How a play script works

The start of a script: the list of characters and the setting (where and when).

Each line starts with the speaker's name and a colon. No quotation marks: 'SHRUTI: There is need to worry, Iqbal!'

Stage directions in brackets tell the actors how to speak or move: (very loudly), (calmly but firmly), (getting up). They are not spoken aloud.

An aside is when a character speaks their thoughts to the audience, and the other characters do not hear: Shruti's plan to withdraw in Act III.

Sounds of real speech:

• fillers (ahem, er, hmmm, whew, arrgh) fill pauses and show feelings;
• an ellipsis (…) shows a short pause or hesitation;
• stress changes meaning: in Shruti's line about caring for her father's views, stressing don't and do shows her inner conflict.