Plays exist in 3 dimensions. Everything communicates meaning. Tone of voice, gesture, expression, proximics (that’s the distance between performers). And that’s before you get onto set, costumes, lighting, sound and how they add to the atmosphere. Making decisions about all those things, bringing them together, putting them together – is both the interpretation of a play and the end of the creative process.
Plays are written to be heard and seen, not read. Me, I find reading plays difficult, especially plays with complex language and long speeches. So I get a group of actors together to read them early in the creative process. The reading of Doctor Faustus was very helpful – not least because of the insight the actors bring when we’re chatting after the reading. The comic characters, as one actor pointed out, do what most of us would do if we had access to magic: use it to get rich and have lots of sex. Or dream of it. Another pointed out that most tragic hero’s don’t make their fatal mistake until well into the play, whereas Doctor Faustus makes his crucial decision in his first speech in his first scene!
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