案头戏意指只适宜放在案头阅读，不适合舞台演出，甚至根本不能演出的戏剧文本。有时又叫做书房戏或书斋剧。

戏剧文本（即“剧本”）是一出戏剧的基本要素，是一台戏的先决条件。剧本的写作，最重要的是能够被舞台上搬演，戏剧文本不算是艺术的完成，只能说完成了一半，直到舞台演出之后（即「演出文本」）才是最终艺术的呈现。好的剧本，能够具备适合阅读，也可能创造杰出舞台表演的双重价值。不过历代文人中，也有人创作过不适合舞台演出，甚至根本不能演出的剧本。比较著名的有王尔德的《莎乐美》。

戏剧的文学本，在不演出的状态下，也可以作为单独的文学样式欣赏。

A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or, sometimes, out loud in a small group. A related form, the closet screenplay, developed during the twentieth century. The dichotomy between private 'closet' drama (designed for reading) and public 'stage' drama (designed for performance in a commercial theater setting) dates from the late eighteenth century. The practice of circulating plays in written form (printed or handwritten) for literary audiences predates this period, however.