En anglais

Reading a play as something staged

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 15-16

Name ______________________ Date ____________

How should you treat a stage direction?
- As a note for the crew, safely skipped
- As decoration around the real dialogue
- As an authorial choice, quoted like dialogue
What is the second reading of a scene for?
- What is done on stage: entrances, silences, and movement
- Counting how many lines each actor speaks
- Checking the spelling of the stage directions
Dramatic irony means the audience knows something a character does not.
Circle one: True False
A script says the room falls silent before an answer. How do you analyse it?
- Treat the silence as a choice and explain what it does to the line
- Skip it, since silence carries no meaning
- Blame the actors for forgetting their lines
A crowd hears a hero promise to return, though it knows he will not. What does the gap create?
- Proof the hero is a weak character
- Tension, pity, or dread in the watching audience
- A reason to skip the rest of the scene
A late entrance is only a practical fix and never part of the meaning.
Circle one: True False
A character leaves early and the stage sits empty for a beat. What is the strongest reading?
- The actor needed a rest offstage
- The exit leaves a wound open and the silence lets it land
- The scene has ended and failed
A student writes that the audience feels dread because the scene is sad. What is missing?
- A longer summary of the plot
- The name of the theatre form
- Both knowledges named, plus the line that splits them

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

As an authorial choice, quoted like dialogue · Directions order meaning. Quote them with the same care as speech.
What is done on stage: entrances, silences, and movement · The second reading watches stagecraft. That is where the arguing happens.
True · That gap turns plain lines into traps for the watching audience.
Treat the silence as a choice and explain what it does to the line · Silence is a direction too. Ask what would flatten without it.
Tension, pity, or dread in the watching audience · The split between knowledges breeds tension, pity, or dread.
False · Timing accuses or rescues. A late arrival can bring judgement on its own.
The exit leaves a wound open and the silence lets it land · An early exit is timed. The empty beat lets the wound land.
Both knowledges named, plus the line that splits them · Dread needs its mechanism. Name both knowledges and the splitting line.