a. tragedy, a farce or tragicomedy or other names. As
well as a play, drama usually involves: a playwright or dramatist, that is, the author
of the play; a stage, that is, the area in a playhouse or theatre where the play is
performed; an audience, that is, the people who go to the theatre to watch the
performance.”

1.2- Elements of the Play

Rafanan exemplifies each of the six Aristotelian elements of the play (theme, plot, character,
language, setting, and spectacle) under various other names.

1. Characters. Characters are the people in the play's plot. Most plays have a round or major
characters and flat or minor characters. Let's take a look at the different characters.

Protagonist: The main character, usually the one who sets the action in motion.

Antagonist: The character that stands as rival to the protagonist is called the antagonist. He
is the villain.

Foil: A character whose traits contrast with those of another character. Writers use foil to
emphasize differences between two characters. For example, a handsome but dull character
might be a foil for one who is unattractive but dynamic. By using foil, authors call attention to
the strengths or weaknesses of a main character.

Confidant: A character that lends an ear and gives his input to usually the protagonist is a
confidant. This type of character is most commonly a closest friend or trusted servant of the
main character, who serves as a device for revealing the mind and intention of the main
character.

2. Dialogue. The words uttered by characters in a play forms a dialogue. The dialogue reveals
the plot and characters of the play. What is spoken must be suitable to the situation and the
role of the character. Things that are said on stage may take on greater worth or typical
qualities than the same things said in everyday speech. Good dramatic speech involves a
proper construction of words spoken in the appropriate context. It also involves saying what
is not uninviting or what is obvious straight away. Dialogue may take various forms:

Soliloquy- A character that is typically alone on stage delivers a long speech which is called
a soliloquy. Emotions and innermost thoughts of the character are revealed in a soliloquy.
Aside- This is spoken by a character to another character or to the audience but is not heard
by the other characters on stage. Asides reveal what a character is thinking or feeling.

3. Plot. The plot is events that occur in a story sequentially. Normally the introduction of the
characters in the beginning of the play gives the audience an idea about what the plot maybe.
This information will enlighten the audience as to why characters behave the way they do and
an incident maybe expected to surface that will create a problem for the main characters.
He complies with Gustav Frietag’s classical pyramidal structure of the play to define each
stage.

 Exposition or introduction
 Rising Action
 Climax
 Falling Action
 Ending or conclusion

Exposition: This is the introduction of the play which provides important background
information about the characters, setting, and the conflict they face or are about to face. It may
reveal an incident in a character’s past that has a bearing on the plot. The exposition leads
the audience to follow through the rest of the story.

Rising action: This is the second characteristic in the structure of a drama. The plot moves
forward with further twists and complications in the conflict and many subplots. The actions
lead the audience toward high intensity, anticipation, and suspense.

Climax: The highest point of dramatic intensity and the most intense moment in the plot is the
climax. The questions and mysteries are unraveled at this point. It is a turning point in the play
for the protagonist where things from then on will either turn out better or worse for him
depending on the kind of play it is.

Falling Action: This is the part where conflicts are more or less resolved and the play moves
on to its end.

Ending: This is the conclusion of the play where everything is better off than when it started,
as in a comedy, or things are worse than when the play began, as in the case of a tragedy.
Conflicts are resolved. Motives are clear. Final details are straightened up.

4. Setting. The setting in a play tell us where the story happened and the time it occurred.
Costumes and props too are involved in setting.
Props are items used by actors on stage to create an atmosphere of the play. These can be
simple writing materials, chairs and tables, flowers, thrones, bloodsoaked clothes, blankets,
and beds and so on.

5. Stage directions. An audience is prompted to react by the movements or positions of the

actors in a play. It can build up tension, trigger laughter, or shift the focus of the audience to
a different part of the stage.

To achieve this purpose, the writer communicates to the actors, director, and the rest of the
crew in the play by means of stage directions. He does this by means of short phrases, usually
printed in italics and enclosed in parentheses or brackets. These directions describe the
appearance and actions of characters as well as the sets, costumes, props, sound effects,
and lighting effects.

Stage directions may also include the characters’ body language, facial expressions, and even
the tone of voice. Comments or remarks about the surroundings and when a character enters
or exits are also made in stage directions. Thus stage directions help us understand the
feelings of the character and the mood of the story.

6. Theme. The theme actually tells what the play means. Rather than stating what happens
in the story, the theme deals with the main idea within the story. The theme has been
described as the soul of the drama. The theme can either be clearly stated through dialogue
or action or can be inferred from the entire performance.

Dramatic Structure (vs Plot Structure): Prologue/Acts/Scenes/Epilogue

- Prologue: It is a part that comes at the beginning of a play, story, or long poem, often giving
information about events that happened before the time when the play, or poem begins.
- Acts and Scenes
Basically Aristotle advised three (3) Acts for a play (Paul Larkin, https://www.quora.com/What-
does-act-mean-in-drama ):
Act One set the scene, i.e., Context, Characters, Motivation, and goal
Act Two shows the character’s determination to achieve his goal, incurring conflicts,
setbacks, achievements and persistence
Act Three shows the character achieving the goal, that is, Resolution of conflicts,
achievement of goal, and character development.
Francis Ramos further explains the difference between Act and Scene basing length, depth
and location (https://www.quora.com) .
Act: ‘‘Acts are longer, include a series of scenes that cover a specific part of the storyline’s
dramatic structure (action, climax, resolution), and are usually separated out by
intermissions.’’

Scene: ‘‘Scenes are shorter units within an act, feature brief sequences of action and
dialogue, and also tend to happen in one location (though this could be split up depending on
staging).”

Epilogue:
“From its Greek roots, epilogue means basically "words attached (at the end)". An epilogue
often somehow wraps up a story's action. It can be the speech often in verse addressed to the
audience by an actor at the end of the paly. It can also be the final scene odf a play that
comments or summarizes the main action.”
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epilogue ).

Note: Major Dramatic devices include conflict, contrast, humor, irony

1.3- The Different Types of Plays

Aristotle determines many different types of plays which he reads each as modes of imitations.
He writes indeed that,

[e]pic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyrambic: poetry, and the music of the flute
and of the lyre in most of their forms, are all in their general conception modes of imitation.
They differ, however, from one: another in three respects,—the medium, the objects, the
manner or mode of imitation, being in each case distinct.
Among the many forms of plays that he refers to under these generic names are:

 Tragedy: Aristotle defines tragedy as an “imitation of an action that is serious,

complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic
ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of
 action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these
emotions” (p. 8).

 Comedy: in comparison to tragedy, Aristotle views comedy as “an imitation of

characters of a lower type, not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the
Ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect or ugliness
which is not painful or destructive. To take an obvious example, the comic mask is ugly
and distorted, but does not imply pain” (p.7).
Later critics see comedy as having a happy ending. By happy ending they mean that comedy
does not have the kind of human suffering that is portrayed in tragedy. No one gets killed. If
there is any misunderstanding at the beginning, it gets resolved in the end. Marriage,
reconciliation, and general good feeling are the more common endings of comedy.

 Tragi-comedy: The term tragi-comedy is self-explanatory. It refers to a type of play

which has tragic and comic elements mixed together. Tragi-comedy may have the tone
of tragedy but there is usually a happy ending. Shakespeare, of course, mixes tragic
and comic elements even in his ‘pure’ tragedies, especially Hamlet and King Lear.
However, two of his plays which may be regarded as true tragic-comedies are
“Measure for Measure” and “The Merchant of Venice”. In both plays the movement is
towards tragedy but both finally right themselves and end happily.

 Melodrama: Originally, the melodrama was applied to a play whose action was
interspersed with songs. Today it refers to a play with impossibly good and bad
characters, sensational plot, strong action, and forceful acting. It may have an air of
mystery and the supernatural with the introduction of demons, ghosts, secret passages
and gloomy castles. It may end happily with a last-minute rescue from death or it may
end sadly with the perpetration of several murders in secret.

II- Case-Study of a Play

“Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act” (1974), by Athol Fugard.
2.1- The Playwright and His Works
This presentation owes much curtesy to the Study Guide on ‘Master Harold’… and the Boys
(by Fugard), prepared by Kelli Marino (2010).
Who is Athol Fugard?
Athol Fugard himself gives a better understanding of his writing vision in the two following
extracts:
 “The sense I have of myself is that of a ‘regional’ writer with the themes, textures, acts
of celebration, of defiance and outrage that go with the South African experience.
These are the only things I have been able to write about.” — Athol Fugard, in Mary
Benson’s introduction to Fugard’s Notebooks: 1960-1977

and

“I have often described myself as an Afrikaner writing in English, and the older I get
the more that seems to be the truth: that my English tongue is speaking for an Afrikaner
psyche.” — Athol Fugard in Cousins: A Memoir

Harold Athol Lannigan Fugard was born on June 11, 1932, in the Karoo village of Middleburg,
Cape Province, South Africa. Raised in Port Elizabeth from the age of three, Fugard deems
himself the mongrel son of an English-speaking father of Polish/Irish descent, Harold David
Lanigan Fugard, and an Afrikaner mother, Elizabeth Magdalena (née Potgieter).

Fugard attended the University of Cape Town for two years, studying philosophy before
dropping out to travel across Africa. He then served on the merchant ship the SS Graigaur,
and sailed the trade routes of Southeast Asia. Upon returning to Port Elizabeth, he worked as
a freelance journalist for the Evening Post.

In 1958, Fugard was a clerk in the Native Commissioner’s Court in Fordsburg, the “pass law”
court (a court where black Africans were taken when they were in violation of the pass laws
which regulated their movement in urban areas), where he learned of the injustices of
apartheid. Due to the political persecution in apartheid South Africa, he and his wife moved to
London to experience theater free from racial segregation and discrimination.

While in London, Fugard penned The Blood Knot (1961). Upon returning to South Africa later
that year, Fugard found The Blood Knot, because of its interracial content, would not be
permitted to play after its first performance at the Dorkay House in Johannesburg. In late 1961,
he took the production to un-segregated London.

Fugard and his family later returned to South Africa in 1967. When the English television
network BBC broadcast The Blood Knot that year, the government seized his passport for four
years and kept him and his family under state surveillance, which included opening their mail
and tapping the phone line. It would not be until 4 1971 that Fugard was permitted to leave
the country: He directed his Obie Awardwinning Boesman and Lena at London’s Royal Court
Theatre.
During the 1950s and 1960s in South Africa, when interracial mixing was illegal, Fugard
worked as an actor, director and playwright with Cape Town’s interracial theater group, The
Serpent Players. It was here he met Zakes Mokae, a black musician and actor with whom he
would collaborate throughout his career. Through the company, Fugard also met John Kani
and Winston Ntshona, actors who helped create some of Fugard’s most well-known plays and
characters.

Fugard’s work during his entire career, but especially during his work with the Serpent Players,
The Market Theatre, and theatres in London and the United States has primarily focused on
anti-apartheid themes. There are six play categories to which Fugard’s work can be ascribed:
the Port Elizabeth plays, the Township plays, Exile plays, Statements, My Africa plays, and
Sorrows.

Fugard’s Statement plays (1972) directly attack apartheid. These collaborative efforts created
through the improvisations of John Kani and Winston Ntshona on inspired events have
brought much acclaim to Fugard’s works and an awareness of apartheid’s effects to the rest
of the world. Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Cape Town, 1972) illustrates the struggles of Sizwe Banzi,
a man who must decide whether taking the deceased man’s identity is worth the risk, even
though in doing so it enables him to work and continue living. The Island (Cape Town, 1972)
follows cells mates John and Winston as they produce a staged version of Antigone for their
fellow inmates, which questions the political reasons for imprisonment and punishment for
both Antigone and the men. Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act (Cape Town,
1972) explores the love relationship between a black man and white woman during the times
when inter-racial mixing of any kind was prohibited.

As apartheid was ending in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fugard’s My Africa plays (1989-
1996) confront the new challenges that face post-apartheid South Africa. My Children! My
Africa! (New York, 1989, created by Fugard in protest to the African National Congress’s
decision to close African schools and not allow black students an education, depicts two
students, one white and one black, debating the values and rights of education in light of
recent political action. Valley Song (Johannesburg 1996) is a play about a Coloured
grandfather and his black granddaughter exploring their generational differences and family
heritage when they learn that a white man is interested in buying their farm. Playland (London
1993) centers on two men (one black, one white) who meet in an amusement park and
confront each other, their pasts, and themselves.

Fugard’s other anti-apartheid works consist of The Last Bus (1969), Friday’s Breadon Monday
(1970), Boesman and Lena (1969), Klaas and the Devil (1956), The Cell(1957), No-Good
Friday (1956), Nongogo (1957), The Coat (1966), and People are Living There (1968).
 2.2- Study of “Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act”
(1974)

2.2.1- Summary of the Play

A Coloured Man’ (Errol Philander), a married school principal from the local black township,
is lying naked on the floor of the library with ‘a White Woman’ (Frieda Joubert), a librarian six
years older than him. Their love is threatened not only by the fear of being discovered breaking
the law forbidding sex between blacks and whites1 but also by the tensions between them,
owing to the suffering of the black citizens especially during a period of drought. A white
neighbour reports her suspicions to the authorities, and two police arrive with torches and a
camera with flashbulbs. Panicked by being discovered, the Woman gabbles an incoherent
explanation, while the Man desperately pretends that he has come with a formal request for
water for his family. Lit only by the torches, the Woman describes how they became lovers.
Finally, the Man describes in verse how his arrest has dispossessed him of everything: ‘there
is only the emptiness left’.

2.2.2- Critical Analysis of the Play

Athol Fugard’ “Statements after an Arrest under the Immortality Act” displays forceful
characterization, melodramatic actions and crafty linguistic construction. Although the play
sets in segregationist Apartheid era its resonance seems timeless as it matches quite well
today’s race issues. This view is validated by Greg Stewart (2001) when he states that “it has
been almost three decades since the end of Apartheid in South Africa, but its lasting damage
remains in forms of institutionalised and systemic racism across the world.” Greg Karvellas
(2009) expands the idea and notes that “there are so many parallels and elements that remain
relevant today – the themes of surveillance, human rights abuses and the invasion of privacy
by government and/or unseen powers … the need and desire for two people to love and be
loved, against the odds of the society in which they live.”

Fear and especially racial fear – backdrop of racism and racial discrimination – pervades the
play2. Both the white librarian woman and the coulored school headmaster emote and
communicate fear through dialogues, soliloquies, and conversations on different scales and
with differing outcomes. The play features Fugard’s realistic dramaturgy as, in Albert
1
The anti-miscegenational law rendered in the 1949 “Immorality Act” constitutes with the 1950 “Group Area
Act”, the 1950 “Population Registration Act,” and the 1953 “Reservation of Separate Amenities”, the four
fundamental segregationist laws of the Apartheid system.
2
For more information about the fear motif of the play read Jules Kouakou, ‘‘Poetics of Fear in Athol Fugard’s
‘Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act’”, Revue Baobab, N°28, 2020, pp.96-114.
Wertheim’s words, “the characters face the same issue which is the poverty imposed on the
blacks of South Africa and that to be black in South Africa is to be poor” (cited in Mwihia
Margaret Njoki and Collins Ogogo, 2014, p.69). In so doing, it uses vivid imagery to ridicule
the anti-miscegenational law and, thereafter, “directly attack Apartheid”, as Kelli Marino (2010,
p.3) put it.

“Statements after an Arrest under the Immortality Act” complies with Fugard’s symbolic
artistry which features characters who “do little or nothing except validate their existence
through words that cry out to be heard. Their language ranges from the harshly naturalistic to
the eloquently poetic; their rhythms are acutely South African, yet they cross linguistic barriers”
(in (Ed.) Carl Rollyson, 2003).

Frieda Joubert and Errol Philander generously satisfy Fugard’s symbolic characterization as
they are initially “confined in a room” and “recollect, recriminate, role-play, and resign
themselves to their existence in a world without meaning and with little hope for change. They
delude themselves with false hopes and dreams, amuse themselves with games to pass the
time; such nobility as they possess comes in the fleeting, lucid moments when they
acknowledge their condition—and their dependence on each other” (Ibid).

Centering his theatrical creation on human pain Fugard confessed to Barrie Hough who
interviewed him in 1977 on his The Guest, Fugard’s film about Eugène Marais, that “one of
the major Marais statements was that all living, survival, is grounded on pain. . . . It’s really a
theme that has gone through all my work; it’s the string that holds all the beads together to
make a necklace” (1980, p.42). Joubert and Philander are exemplar of human pain in the play.
As Philander embodies pain inflicted on ground of racial difference and touches the depth of
racial absurdity, Joubert personifies the pain trap which inflictors of suffering ironically undergo
in return. No one ever escapes the vicious pain cycle, not even the police nor the judge who
search for an absurd anti-miscegenational crime to sentence the offenders. The latter’s failure
to punish their race-fellow’s offense and their painstakingly endeavor to find out grounds for
sentencing to death their race “other” for the same crime imbeds Fugard’s pessimistic
approach to human existence.

Fugard can well be said to have “touched pain” “as much as he has touched love and truth”
as the central theme behind the story and the plot of “Statements after an Arrest under the
Immorality Act.” In respect to Fugard’s artistic construction the protagonists enjoy a fleeting
love story before succumbing to their share of existential fate of pain. Philander particularly
exemplifies “the palpable, the tangible” suffering endured by the Black “others” of the white
segregationist community of Apartheid South Africa. His portrayal conforms to the “realities of
daily living—sore feet, tired bodies, arthritic hands, mounting stress, and cruel insults –
whereby “Fugard reminds people that they are the sum of their pain” and that “the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts, but their interdependence is undeniable.”

Fugard’ “Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act” presents both an aesthetic and
societal interest as it places theatrical creation in the framework of literary contribution to racial
justice.

B- TUTORIAL ANALYSIS
Play: “Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act” (1974), by Athol Fugard.
Course Description
This course is part of Licence3 learners’ curriculum in literature. It provides a detailed
framework of drama analysis and drama-based essay writing, drawing on both thematic and
analytic approaches. It takes a standpoint on Athol Fugard’s play entitled “Statements after
an Arrest under the Immorality Act.”
Course Objectives
This course aims to reinforce Master-1 learners’ proficiencies in analyzing and interpreting
dramatic texts, and ensuing essay writing by providing an actual site of applicability.
Course Organization
This course is structured into sessions. Three sessions are required to fulfill its objective. The
last session consists of two evaluations Tests.
Course Timing: 20 Hours
Course Material: A Play
Fugard, Athol (1974). “Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act.” Statements
(Three plays), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Session 1 Thematic Analysis

Session Objectives
By the end of this session learners should be able to
_ discuss items and tropes related to drama, play, and theatre,
_ make a thematic analysis of an extract,
_ write a thematic essay

Session Activities
Activity 1
Identify the type of play and discuss its central theme. Relate the theme to the socio-historical
context of the writing of the play. Then associate your finding with supporting themes to make
a summary of the plot.

Activity 2
Read the following passage. Make notes on the different dramatic elements which inform it.
Discuss this extract within the larger scope of the play. Lastly, guess its receptivity by the
audience, and express your personal reception of the passage.
Passage: “A man and a woman on a blanket on the floor… Woman: Everything.
Me…you…them…” (Pp. 81-83).

Activity 3
Write an essay on how the dramatic elements in the passage work together to create an
overall effect.

Session 2 Analytic Study

Objectives: by the end of this course learners should be able to

_ describe the process of analytic study of an extract
_ write an analytic essay of an excerpt

Session activities

Activity 1
Read the extract indicated below. Identify three sense groups. Organize the text linearly
into three correlated parts basing on the three centers of interest. Determine two or three
subtopics in each part, and comment on them showing their internal relationships: cause,
 effects, results, etc. Finally, interpret and comment on the three centers of interests
altogether using coordinators to build a cohesive whole.
Guidelines: Follow the paragraph organization template for your analysis: Topic sentence;
development; evidence; analysis; transition; evidence; analysis; conclusion sentence.
Passage: “Man. Okay. [defeated by her …] … just because Bonstrung is thirsty.” (Pp. 90-91)
Activity 2: Write an analytic essay on the passage using the cues in Activity 1 and guidelines.

Session 3

Session objective: by the end of this course learners should be able to successfully write a
commentary essay using either analytic or thematic approaches.
Activity: Write a commentary on the passage below, highlighting the language and sound
effects.
Passage: “You say you have no previous experience… South African Police. Noupoort.” (pp.
102-104)

Course References

Aristotle, Poetics, Translation S. H. Butcher, November 3, 2008 [EBook #1974],

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm
Athalia, D. “What is the Best Way to Analyse a Play?”
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/13742/A-Level/Drama/What-is-the-best-way-to-
analyse-a-play/, retrieved on May 22, 2020.
Barrie Hough and Athol Fugard, “Interview with Athol Fugard”, Port Elizabeth, 30 November
1977, Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, No. 55 (October 1980), pp. 37-
48.
Birch, Anthony (2018). “Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama”:
https://mindtools.net/2018/11/23/aristotles-six-elements-of-drama/, retrieved on March
20, 2022.
Kirkland, Mallory, “Drama Analysis”, YouTube, 16 November 2016, at
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=theematic+analysis+of+drama&sour
ceid, retrieved on March 20, 2022.
Fugard, Athol, “Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act”, Statements, Oxford,
New York & Cape Coast: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. 79-108.
Guest, Greg, Kathleen M. MacQueen & Emily E. Namey, Applied Thematic Analysis,
Los Angeles: Sage, 2012.
Karvellas, Greg, “Athol Fugard’s Statements after an arrest under the Immorality
Act showing at the Fugard Theatre”, Interview by Marly Van Eeden on 10-10-2019, at
https://www.litnet.co.za/athol-fugards-statements-after-an-arrest-under-the-
immorality-act-showing-at-the-fugard-theatre/, retrieved on March 20, 2022.
Kouakou, Koffi Jules, “Poetics of Fear in Athol Fugard’s “Statements after an Arrest under
the Immorality Act’”, Revue Baobab, N°28, 2020, pp.96-114.
Lamarque, Peter, “Analytic Approaches to Aesthetics” Oxford Bibliographies Online,
Research Guide, 2010, at https://books.google.ci/, retrieved on March 20, 2022.
Marino, Kelli, Study Guide for “Master Harold” … and the Boys, (ed.) Lara Goetsch, TimeLine
Theatre, 2010
Rafanan, Anthony Miguel, “Drama Lecture Notes”, SCRIB D, at
https://fr.scribd.com/document/435533549/Lecture-Notes-on-Drama
Rollyson, Carl (Ed.), "Athol Fugard - Athol Fugard Drama Analysis" in Critical Edition of
Dramatic Literature eNotes.com, Inc. 2003 eNotes.com 29 Jun, 2017
http://www.enotes.com/topics/athol-fugard/critical-essays#critical-essays-analysis
Stewart, Greg, “Review: Statements after an Arrest under the Immortality Act at The
Orange Tree Theatre”, September 2, 2021, at https://theatreweekly.com/review-
statements-after-an-arrest-under-the-immorality-act-at-the-orange-tree-theatre/

Supplementary Lesson

The 10 steps to analyze a play.

1- Identify key elements: title and playwright; setting/time period; main characters and
supporting characters; main conflict; resolution, climax.
2- Identify the type of play: comedy, tragedy, history, satirical comedy, romantic comedy.
3- Identify the historical period: to set a parallel between the drama and the social
happenings of the period.
4- Analyze the characters: they often act as playwrights’ themes. So the analysis of their
actions and dialogue can reveal the development of the theme in the plot.
5- Identify the dramatic devices for analysis: plot pyramid stages;
foreshadowing/flashback; monologue/soliloquy; narration; dramatic irony; foil
characters.
Where are the devices effective? How do these devices work to create the theme?
What connection do these elements create for the audience? How do these elements
advance the plot? What do these elements reveal about a character?
6- Plot, setting, and organization: how is the plot organized? Is the plot based in reality or
in a fictional world? How do the stage notes reveal information about the setting and
the theme? Does the author use any particular color or objects to develop the theme?
7- Develop a thesis statement: explain some aspect (s) of the play that will give you an
idea of how you are going to write your analysis of the play.
8- Create an organized outline: create clear topic sentences related to the thesis
statement to start the body of your analysis; develop the topic sentences with personal
ideas and support them with quotations from the text.
9- Gather examples and supporting details from the text. Use any device (s) that create
any particular effect (s).
10- Create a rough draft of your analysis: including a clear thesis statement, clear topic
sentences, and specific, cited evidence.
11-