Hedidn’t have fun at their expense, as Proust would have done.

kindness was a key part of his educational strategy.He took it for granted that decent, intelligent, well-intentionedpeople might not know very much about art.

She thinks she should know the answer, and is therefore lessinclined to work through her ignorance.

f you were trying to turn the situation around for Madame deCambremer, mockery wouldn't be the best starting point. After all,part of this woman’s problem is that she thinks she should already havesound taste in art without ever having benefitted from a process ofeducation.

his is a forgivable eventuality: how arewe supposed to know from the outset which painter has talent?The problem here isn’t really uncertainty, though. It is rather therefusal to humbly acknowledge an inability to know one’s ownconcerns; a frailty masked by arrogance.

Weliketoprideourselvesonhavingourowntaste,butthetruthis,giventhedemandson ourtime andtheflawsinourpsychologicalmake-up,it’sverylikely thatwe won’tknowwhatwelikeunlessweareencouragedtolook ratherdeepinsideourselves andbenefitfromtheinputofotherstoguideourenthusiasmsinfruitfulways.

Oneof thereasonsfor thisdramatic changewasthetirelessworkof thecriticHerbertRead,whowrotearticlesandbooks,appearedonthe radio,mountedexhibitions,foundedLondon’sInstituteofContemporaryArts

mportant as these internal systems are, dramatic worlds don’t just speak to and withinthemselves; they also speak to each other. How many performances are signaling toyou from inside this world? How many echoes of other dramatic worlds do they sug-gest? How do these additional layers of theatricality comment on what you havealready discovered

Seeking what changes, don’t forget to ask what changes in you, the imaginer of worlds.Ask, what has this world demanded of me? Does it ask me for pity and fear? Does itask me to reason? To physically participate in the action on the stage? Does it ask meto interact with other spectators? To leave the theater and take political action? Tosearch my ethical being to the core? Maybe this world means only to entertain me, whynot? But how does it make this intention known

Only now are you really ready to examine the figures who inhabit this world

hat changes in the landscape of this world? Does it move from inside to out-side? From valleys to mountains? From town to wilderness?What changes in time? Does time move from dusk to night? Night to dawn?Morning to midnight? Through four seasons of a year? Through the stages of a humanlife? Or the stages of eternal life, from Creation to Last Judgment?What changes in language? In tone, mood, dress?All of the changes you discover will of course contribute to and reflect on char-acter, but each trajectory should be seen as a signifying system on its own.What changes in the action? Have we moved from confusion to wedding (thebasic plot of romantic comedy)? From threat to peaceful celebration (the basic plot of[traditional] tragicomedy)? From threat to disaster (the basic plot of tragedy)? Fromsuffering to rebirth (the plot of the Passion play)? From threat to dual outcome, suffer-ing for evil persons and vindication for good (the basic plot of melodrama)?What doesn’t change? Is there a stable or fixed point in this world? An absolutereality? God? The grave

Keep squinting at the planet. Is this a public world, or private? What are its classrules? Aristocratic? Popular? Mixed?In what kinds of patterns do the figures on this planet arrange themselves? Doyou see groups in action, isolated individuals, both? Is there a single central figure, sur-rounded by a group? Are figures matched off in conflicting pairs? Are you seeing (andfeeling) the tension of interlocking triangles?How do figures appear on this planet? Are they inward or two-dimensional?Subtle? Exaggerated? Are they like puppets? Like clowns? Like you? (Are you sure?)How do figures dress on this planet? In rags, in gowns, in cardboard cutouts?Like us? (Are you sure?)How do figures interact? By fighting? Reasoned discussion?Who has power on this planet? How is it achieved? Over whom is it exercised?To what ends is it exercised?What are the language habits on this planet? Verse or prose, dialogue or mono-logue, certainly. But also, what kinds of language predominate — of thoughts or offeelings? And what kinds of feelings? Is language colorful or flat, clipped or flowing,metaphorical or logical? Exuberant or deliberate? And what about silences

You’re not done. In most dramatic worlds there are hidden, or at least unseen,spaces. Ask questions about them as well. What are their characteristics of space, time,tone, and mood? How do they relate to the represented world, the world you can see?Finally, while you’re looking at this planet, listen to its “music.” Every dramaticworld will have, or suggest, characteristic sounds — of mourning, celebration, chil-dren’s patter, incantation. It will alternate sounds of human and landscape, or soundand silence. Listen for the pattern of the sound.II. The So cial Wor ld of the Pl ay : A Cl oser Lo okYou are still not ready to examine the beings who inhabit this world. Before you inquireinto their individual traits and motives, there are other things you need to know.

Remember, you can’t just decide the planet is wintry or dark because you think itwould look more interesting in snow or smog, at least not yet. Make sure you’re alertto what’s there; there should be actual evidence on the planet for what you report

To see this entire world, do this literally: Mold the play into a medium-sizedball, set it before you in the middle distance, and squint your eyes. Make the ball smallenough that you can see the entire planet, not so small that you lose detail, and not solarge that detail overwhelms the whole

o look at dra-matic structures narrowly in terms of characters risks unproblematically collapsing thisstrange world into our own world.

A play is not a flat work of literature, not a description in poetry of another world, butis in itself another world passing before you in time and space.