The tone of Oedipus' speech tells us that he rather self-righteously accepts the role of saviour of his people. (Only as we read subsequent scenes do we gradually recognize the irony of his attitude, for he himself is the cause of the plague.) Like most plays, Oedipus the King immediately raises these questions: How are the characters dressed? How are they positioned? Do they move? If so, when and in what manner? At what tempo does the scene proceed? What is the tone of the scene?
Many other questions could be enumerated but these illustrate that inwardly and imaginatively seeing and hearing a script is not a simple undertaking. Yet, it can be done adequately if we cultivate the imagination and develop the understanding appropriate to the task.
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Brockett then goes on to talk about those aspects on which a play rests. He says that our understanding of the play can be enriched if we pay attention to aspects such as dramatic action, plot, character and characterization, thought, diction, music and spectacle. According to him, these aspects form the basic material of a play. To these aspects, theme too can be added.
While these aspects need to be paid attention to, one must remember that these aspects may assume different meanings, given the nature of a production. Modern productions of plays like Oedipus the King have not necessarily gone by the merit of spectacle for instance. Many modern productions do not only reflect experimentation but also minimalism.
In such a case then, perhaps envisaging Oedipus' palace may not be an essential thing to do. However what becomes important is to understand the nuances that may make experimentation possible. In either case, the readings of a play are crucial to an overall understanding. Reading a play is also about the discovery of new ideas, voices and possibilities.
Play reading clubs must be encouraged as they provide platforms for ideas to ferment. Moreover play readings too need to be done with attitude by which I mean that each character must be given a voice. While readings need not be rehearsed, the readers must have loud, clear voices, a grasp of the language of the play and sensitivity to details such as time, period, culture, etc.
Students of Literature study drama but unfortunately a play is treated as a novel or a poem might be. While it may not be possible to dramatize the prescribed plays all the time, faculty and students must make it a point to reflect on the dramatic possibilities that a text presents. Agreed that many plays are prescribed clearly for their literary merit, one must not forget that by its very genre, its performative counterpart- the theatre cannot be left far behind.
* Source: Brockett, Oscar.
The Theatre: An Introduction, Fourth Edition. United States: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.
