Commentaries on Classical and Modern Plays
When one attends a play, a certain mindset is required once the lights dim in anticipation of the first character entrance. Plays, as opposed to musicals, need to be completely focused on by the ears, the eyes, and a thinking brain. Plays are rarely, directly, forthcoming in the meaning of the dialogue spoken. Often, the audience needs to pay close attention to what is spoken. In classical plays, for instance, it may take the ears a few minutes to get used to dialect, accent or period vocabulary. This is why a piece by Shakespeare can be studied, infinitely. Not only is the diagram of a sentence, seemingly backward, frequently, double entendre is used. Double entendre requires the patron to take into account minutiae of each character’s personality, dialogue, costume, position mark, props, and mostly, the relationships between each of the characters. When a character uses double entendre in dialogue, the ‘fourth wall’ is opened and the play becomes interactive allowing the element of bringing the audience in on the joke. Whether it be a wink to viewers, or a deliberate walk to the front of the stage to shrug shoulders or roll the eyes–taking his character out of the scene.