{"product_id":"backwards-forwards-david-ball-9780809311101","title":"Backwards \u0026 Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe best-selling script analysis book for thirty-five years\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Considered an essential text since its publication thirty-five years ago, this guide for students and practitioners of both theater and literature complements, rather than contradicts or repeats, traditional methods of literary analysis of scripts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ball developed his method during his work as literary director at the Guthrie Theater, building his guide on the crafts playwrights of every period and style use to make their plays stageworthy. The text is full of tools for students and practitioners to use as they investigate plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, conflict, theatricality, and the other crucial parts of the superstructure of a play. Also included are guides for discovering what the playwright considers a play' s most important elements, thus permitting interpretation based on the foundation of the play rather than its details. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Using Shakespeare's \u003ci\u003eHamlet\u003c\/i\u003e as illustration, Ball assures a familiar base for clarifying script-reading techniques as well as exemplifying the kinds of misinterpretation readers can fall prey to by ignoring the craft of the playwright. Of immense utility to those who want to put plays on the stage (actors, directors, designers, production specialists) \u003ci\u003eBackwards \u0026amp; Forwards\u003c\/i\u003e is also a fine playwriting manual because the structures it describes are the primary tools of the playwright. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Ball\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0809311100\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780809311101\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Southern Illinois University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/07\/1983\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.45h x 5.35w x 0.30d","brand":"David Ball","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44051507871999,"sku":"9780809311101","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a2fea95b-83a9-49b7-84b9-7a7021b0aa6a.jpg?v=1685013516","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/backwards-forwards-david-ball-9780809311101","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}