Lesson 26th February

Today was about re-writing and re-writing plays.

Here are some links you may like to visit:

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

General advice

1. Think about genre. Is it going to be farce, black comedy etc....

2. Develop character. Do we know why someone says or does something? What happens next? Look at it from another character's point of view.

3. Dramataic pitch/variety. Make a list of scenes.

4. Are you starting your play at the right place?

Start with a burglary?
Flashbacks?

5. Scene order.

What are the consequences of something that has not yet happened?

6. Are the dramatic stakes high enough.

Paint with a big brush.
Pump it up.

You do not want the listeners/audience saying 'So what?'

7. Does everything make sense?

8. Justify every line.

Why include this?
Equally (on your 35th draft) why exclude this?

9. Can you use physical action/props instead of words?

The use of bodylanguage (on stage)

10. Be aware of the sound of your lines.

11. Make a decision:

a. are you going to write a play and then try and find a market
b. are you going to find a market and then write a play for it

Find tripwires - what speeches may make the actors trip up?

We then read through an extract from a play:

Killing Maestros (PDF)
Christopher William Hill

(Plenty of scripts here)

This is a collective blog so if anyone wishes to add....

Homework:

Visit a play(lette) you have previously written and re-write it.