Technical Features

Abstract

In his ‘Introduction’ to the Collected Plays, writing about how he learned how to construct his plays to give them the greatest dramatic intensity, Miller wrote that one of the most important techniques was ‘the holding back of climax until it was ready, the grasp of the rising line and the unwillingness to divert to any easy climax until the true one was ready. If there was one word to name the mood it was Forego. Let nothing interfere with the shape, the direction, the intention.’ But, of course, to build up to a climax, certain hints, clues and suggestions must be given earlier on in the play, many of them purposely left unanswered or ambiguous so that the audience is kept wondering