Backward & Forwards Notes

Backwards and Forwards: Notes

PLOT

  1. Stasis- What would keep happening if something new didn't come along and cause something new to happen?
  2. Point of Attack – the place where the play starts and why it specifically starts there
  3. Exposition – When/Where is it delivered and by whom?  Who know what & who doesn't?
  4. "Triggers & Heaps" (series of actions) – Dominoes.  What Actions lead to a following action, which in turn leads to yet another action?
  5. Forwards – Arouses audience interest in things yet to come.
  6. Opposing Forces – Identify the forces attempting to dominate in the world of the play
  7. Conflict – The want of the major character/s VS. the obstacle/s
  8. Climax – The moment when the opposing forces reach their critical mass and a resolution is formed.  The reversal.
  9. Denouement – The final unraveling or solution to the plot
  10. New Stasis – Where does the world end up?  Where does the movement stop until the next intrusion comes along?

 

CHARACTER

  • Character(s) Motivation – What do they want in a big bad way?  Their desire
  • Obstacles – What opposes the motivation?  What are they – actions, choices, circumstances, or what?
  • Action/What? – What the characters does or is willing to do to satisfy the want
  • Action/Why? – Why the character chooses these actions?
  • Avowed Action/Why? vs. True Action/Why? – Why does the character SAY he does an action compared to the truth un why he does an action.

 

IMAGES

  1. Dominant Images  – Images/motifs in the play that underscore or augment the play's action
  2. Repeated Images – Images that reappear throughout the course of the play
  3. Images in the Title – Is there a dominant image in the Title? What is its importance?

 

THINGS THEATRICAL

  • What elicits a strong audience response?

 

THEME

  1. Interpret the author's potential messages – what issues is the author exploring
  2. What are the abstract concepts which part of all of the play is "about?"

 

OTHER THOUGHTS

  • Background information on the playwright, era, and artistic environment of when the play was written
  • Assume what's in a script is there on purpose
  • Explore the family relationships in the script (customs, politics, laws, tastes, styles . . . )
  • What makes the play unique?  Why does the action occur on that specific day and time as opposed to the next day or the  previous day?
  • It takes more than one reading to get it all!