Things to think about before writing a play
All great theatre stems from great writing. Even other-worldly performance can’t turn a bland or nonsensical script into a timeless work of art. From dialogue to character development, many of the aspects of tradition writing vs. play writing remain the same, though there are important differences aspiring play-writes should note in order to produce a complete work with a logical flow.Loss of Narrative Voice An off-stage narrator be used at times in order to advance on stage movement, but hearing read-aloud thoughts isn’t what fills the seats. The theatre is a visual experience, thus must be written as one. Unlike prose in which you can explain your character’s thought patterns and explicitly offer audiences a certain level of omniscience, on-stage your character’s words and decisions must stand on their own or be clearly corroborated by another event within the visible frame of reference.Less Control As a writer, playing with words is an essential part of capturing and holding a reader’s attention. When taking your talent’s to the stage, suddenly room for word play becomes cramped at best. There is still room for clever double entendres and planned misspeak in the form of dialogue, but the descriptive epithets and literary devices that make books memorable no longer apply to the theatre, as audiences only hear words spoken aloud. Finding a character who fits what you’ve had in mind is partially in the hands of costumes and casting. Your picturesque setting is only as good as your prop makers. It is important to surround yourself with competent talent and cohesive vision in order to take your words off paper and bring them to life.Grounded in Reality While movies may be able use special effects to bring even irrational concepts to fruition and books are privy to theatre of the mind, as limitless as the imagination, the theatre itself is subject to constricted space and financial backing. A great director can help to maximize utility on both fronts, but even in writing the obvious structural and budgetary limitations must be accounted for.
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