Analyzing Plays: Themes, Characters, and Performance
Analyzing a play is different from analyzing a novel. A play is not a finished work of art — it is a blueprint for performance. The words on the page are only part of the story. The rest lives in the choices made by directors, actors, designers, and audiences. To analyze a play fully, you must read it as both literature and as a score for performance.
Reading for Themes
The first step in play analysis is to identify the play’s central themes. What is it about? Not the plot — what the play is about in the deeper sense. What questions does it raise? What ideas does it explore?
Ask: What does the protagonist want, and what stands in their way? The answer reveals the play’s central conflict, which is usually related to its central theme. Romeo and Juliet want to be together; their families stand in the way. The play is about love versus social obligation.
Look for patterns. What images recur? What words or phrases are repeated? What situations are mirrored or contrasted? In A Streetcar Named Desire, light and darkness, reality and illusion, the old world and the new — these patterns point toward the play’s concerns.
Consider the title. Titles are rarely arbitrary. Death of a Salesman tells us what the play is about and also sets up an ironic contrast — a salesman’s death should not be tragic, but Arthur Miller makes it so. Waiting for Godot tells us the play is about waiting, and that Godot may never come.
Character Analysis
Plays reveal character through action and speech. The playwright cannot tell us what a character thinks or feels — we must infer from what they do and say.
A character’s function in the drama is the first thing to consider. The protagonist drives the action. The antagonist opposes them. Supporting characters serve as foils, allies, or commentators. But great characters transcend their functions. Iago is the antagonist in Othello, but he is also fascinating enough to be the play’s most memorable character.
Look for contradictions. Characters who are entirely consistent are usually boring. Hamlet is noble and cruel, thoughtful and impulsive, loving and destructive. His contradictions make him feel real.
Consider what characters do not say. Subtext — the gap between what a character says and what they mean — is essential in drama. When Nora in A Doll’s House says she has been “happy,” the audience understands she has been anything but.
Dramatic Structure
Understanding a play’s structure helps you understand its effect. Where does the play begin? Where does it end? How does the dramatist build tension and release it?
Identify the inciting incident — the event that sets the main action in motion. In Hamlet, it is the ghost’s revelation. In A Raisin in the Sun, it is the arrival of the insurance check.
Find the turning points. Every act should have a moment when the situation changes irrevocably. These moments structure the play’s dramatic arc.
Consider the play’s rhythm. Alternating scenes of tension and release, comedy and tragedy, public and private — these create the texture of the theatrical experience. A play that is all tension exhausts the audience. A play with no tension bores them.
The ending is crucial. Does the play end with resolution or openness? With justice or injustice? The ending reveals the playwright’s worldview. A comedy ends with union; a tragedy ends with death; a problem play ends with questions.
Considering Performance
Reading a play is an act of imagination. You must imagine the play in performance, with real actors on a real stage, in front of a real audience.
Imagine the space. Is the play written for a proscenium stage, a thrust, a black box, or something else? How does the space affect the audience’s relationship to the action?
Imagine the actors. How should the lines be spoken? What physical choices would serve the character? A great performance can transform a play; a poor one can destroy it.
Imagine the design. Sets, costumes, lighting, and sound create the world of the play. How would you design a production of The Cherry Orchard? Would it be naturalistic or stylized? Contemporary or period? These choices shape meaning.
Writing About Theatre
Writing about theatre requires the same skills as analyzing a play, plus attention to the specific production. When reviewing a performance, consider:
The text itself — is it well-written? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
The production — the director’s interpretation, the design choices, the pacing.
The performances — the actors’ choices, their chemistry, their relationship to the text.
The audience response — was it engaged, restless, moved? The energy of a live audience is part of the theatrical experience.
Write for readers who have seen the play and readers who have not. For those who have not seen it, describe what happened and what it meant. For those who have, offer insight that deepens their understanding.
Analyzing Specific Genres
Different dramatic genres require different analytical approaches. A tragedy typically follows a protagonist’s fall from grace, and the analyst should attend to the nature of the protagonist’s flaw (hamartia), the role of fate or divine forces, and the emotional effect of the ending. A comedy demands attention to timing, structure, and the sources of humor — is the comedy verbal, situational, or character-based? A history play raises questions about historical accuracy, political bias, and the relationship between past events and present concerns.
Musical theatre adds the dimension of song and dance, and the analyst must consider how music conveys emotion, how lyrics advance character and plot, and how choreography creates meaning. A musical like Hamilton uses hip-hop to tell a historical story; a musical like Sweeney Todd uses operatic structure for a horror story. The form shapes the content, and the analyst must be sensitive to the interplay.
Experimental and avant-garde theatre may reject traditional categories altogether, and the analyst must be willing to describe what happens without imposing conventional frameworks. The first question for any analysis is always the same: what kind of thing is this, and what rules is it playing by?
Analyzing the Production
A play exists on the page and on the stage, and the two are not the same. A production of Hamlet can be set in Elizabethan Denmark, in a modern corporate office, or on a bare stage. The choice changes the meaning of the play. The analyst must consider not just the text but how it is realized in performance.
The director’s concept is the starting point. What choices has the director made about the world of the play? Is the production naturalistic or stylized? Is it set in the period of the play’s composition or updated? What themes does the director emphasize? A production of The Cherry Orchard that emphasizes the comedy and one that emphasizes the tragedy are doing different things with the same play.
The design elements — sets, costumes, lighting, sound — create the atmosphere and reinforce the director’s concept. A minimalist set forces the audience to focus on the actors and the language. An elaborate set creates a world that the characters inhabit. Each choice is an interpretation. The set design for Angels in America — which must accommodate realistic scenes, dream sequences, and an angel descending from the ceiling — is itself a statement about the scope of the play.
Close Reading Scenes
The most effective way to analyze a play is through close reading of individual scenes. A single scene from Hamlet or A Doll’s House contains the same elements as the whole play — character, conflict, theme, language — in concentrated form. By examining a scene in detail, the analyst can understand how the play works at the micro level and then apply those insights to the whole.
Choose a scene that seems important. Read it several times. Note the character interactions, the language, the structure, the rhythms of dialogue. Consider what happens dramatically — not just what is said but what is done. A scene in which a character enters at a particular moment, or in which a piece of furniture is positioned in a particular way, or in which a significant pause occurs — these details are the grammar of drama.
After analyzing the scene, step back. How does this scene connect to the play as a whole? Does it introduce a theme, develop a character, advance the plot, or provide a turning point? Does it echo or contrast with other scenes? The scene is not an isolated unit. It is a part of a larger structure, and understanding its function within that structure is the goal of analysis.
The Value of Drama Criticism
Analyzing plays is not just an academic exercise. It deepens your appreciation of theatre, sharpens your critical thinking, and helps you become a more attentive audience member. The more you understand how plays work, the more you can enjoy them — and the more you can learn from them about the human condition.
Theatre is the art of people watching people. To analyze a play is to participate in that watching, to understand the choices that make theatre the most immediate and communal of the arts.
For a comprehensive overview, read our article on A Streetcar Named Desire.
For a comprehensive overview, read our article on Absurdist Drama Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I read to understand analyzing plays better?
Start with foundational works that established the field, then move to contemporary scholarship. Critical editions with annotations provide valuable context. Academic journals offer current research and debates. Reading primary sources alongside secondary analysis deepens understanding of both the works and their interpretation.
How do scholars analyze works in this category?
Analysis approaches include close reading, historical contextualization, theoretical frameworks, and comparative study. Scholars examine elements such as structure, style, themes, character development, and cultural context. Multiple readings often reveal new insights that were not apparent on first encounter.
Why is analyzing plays important to understand?
Literature and arts reflect and shape human experience, offering insights into different cultures, historical periods, and ways of thinking. Engaging with serious works develops critical thinking, empathy, and communication skills. The study of literature enriches personal understanding and connects us to shared human experiences across time and place.