Performance
Why a Pause Can Change the Meaning of a Line
Why a pause can change the meaning of a line: learn to hear the expectation it creates, the emphasis it shifts and the…
The reading room
All articles
Browse the Fresh Theatre Guide archive for ideas about scripts, performers, design choices, rehearsal and the experience of watching live theatre.
Design
A Flexible Set or a Detailed Room: Two Ways to Suggest Place
A flexible set or detailed room can shape how audiences imagine a play’s world. Compare their effects and choose what…
Playwriting
Before the Modern Play Script: How Stage Directions Took Shape
How stage directions took shape becomes clearer through dated plays and editions, helping readers distinguish…
Playwriting
The Natural-Sounding Dialogue Myth
Natural-sounding stage dialogue is not a transcript of everyday talk: learn how compression, rhythm and repetition…
Audience
A First Play with an Interval: A Quiet Plan for the Evening
A first play with an interval feels easier to enter when you know what to read, where to pause and which detail to…
Our point of view
A play is never only the words
Theatre is made in the meeting of text, performers, space and audience. Notice those connections and familiar scenes start to open up.