Reviewed by: How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors by Damon Kiely Jonathan Chambers How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors. By Damon Kiely. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2016; pp. 216. Damon Kiely's How to Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors is by turns fascinating and perplexing. Regarding the former, Kiely reviews a wide-ranging cross-section of responses to the question implied in his title: How does one read a play? Impressively, in addressing that question he includes thoughts on an array of types of theatre, from the staging of traditional dramatic scripts to devised works, and on the role of the director, from auteurs to those engaged in ensemble-based work. Likewise, in the "Workbook Chapter" and appendices that round out the book, many of the key ideas presented in the preceding chapters are usefully modeled. Yet, the enormity of Kiely's undertaking—after all, how does one offer a comprehensive response to the aforementioned question?—at times leads to a vexing lack of cohesion. To be sure, in his attempt to address the broad range of plays and texts available to the director and their corresponding analytic approaches, the ideas frequently become sweeping. Despite this lack of cohesion, in the end there is considerable value in How to Read a Play. This value is seen in large part in the information that Kiely gleans from his interviews with over forty contemporary directors (working within a variety of contexts), as well as with theatre artists engaged with companies committed to devised work, and also from his review of the processes of several historical luminaries. In this regard Kiely succeeds in his attempt to offer directors an effective review of the bounty of ideas on the topic, against which they can measure their own. Following a brief introductory chapter wherein the shape and scope of the book are set forth, in chapter 2, "Lessons from the Past," Kiely turns to the work of "seven influential thinkers" from the past (although by my count he includes only six), beginning with Aristotle and concluding with Harold Clurman. Outside of Aristotle, the subjects are entirely Western, twentieth century, and male (in addition to Clurman, Kiely touches on Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, and Brecht). Although this portion of the study would have profited from a more inclusive reach, Kiely's brief summaries are apt. Additionally, it warrants noting that his comments on historical contexts here and throughout the book sometimes lack nuance (for example, his brief account of the Group theatre's role in the development of Method acting assigns credit where perhaps it is not due). These shortcomings aside, this chapter is successful in reviewing concepts and terms that have frequently guided the understanding of how scripts and texts intended for theatrical performance were read by some influential thinkers and practitioners in the past, and how some of what they thought and proposed might still prove useful to directors today. Additionally, beginning in this chapter and then continuing throughout, Kiely includes short, page-long subdivisions, set apart from the main body, where summaries of contemporary directors' ideas on the topics are addressed, by way of extended quotation. For example, chapter 2 includes remarks from Padraic Lillis on his use of Stanislavski's ideas of supertask and conflict, and Robert Falls's observations on the value of French scene analysis. The information/observations given in these subdivisions is a real highlight, providing instructive and inspiring glimpses into the processes of numerous seasoned directors. Chapter 3, "Survey of Current Practices," and chapter 4, "Reading a Play without a Script," constitute the bulk of the book. In the former Kiely organizes the material gathered through the interviews and his thorough review of script-analysis literature to correspond with the director's workflow process. Unsurprisingly, the approaches examined in the chapter's three sections—"Digging into the Script on Your Own," "Preparing for Design Meeting and Casting Sessions," and "Gearing Up for Rehearsing with Actors"—are varied. For example, when considering the approaches that directors might take when initially reading scripts, some, such as Katie Mitchell and Kennie Leon, argue for the slow and systematic; others, such as Richard Foreman, believe that...