1. The Performance Analysis Questionnaire
In the pages that follow, we have created a detailed questionnaire to help you collect your impressions, responses and understandings of a live performance. The analysis of performance is an increasingly complex activity for the reasons that we have outlined in Chapter 10.This complexity requires great detail in the questionnaire. There is so much that one might respond to both before, during and after a performance, and performance in today's theatre takes many different forms and has many social functions. The questionnaire is designed to include every sign of performance and to include both the analysis of devised performances and performances based on an existing play text.
The questionnaire is in six sections, as follows:
1 Expectations. We seldom go to a performance cold. More usually we have a set of expectations of the play, of the director and the venue among other sources of information that create a certain expectation of the performance itself.
2 Summarise expectations. In this section you are asked to gather together your expectations prior to the performance itself.
3 Pre-performance. Once you arrive at the venue, you encounter other sources of information about the performance from the venue itself and from the visual and spatial arrangements in the auditorium prior to the opening of the show.
4 Text in Performance. If the performance is based on an existing play text, you will need to consider how effectively the play text has been translated into performance. This section will be particularly important when you watch the performance of one of your set texts or of a play text you are studying or know well.
5. Performance Text. In this section you make an analysis of the actors' technical and interpretative skills in performance. You also consider the use of technical theatre, and the dynamics, or flow, of the performance.

2. 6 Post-performance. Finally, we help you to collect together your first impressions into a framework for group discussion so that you can share your responses and gain from the views of others in your group.
Each section makes use of some of the terms that we have introduced in this book and asks a number of key questions about the performance. At some point in your studies it would be valuable to try and complete the entire questionnaire for a live performance so that you can become aware of all that is involved in making, performing and responding to performance. If you experience the performance in a group then you could divide up the various sec­tions of the questionnaire so that individuals take responsibility for making a complete response to one section only. In other situations, you may want to select from the questionnaire according to the type of performance that you are going to see and your own purposes for making an analysis. There are parts of the questionnaire which will be irrelevant if you go to see a devised performance rather than a performance of a play text, for instance. You may want to focus on a particular aspect of the performance such as the acting or the use of technical theatre, in which case you would focus on those sections rather than trying to keep a record of all the sections. The questionnaire will also be useful to you in the final stages of your own per­formance work. It provides you with a checklist of all that you will need to consider in polishing your work for public performance.
Expectations P L A Y T E X
Play Text
Author
(if applicable)
Title?
Is it: a new play, revival, classic, translation, adaptation?
Is this a new or established author?
What else has she or he written?
Is the author’s cultural background relevant in terms of gender, cultural/ethnicity, social class?

3. P L A Y T E X
Period
(if applicable)
In what historical period was the play written?
What historical period is the play set in?
What do you know about these periods?
Genre
Is the play in a particular genre?
What other plays have you seen and studied that are in the same genre?
What do you expect from plays in this genre? S
Director
Does the director have a reputation?
If so for what kind of work? (e.g. playwright's director/auteur)
Company
Is it a permanent company (e.g. RSC/Rep/nationally known)?
Are there any 'stars'? If so what previous work have they done?
Venue
What type of venue is it?
What else have you seen there?
What do you expect from shows at this venue? R
Reviews
Has this performance been reviewed?
If so what were the opinions and points raised in the reviews?
Publicity
How and where has the show been marketed?
What images and text are used in the marketing?
Does the publicity target a particular audience?
Friends
Do you know anyone who has already seen the show?
What's the word?

4. 2. Summarise Expectations
Based on your pre-performance research:
What do you expect the performance to be like, in terms of style and effect?
What problems might there be in the staging of this play?
If you have already studied the play what will you be looking for in the performance? Are there any interesting differences in the reviews to note?
What do you expect to enjoy/not enjoy in this performance?
3. Pre-performance V E N U
Ambience at venue
What is the 'feel' of the venue?
What is the age/economic/cultural profile of the audience?
How welcoming is the venue?
Visuals/graphics
Are there any posters?
Are there any images from the production? Scenes, costumes, set?
Are there any photos of the actors as themselves/in character?
Are there posters and photos from previous shows?
Programme notes
What information is given: About the play?
About the interpretation?
About the producers (biographies etc.)?

5. V E N U
Pre-performance events
Music/sound
Does the performance extend into the lobby, in terms of:
Displays or material directly related to the performance?
Actors mingling or calling the audience into the theatre?
Sound or music to signal the performance is starting? S T A G I
Performance space
When you enter the theatre/performance space, how is it organised?
Sketch the space, paying careful attention to how it is divided into acting/audience space and any fixed objects or scenery present.
How do you expect the space to be used?
Will there be a close relationship between performers and audience for instance?
Audience space
How will the seating affect the audience's response?
Set
Are there any ambient sounds/lights?
Use of Acting/Audience Space
(Sketch of Space)

6. 4. Text in Performance
Consider and comment on: .
Casting
Spoken text
Characterisation
Genre and/or style
Period
Setting
Is it a literal presentation of the play, with few changes to the original text
and directions?
Is it an interpretation of the original play text based on the director's ideas
and themes?
If so, what changes have been made to the original text?
Are the signs used to tell the story in its period and setting mainly realist or
non-realist?
Did this performance teach you anything new about the plot, language,
characters, setting or themes of the play text?
Did you have a problem with, or not like/understand, any aspect of the
staging of this play?
5. Performance Text
Actors use of:
Literal
Interpretative
Realist
Non-Realist
Space
Voice
Body
Movement
Timing
Interactions

7. Use the tick boxes to decide whether the actors' signing is: literal (according
To the original directions) or interpretative (commenting on or 'making
strange' the original directions); mainly realist (iconic or 'lifelike') or mainly
non-realist (symbolic).
Was there a dominant acting style: 'representational’ actors 'being'
characters (Stanislavskian) or 'presentational’ actors 'showing' characters
(Brechtian)?
Were there any significant changes, or contrasts, in the acting style during
the performance?
If so, what was the intention and effect do you think?
How conscious were you of the actors as actors rather than as characters?
What effect did the performance of the actors have on your understanding of
the play and/or your experience during the performance?
How did the actors use each other and how much direct notice did they take
of the audience?
Were there any outstanding/weak performances?
If so, what distinguished these actors from others in terms of their signing?
Technical Theatre
Fixed
Change
Realist
Non-realist On
Off
Props
Costumes
Scenery
Music
Sound
Other technical

8. Use the tick boxes to decide which technical theatre effects were: fixed
throughout or changed  during the performance; realist or stylised in their appearance or effect; mostly 'switched on' (used) or 'switched off' (not used). 
Which effects were you most conscious of during performance? 
Were there any significant changes in the use of an effects system - e.g. sudden music, or dramatic lighting changes - if so, what was the intention and effect? 
Did the effects blend in with the other signs in performance, or were they in contrast with other signs - Le. realist acting with a stylised set or lighting?  Were there any design themes, such as colour, textures, shapes? 
Dynamics
Contrasts
Effect 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Rhythm and pace of voice and action
2. Sound/ Silence
3. Light/Dark
4. Solo/Duo ensemble

9. Sound
Movement
Participation
Applause
5. Audience Response
Divide the performance up into units (see diagram above) - possibly the act/scene structure or time elapsed. Make a simple flow chart to show the rhythms and pace of the performance. The bottom of the chart represents 'slow/quiet' and the top is 'fast/loud'.
Make a note of any significant moments of contrast between sound/silence and light/dark.
What was the intention and effect of these moments?
What was the mix of solo/duologue and ensemble playing in the performance?
Were there any obvious contrasts - e.g. an intimate duologue followed by a busy crowd or ensemble scene?
What did the audience contribute to the performance and how conscious were you of other audience members?
6. Post Performance
Use the information that you have gathered in Stages 1-5 to prepare the following notes as a basis for group discussion. Refer back to the evidence that you have collected during the discussion.
P N
E O
R T
S E
O S N A L
Images retained
When you close your eyes and think back to the performance, how many moments can you clearly visualise in your head?
Why are these the images that you have retained?
Strongest moment
What for you was the strongest moment in the performance? A moment of tension, sadness, anger, beauty or truth, perhaps? A particular scene which affected you the most? One of the images that you retained?

10. P E R S N A L O T
Weakest moment
Which moment was the weakest for you? A scene or use of sign that really didn’t work for you? How might that moment have been ‘rescued’ or done differently?
Inconsiste-ncies
Were there any problems with the logic or coherence of the signs in performance? Anything that jarred or seemed out of place with the rest of the performance?
Didn't understand
Were there any points in the performance that confused you, or where you couldn’t work out the intentions?
Strong points overall
Did the performance have a particular strength? The acting or design for instance?
Weak points overall
Did the performance have a particular weakness? The pace or director’s interpretation, for instance?
Personal response
Finally, make a list of issues or points that you really would like raised and shared in the discussion.