Read Plays

Dear “theatre people” (and also “non-theatre people”), Read plays. Read lots of plays. Depending on how you read them, they can be quick reads, which is gratifying because then your shelf will have a few more books you’ve already read among the books on your shelf that you feel guilty about not having read yet. And do keep them on your shelf after you read them, because you should also re-read plays. Yes, re-read plays, and discover new things. About how different the world was when the play was written, and how different the world was when you first read the play, and how different you were when you first read the play. Read bad plays. Interrogate why you consider them bad. What makes them bad? What can you still learn from them? Surely something in each of them works. Is the play bad, or do you just disagree with what it says about the world? Read good plays. Interrogate why you consider them good. Is it because other people said they’re good? Is ...