Te mood or atmosphere in a scene creates a big impact on the audience. Ask yourself questions about the mood of the play.
(a) What is the mood at the beginning of the extract? (b) How is this mood created? (c) Does the mood change in the course of the extract? (d) How does it change? (e) Why does it change? (f)
Tip:
For your studied play you will need to go into greater depth. For each of the above areas for discussion, ensure that you can quote accurately and/ or use close textual reference to support your points.
Because you will be dealing with an entire play, as opposed to a short extract, you will need to be aware of the changing moods in different scenes of your chosen play.
Be prepared to select specific scenes to illustrate how the playwright creates mood or atmosphere. Be able to pinpoint scenes where the mood changes gradually or abruptly and show how this is achieved. Characterisation, dialogue, actions and consequences of actions will all affect the mood of the play.
Is the audience aware of something that the characters are not aware of?