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No reallly...what's the play actually ABOUT?
Hello Rhinos
Having such a crazy November, but I'm (hopefully) channeling all the craziness into good things for my play. I have just arrived in Zagreb, and en route, I spent an hour in a coffee shop in Frankfurt airport discussing my play with a fellow writer. He asked me what the play was about. A simple question. A complicated answer. Since I got such fab response from my character quiz, I thought I'd share something else here. Yes, I say this a lot, so if you've heard it before, tough: the best advice I ever got on playwrighting was in a workshop run by Jonathan Lloyd of the Soho Theatre. He asked us to complete the sentence "this play is about XXXXX who wants XXXXX but XXXXX". Devastatingly simple. Devastatingly hard. And, of course, if you are like me and choose to make life even harder for yourself and have four stories in one play, you get to answer it three times.
SO
This play is about Jack, who wants to see everything, but doesn't want to be seen.
This play is about Sandrine, who wants to understand everything, but doesn't want to be understood.
This play is about Kai, who wants to be loved, but doesn't love himself.
This play is about Lucy, who wants to go everywhere, but hasn't ever stepped outside of herself.
For some reason these are all on the whimsical side - I normally tend to much more practical and detailed sentences. But this play is what it is...
So - what's your play about?
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This play is about Helen, who wants revenge, but doesn't know who committed the crime that wronged her.
A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for.
Thank you Karen, I think this is very helpful.
I'm quite an intellectual writer, so the main drive in my plays is a thematic idea. The narrative is designed to expose/support that theme. That is fine, but there is a fine line before the narrative is too fractured/complex for dramatic tension to remain.
Lajos Egri writes in his book "The Art of Dramatic Writing" about the importance of a play having a clear premise. But the premie he is describing is thematic rather than suspense plot. His form is (first thing) (causes) (second thing). That seems meaningless, but examples make it clearer, eg:
- (jealousy) (destroys) (itself and the object of its love) : Othello
- (ruthless ambition) (leads to) (destruction) : Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams
- (the sins of the father) (are visited on) (the children) :Ghosts by Ibsen
I think the point of doing this, as in your example, is to force you to really focus the story on something, to make some choices. Anyway, if anyone is interested, it's well worth reading Egri, despite it being ancient (1st published in 1946).
I've always struggled to get an equivalent, elegant definition of the main narrative line, which as I mentioned I really need. And I think you might just have done it for me. Many thanks!!!
Now to put it into practice ...
Everything in life should be as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler - Albert Einstein
I'm really glad if this works for you. Writing is all about finding the things that work for you in your process, which is different for each of us. Theatre is about drama, and therefore about tension, which is what the BUT is all about. Or in your first thing causes second thing it is the causing which is the drama.
BUT of course all rules are made to be broken!
"When in doubt, have a man enter the room with a gun in his hand." Raymond Chandler
Gavel is about Ben, who wants to be successful, but is scared of taking risks.
Everything in life should be as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler - Albert Einstein