Answer:
1. We can tell that the text is from a play, because:
1) There are stage directions: Stage directions are given to actors and managers to tell them what they should be doing before, during, and after the dialogue is said.
2) The two characters, Ron & John, dialogue with each other, with no 3rd person view. This gives the audience the third person view, & allows them to imagine within context, unlike a narrator telling every bit of the story.
2. Stage directions tell you what each character should do before, during, and after a certain line of dialogue.
3. The mystery that emerges from the last given line of the play is the mysterious "ancestor" (that Ron & John share), that was supposed to be on the fate-bound ship Titanic, but (as a future person would say) miraculously missed the boat.
4. The first dialogue by Ron states that "[they] will never get [their] historical costumes done on time". We can infer from this statement that they are trying to create costumes for a play, most likely for a school activity. This leads to them searching in the attic for materials or costumes that they can use, and which led them to the telegram (or diary).
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