Plays are damned hard to read – – even after years and years of reading them, I struggle with most plays. I can’t even consider it read until I have gone through it at least 3 times. Of course, plays were NEVER meant to be read. I am sure most playwrights would be chagrined to know that their plays are being simply read and discussed in some dusty English class. I am sure that even Shakespeare would be falling asleep in most of the classes I have taken on the Bard. Teaching plays is also very difficult. Plays are not novels or essays, and to teach them like this is wrong.
I often wished that I would never have to read a play with my students. I wished that I could take them all to see productions – live productions. But if you are going to be a theatre artist you must learn to READ plays. I would simply suggest that you see the experience as if you were an architect looking over blueprints for a future building. Blueprints are not buildings – but the the first step. Reading the play is only the first step.