What is the difference between a play and play text?

This question explores the relationship of one means of communication – written language – with another – stage language. At its simplest level, we can say that a play text is the written “recipe” for “making a play,” that is, a performance. When actors “recite” the text’s lines, three things happen: First, the actors supply a paralinguistic support system to language – voice inflections, pauses and phrasing, gestures, etc., including acting out any “stage directions” called...

This question explores the relationship of one means of communication – written language – with another – stage language. At its simplest level, we can say that a play text is the written “recipe” for “making a play,” that is, a performance. When actors “recite” the text’s lines, three things happen: First, the actors supply a paralinguistic support system to language – voice inflections, pauses and phrasing, gestures, etc., including acting out any “stage directions” called for in the play text. Secondly, the actors add several physical “languages” to the words themselves (generally called “stage language"): facial expressions, proxemics, body “language,” the “language of costume and set design” (placing the play text in a social, financial, temporal setting). Finally, the actors transform the spoken lines – the dialogue – into speech acts (questions, demands, requests, statements of fact, etc.) as parts of a conversation, an exchange of thoughts, beliefs, etc. rather than simply utterances. In conclusion, a play text when read by a single reader differs from a play in that the reader must “stage” the play text in his/her mind’s eye.