Build a play: Missions

Ok, have you got a pen and paper and lots of ideas? Have you stood up and had a good shake out? Yes? Waggle your tongue out a bit. Now, make the most horrible face that you can think of. Great, that’s really horrible – I feel deeply disturbed. Yes, this is a very important part of the process, you should see the faces Shakespeare pulled trying to finish Two Gentleman of Verona. Right, now we’re all feeling loosened up and ready to go, let’s get cracking.

When writing a play, the first thing that you need is an idea. What do you want to write about? What story do you want to tell? Where does your imagination take you?

A play is different from a book in that you are writing something to be spoken aloud, to be performed in front of an audience. And unlike TV or film, they can’t just change channel or turn it off, so it is of upmost importance that you try and follow the first rule of theatre...don’t be boring.

So how can you avoid being boring? Well first of all there’s not much point writing a play that you yourself wouldn’t want to watch, so let’s start there.

We have broken today into 2 short tasks…

Task 1
Write a list of all the arty things that you like. Don’t worry if it’s not theatre, it could be your favourite books, TV shows, films, paintings or music, set yourself a timer of 2 minutes…and…go!

Done that? Good stuff. Now do this:

Have a look at your list – for each thing write one or two things that you like about each of those things. (Example, if you’ve written down Harry Potter, what are your two favourite things about the books/films? Perhaps you love the escapism or the magic, or maybe it’s the complicated friendships and the way the story unfurls over many years. Do you love Hamilton because it’s just so damn catchy, or for how it plays with history?) set yourself another timer of 2 minutes…and…go!

Great – now take a look at your list and see what you’ve got. You should see some themes emerging. Maybe you like bright colours, energetic work that makes you laugh, or really political, strong story telling with bite. It’s funny how often we convince ourselves of the type of stories or theatre we think we should be writing, at the expense of making that which really gets us excited.

Some of these things you like might be blocks of plot or story, some might be characters, and some might be ways of telling a story. We’ll be breaking these things down as we go along over the next sessions, so be sure not to lose this list! I suggest you stick it in a notebook, or on a wall somewhere where you like to think and write.

Task 2
So now you know what you like, do you know what your story is going to be about? You might already have an idea in mind, but let’s try out some prompts to explore some possibilities.

Select an object from the room you are currently in. It should be something that fits into your hand.
Think of an occasion. This could be something quite open like ‘a wedding’, ‘the day of the apocalypse’ or ‘the final exam’, or it could be very specific such as ‘Auntie Mildred’s 100th birthday’ or ‘the last dinner before the family had to flee’.
Choose a one-word action. Don’t think too hard about this one, choose an active verb that allows for something to happen. For example: throw, sit, sleep, eat, look, dance, applaud or cry.

Once you have your three things; your challenge is to fit them into the same short story. This story might form a scene of your play or might be the spark that sets off the rest of the story.

For example, I have chosen:

- A bottle of ink
- A village fair
- Fall

I am imagining a play that starts when Mr Almay’s beautiful, prize winning cake stand at the village fair is RUINED when little Priscilla falls over at the arts and crafts station – splattering the Victoria sponge with ink. Or perhaps a letter, beautifully penned in florid ink arrives at the fete, predicting the death of a villager in a cliff fall for some long past crime...

The point is that this scenario or story spark can be as silly or as serious as you like but you might want to refer back to your list of art that excites you to think where it might go.

Have a go at this for a couple of different objects, occasions and actions and try to find the start of a story that excites you. How do you know when you’ve got a good one? Well, something that a lot of writers will tell you is that a good play starts with a question. This might be a very simple question such as ‘Did little Priscilla mean to ruin Mr Almay’s cake’? Or it might be something much bigger like ‘Can children (like little Priscilla) ever be truly wicked?’

When you find a spark of a story that excites you, ticks some of the boxes of your favourite art AND leads us (your future audience!) and you to more questions, then the likelihood is you are on to a winner.

Remember you can send us questions and your work to us on Twitter @LivEveryPlay and use the hashtag #EveryPlayTime – we’ll try our best to get back to you!

Welcome back to Build a play. I hope that you are all having a good week so far and have had a chance to get some ideas buzzing around. If you don’t know what your play is about yet, don’t worry! Sometimes it can take a while to find the story or question that gets you excited.

Right, got something to write with and on? Is it a wall? If it’s a wall check with an adult first, they might not appreciate your masterpiece as much as I do.

Now all plays need characters, if only to give the actors something to do. Without that they have a tendency to spend the whole time playing a strange game called Zip Zap Boing and wandering off the stage. Only kidding, actors are very brilliant at making things up and pretending to other people, so it is even more important that we give them some boundaries.

So how do you build your character? Well we need to know a little bit about them, and you as the writer need to know the most about them. Then it is up to you how much, and when I the play you give those details away to the audience. Your characters won’t be very interesting if we know everything about them straight away.

You wouldn’t walk into a room and say 'Hi, I’m Sarah, I carry a terrible secret in that I kidnapped the head of the local animal rescue and have been holding the hostage in my potting shed. The soul -destroying guilt I feel is what makes me so prickly and hard to get to know, but really, I’m a good person and did it for the animals.' That would make for a very short play indeed. Instead we need to get to know them through the things that they do, the things that they say and the way that they are with other characters.

We have broken today into 3 tasks…

Task 1
Let’s build a character! If you already have a situation/story spark from the first session, then start there. I am going to use my Village Fete setting from Tuesday. If you don’t have a story spark, go back to Task 2 in the first session. Don’t worry we’ll wait here for you.

Close your eyes and let your mind gently scan around that scenario. Maybe it’s a great battle between warring worlds, or a coffee between friends in a posh café. Just let your mind relax and picture the scene, scanning over what might be going on around you. Now let your ‘gaze’ (yes you still have your eyes closed, this is all in your very clever head) rest on one person/magical centaur/individual in this scene. Have a good look at them. What are they up to? Are they a main character up the front? Or are they skulking at the back up to no good?
Right: now open your eyes and stand up.
Take a little walk around the room as that character. Think about how they walk. Are they young or old? Do they walk easily or need to have little breaks? Are they wearing anything that might change how they walk like a big crinoline, armour or a formal suit?
Ok, keep walking around and now I want you to think about where they are going. This could be somewhere major, like leaving the scene as they have argued with another character or perhaps, they are just off up to the buffet for another pickled egg.
Oh, someone’s got in their way. How do they react? Ask the person to let you past in the way you think this person would. Are they polite or rude? What sort of voice do they have?

Great job! Let’s come back to our seat and writing.

Now this might all seem a little bit silly, but sometimes in fact what we’ve been doing here is a very quick look into to Stanislavski's first building block of characterisation: exploring the physical characteristics of a character. How they walk, what they wear, the type of gestures they make and how they sound. Sometimes getting an image of your character can be a good place to start.

Now bullet point down somethings you found out about your character from this exercise. For example, I choose the vicar at the village fete:

He’s quite young and walks quickly as he’s always trying to get away from talking to parishioners as he is very shy.
He moves easily as although he is wearing smart clothes, he always has trainers on underneath
He’s trying to get back home to read his book quietly, so making a circuit of the fete as quickly as possible.
When someone gets in his way, he is very polite but flaps around like a bird having fallen out of the nest. It’s fair to say he is not very comfortable with himself or with other people.

Some writers like to know everything about their characters, down to their favourite breakfast cereal. Now you might want to go into this detail later, but I find starting here is not only useful in building your character from the inside out, but also allows you to see how everyone else in your character’s world perceives them.

Which brings me on to Task 2:

Have a look at the description you have written so far of your character and add the following:

Something that they want right now
Something that used to want very much
Something that they have always wanted
And what is stopping/has stopped them getting all of these things

So back to my Vicar, I’ve decided to call him Clive

Right now, he wants to go home and eat a delicious sandwich with monster munch/He can’t as he has to show his face at the fete
He used to want to live in this village forever as he was born here/now he’s not so sure
He has always wanted to be good at his job and a kind person/he really doesn’t like people very much. Especially children.

So what we have now are a set of basic objectives (things that the character wants) and obstacles (things that are stopping them getting them. Seems a good start to me...

Task 3

Do it all again!

We are going to need two characters for our next session so repeat all of the above so we are ready for next week. I think I am going to go back to our potentially evil little cake-ruiner Priscilla.

Feel free to add more detail. You could think about

What is your character’s worst fear?
When was the last time they cried?
What is their guilty pleasure?

Don’t forget to introduce us to your characters by using the hashtag #EveryPlayTime on Twitter! I look forward to meeting your creations!

Hallo again! I hope that the weekend has treated you all well and you are ready to burst into May with some excellent playwriting.

First of all, raise your arms above your heads.
Bring them out to your sides and flap them like you are a massive eagle
Now bring them together above your head very quickly, smacking your palms together
...And again.
...And again.

What a lovely round of applause! And yes, you DO deserve it! Rights, lets go!

Now hopefully from last week you should have:

A starting scenario/ scene
Two characters
Some ideas about things those characters want and what is stopping getting them

If you joined us last week for Mission 2, then jump on down to todays first task! We have broken today into 2 tasks...

If you are joining us for the first time...that is absolutely fine! Lovely to meet you! In which case, spend a couple of minutes now coming up with a couple of characters. For each one we are going to need:

Some basic facts about them: their name, age, what do they do for a living?
Some basic facts about the world they are in: Is this our world? When is it?
Something that your character(s) want. This could be something simple like a new hat or something far more complex like to return to their homeland
Something that is stopping getting it.

For example, I have two characters:

Clive the Vicar

Age early 30s
Awkward, not great with people. Easily worried.
Wants to be good at his job and a pillar of the community
Prevented by his laziness and difficulty in relating to others

Priscilla

Age 7
Seemingly old beyond her years and with a vast appetite for getting in trouble and getting away with it
Wants to rule the world, and quite possibly destroy it
Prevented by being a child

Now your play may end up with twenty characters or it might just be these two. There are no rules with how many characters you should have in your play. There are some brilliant plays with only one person in them! However, for the sake of our next two tasks, we are going to need at least two.

Task 1

For each of your characters write down the following:

A secret they want to hide. It might be big like a stealing the crown jewels or small like they are going bald and don’t want anyone to know.
Three things that they have in their pockets. These can be as weird as you like, as long as they can fit in a pocket.

Done that? Brilliant. You are flying.

Task 2

Now I want you to imagine the following.

The three things in each of the characters pockets are connected to their secret.
Set a timer for one minute per object and write out how they are related to the secret. Make these as detailed as possible. Did they use that bus ticket to get out town to hide their stolen money? Or to visit their secret girlfriend?
This creates what we call a back story for the objects, and some insights into our character. Are they someone who normally gets the bus or is that out of character for them? Did they but those matches (that they used to burn the incriminating evidence) on holiday? Write a list of all the new things that we now know about your character.

You should now have enough to write a little biography for your character.

Why not tweet them to us by using the hashtag #EveryPlayTime on Twitter & tagging @LivEveryPlay. We'd would love to see what you’ve come up with!

So now that you have at least two characters, we need a story for them! In playwriting we call the story ‘the plot’. You can of course just put pen to paper and see where your characters take you, however it is often a good idea to make yourself a map of the story they might be heading.

Don’t worry, we will go back to writing about our characters next week, two weeks in and we must be champing to write some conversations (dialogue) but first, lets give them something to talk about.

Task

Choose one of your characters. They are, at least for now, going to be your main character.
The play is therefore going to be that character’s story. This means we are going to follow their story as the centre of the play. Like the stick of an ice lolly.
All stories need a beginning, a middle and end, but they also need the character(s) to go on a journey. So let’s have a go at filling that in.

Phew! Sounds a bit complicated doesn’t it!

This is what we call structure and don’t worry, lots of writers find it very difficult. This structure is loosely based on what is called the Heroes’ journey and is something you can start to notice in lots of books, films and plays once you know to look for it!
For example, let’s have a look at the Lion King:

First of all, Can you make any of your favourite films or books fit this structure? You could try Harry Potter, Star Wars or Finding Nemo!
Now, try filling it in with a journey for your character. You could try lots of different ones for now, or maybe leave some bits blank, but try at least to see if you can fill in.

Things to think about:

Where your character starts: what is their situation? Who are their friends? What is it like where they live? Who are their enemies?
What do they want?
What might change their world: This could be something big like their father dying in a wildebeest stampede, losing a job or getting an out of the blue text message. Or it could be seemingly small like losing a piece of sentimental jewellery. What does this event change for them? How might it make them think about the world differently?

Great stuff! Now you have some blocks of plot that we can use to structure the rest of your play. This is like the skeleton that everything goes on top of, or the central vein in a leaf.

Don’t forget to show us your work with #EveryPlayTime on Twitter & tagging @LivEveryPlay. See you next week!

Hallo again! I hope that you were able to get some vitamin D even if it’s just through a window over the bank holiday.

Got something to write with? Right - get your pen or pencil or felt pen or carrot stick in one hand. Now if it’s a carrot stick, go ahead and eat it, it’s not going to be much use to us in any other way. Otherwise, throw your pen/pencil to your other hand, and catch... and again. Look at you, that’s almost juggling. What a force to be reckoned with you are!

For this week’s #EveryPlayTime sessions, we are going to do something a little bit different. Don’t worry, we will be back on our scripts next week, but today and Thursday I’d like to try something new with you. You may have seen elsewhere on our website that we are collecting stories all about Liverpool to build a map of the city from the memories and experiences of the people that live it [More info here].

We are going to do something a little bit similar, we’re going to flex our imagination and storytelling muscles. If you are one of those people (like me!) who likes to people-watch and make up stories as to what they might be up to (that couple who feed the swans at 5pm every day in Sefton Park? Definitely spies.) this is one for you!

You might think, but what has this got to do with playwriting? Well, so far we’ve looked for stories from inside our own heads, and that’s a great place to start, but you will find that all the best writers are nosy parkers. In fact after Rule 1 (which of course you all remember*), Rule 2 of playwriting is ‘Stay Curious’.

*No you don’t remember? Ok – all together now: dOn’T Be bOrINg!

Now, for our activity today, you don’t need to be from Liverpool – or even to have ever been there (although you should come visit us one you are allowed to, its honestly very nice indeed). Instead we are going to re-imagine an everyday journey into *imagine I am speaking in a Game of Thrones meets Reality TU show announcer booming voice here* AN EPIC PROMENADE SHOW!

A promenade show is one where you walk around, encountering actors, stories and events as you go. So, let’s start with going on a journey:

Task 1

Think of a journey that you have taken many times in your life. This should be an everyday trip such as your route to school, a walk to a favourite shop or a bus ride into town, one that you know so well that you could almost do in your sleep. Try and keep it quite short – this trip should take you no more than twenty minutes to half an hour.
The journey should have a clear beginning and end which should not be the same, so you can’t have a walk that ends up back at your house.
Write down a description of that trip. What shops or places do you pass? What can you hear at different points? Maybe there are even certain smells at some points, such as a bakery pumping out vanilla or a particularly smelly duck pond.
This list might be a paragraph of prose, or it might be a list of things you see, hear, smell, touch – maybe even taste in the air or from a snack you often have on this journey. Try and include as many of the five senses that you can. Imagine you are telling an alien scientist all about it, and they want as much detail as possible.

Done that? Brilliant stuff. That sounds a really interesting journey, but I think we can make it even better.

What makes this particular journey special is that it is unique to you. How can we use that journey to draw out memories and stories that only you know? Well, I’m glad that you asked!

Task 2

I want you to imagine that you bump into someone on this imagined journey

The first person you bump into is someone you know, who doesn’t seem out of place here. Maybe it’s your neighbour who always tuts at your dog when you take them for a walk (so rude!) or a cousin who lives locally. Perhaps it’s your teacher whose also on the way to school, or your ex-best friend who is now your sworn enemy. Who this person is should be suggested by where you are even if you have never really met them on this journey – for example, even if you’ve never really seen your football coach in the local park, it isn’t impossible to imagine them having a kick about there.

Now you are going to write two versions of your encounter:

Firstly, write a few lines of imagined conversation that you might have with this person. You can write this out like a script (see below) or you can write it in prose.

If you write it like a script it will look like this:
Me: Hi Peter!
Peter: Hi
Me: Can I have a crisp?
Peter: Oh, I would, but it’s my last one. Sorry.
Me: That’s ok. I don’t really like salt and vinegar anyway.

Or if you write it as prose it will look like this:
I see Peter outside Tesco. He’s eating a packet of crisps and I ask him if I can have one. He said no because it was his last one. I don’t think it really was but I said it was ok and pretended I didn’t like that flavour anyway. Everyone knows Peter is very bad at sharing and I didn’t want him to have the last word.

Hey, look at that, you’ve just written our first piece of dialogue! Or you’ve written a story outline, maybe even with some subtext! I knew that juggling would pay off. Subtext is where your characters say one thing but mean another, for example I said that I did not like that flavour of crisps when what I really wanted to say was that I was annoyed at Peter for not sharing.

I know what you are thinking though, it’s probably rather close to breaking Rule 1 at the moment right? Well let’s try and mix it up!

Task 3

Now you are going to go back to Task 2, but this time I want you to think about a memory that you share with this person, and to imagine that you decide that this encounter is a moment you decide to remind them about it.

You could also think about:

What would you say to this person if you could say anything at all? You can make it as over the top as you like! Maybe imagine that they can’t hear you when you are talking to them. Maybe this memory made you really happy, or maybe you are remembering a time when they hurt your feelings.
Keep thinking about those five senses. Could you link the senses you are having in the moment you meet this person on your imagined walk, and the memory you share with them? For example, perhaps the smell of Peter’s crisps, the way he crunkles the packet, reminds me of another time that he wouldn’t share. And that time was at his birthday party where he carried his crisps around all night – even when the dancing started.

Phew – now that’s more of a zingy encounter! Is it nostalgic, a meeting of minds and a shared laugh? Or is it an earth-shattering argument? Thanks for bringing the drama to the street.

Don’t forget to tag us in your work using #EveryPlayTime, and if you do happen to be living in Liverpool, why not send us your story at here?

See you Thursday!

Welcome back!

First things first let’s get some energy moving, we need to get those ideas flowing. So, my first challenge to you is to sing me your favourite power ballad – full on, mouth open, belt it out like you’re on stage at the Arena. But here’s the twist – don’t make a sound. I want a silent super-dramatic performance. Really let loose and shake it out.

Well that was very, very silly indeed. I loved it, thank you.

Now if this is your first time joining us this week, welcome! I love Thursdays as well! This week we are doing something a little bit different so could you pop back to Tuesday and complete Task 1. Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you.

Great, thanks for that! Now we all have the start of our PROMENADE SHOW. As we discussed last week, a promenade show is one where you walk around and encounter different parts of the story. Sometimes they might also be immersive where you are invited to immerse yourself in the world of the play, for example by acting out an extra character or by picking up a book from the set and finding a clue as to the next scene. Think of it like immersing yourself in a swimming pool, putting your head underneath and entering the underwater realm.

Handy theatre hint: Don’t try this with shows where they give you a ticket and ask you to sit down, those generally are not promenade shows. If you try this at our panto, I cannot guarantee your safety from being kicked in the bum by an infuriated Dame and her rather large shoes should you block her limelight.

Handy Swimming Pool Hint: Don’t stay down there too long or I will have to call the lifeguard.

Ok , we’re going to become immersed in this world by sneaking around it and finding some moments of drama!

Task 1

Imagine you have complete freedom of movement and invisibility on this journey. Use these new powers to explore. Maybe you have sneak into someone’s house or jump into the back seat of a car that’s going past your bus. Maybe you dive to the bottom of the Mersey or grab a seat at that posh looking café on the corner. Decide where this place is.

Now you are there, you see two people. They can be as fantastical as you like (maybe there are mermaids at the bottom of the Mersey) or mundane (a bored couple driving to work at jobs they hate). But there are two things you must know about them:

One of these people likes being in this place
One of these people hate it

Now you have some decisions about your characters:

How old are they?
How do they know each other
Have they been in this place before?
What does one character like about this place? Why does the other one hate it?
What is their personality like? What would their friends describe them?
Do they have any secrets?
What is their greatest fear?

You can add more detail here if you like! We’re looking for a nice little biography (life story) and personality for each character. You could maybe add a drawing of them as well! [Maybe check out our Costume Collage Craft task?]

Task 2

For this task you can either use a physical 6 sided die or you can use this link for virtual dice.

Now we are going to try a little bit of what is called free writing. This is where you have to keep writing without stopping for a whole minute! If you can’t think of what to write you keep writing ‘thinking’ until something comes! The idea is to create a direct channel from your brain to the page in front of you.

Set a timer for a minute but don’t press ‘go’ yet!
Clear your mind and think about your two characters
Roll your dice

Now, have a look at the number on your dice and the list below:

1. ‘You always do this! I hate that you always do this!’
2. ‘You know I love you’
3. ‘Come on then, what’s the big secret?
4. ‘Well, I guess this is goodbye’
5. Are you sure you left it here?’
6. ‘It’s not been the same since the alien invasion’

The number of your dice equals the first line of the mini scene you are going to write.

Now press go (both on your timer and IN YOUR MIND) and write the rest of the scene as free writing. You might find that it comes out as a random paragraph of gibberish rather than dialogue – don’t worry, just keep going until your minute is up. Keep your characters’ biographies in mind!

Task 3

Have a look back over your scene. Now its time for the hardest part of writing...re-writing! How can you make it better? Funnier? Scarier? Can you separate chunks out into dialogue like we did we Tuesday’s imaginary conversations? Give it a go, refer back to what you know about your characters from Task 1. Is there anything from there that you can work into the scene?

Unless you really don’t like it, in which case roll the dice again and have another go! The most important thing is Rule Three of Playwriting: Don’t give up.

Don’t forget to show us your work with #EveryPlayTime on Twitter & tagging @LivEveryPlay. See you next week!

Hallo again, wow we really are motoring, now aren’t we? Look at us, creating stories out of nothing. We are imagination architects.

But today I want to dial us back a little bit, I want to take us back to basics and to think about crafting a really good piece of dialogue. Dialogue is any piece of text where more than one character is speaking. A character talking to themselves is the first sign of madness a monologue or a soliloquy.

The key difference between the two is a monologue can to be to anyone and about anything. You can have a monologue in the middle of a conversation, about your cat, about how much your cousin hates biscuits with foil wrappers – whatever and whenever you like. As long as it’s one person speaking for an elongated period of time, there are no rules. A soliloquy has to be a character speaking aloud about their own thoughts. It’s like the inner workings of their brain are being vocalised for the audience.

But today we are working on dialogue...

Task 1

Now we are going to need at least two characters for this exercise. What I would advise is that you go back to Day 2 and carry out the first two Create a Character exercises, but if you just aren’t feeling that today, here is a quick-fire round.

Give each of your characters a name. For this I am going to suggest that you have no more than three. However, if you feel like doing a giant ensemble work, I’m not going to stop you.

What do these characters look like? How do they make a living?

Now what we are going to do is Hot Seat each of your characters. This basically means that we are going to interview them to find out more about them. BUT FRANK, I hear you cry ... (Ok Let’s try that again – louder please) BUT FRANK, I don’t know these characters how can I do that? Well, I want you to just go with your first response.

For each character, imagine placing them down in a chair and ask them the following questions. Note down your first response to build a picture:

What did you do last night?
What would you like to be better at?
What are your biggest strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What are you most proud pf?
What is the best birthday you ever had?
What is your biggest mistake?
Love is forever. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
How do you feel about (other character)?

Great, now we know who we have in the room, we need to make some decisions about, well the room. And of course, what are they going to talk about.

Task 2

Let’s put our characters in a high stakes situation. For this we are going to choose a ritual. No don’t worry – we aren’t going to throw any of your characters in a volcano (oh ok, if you really want to). Instead, by a ritual, I mean a situation where we know the rules of how we are supposed to behave. We touched upon this in Day 2 when we were writing for an occasion. This is similar but there needs to be certain expectations, or indeed rules as to what will happen and how the characters should be acting in this situation. For example:

A graduation
A wedding
A funeral
Meeting a loved one at the airport
A proposal
Christmas Day

Choose a ritual and make it as detailed as possible. Now give your characters a role each for this ritual. Are they the bride? The chief mourner? Is it their birthday? or are they the Prime minister speaking at a parliamentary hearing?

Task 3

So far, I’ve been very nice to you. You have been able to write out your conversations in prose. Now you need to write it like a real script. So, your page should look like this:

Harry: Did you really need to post that on Twitter?

Eliza: I’ll post what I like. It’s my twitter

Harry: But Tiddles is my cat, you are telling lies! You are using my cute cat to make yourself look cool.

Eliza: ... That... That’s not Tiddles.....

DUN DUN DUN

Ok, don’t have to have the DUN DUN DUN and I am sure that your scene is going to be much better than cat Twitter drama.

I want you to try and write at least one page of dialogue, featuring your characters in your ritual. But here is the twist, one person in that ritual is not behaving as they should. Have we got a runaway bridesmaid? Has someone come to the Bar mitzvah dressed as Batman? This is the centre of your action.

Don’t forget to share what goes down with us using the hashtag #EveryPlayTime !

You: Well, now I know how to write dialogue! So that’s all that bit done and dusted.
Me: Wait, you think we are done with dialogue?
You: Sure, we did that last week...
Me: Aha! I think it’s time to learn the next rule of theatre!
You: Are you going to go on about not being boring again?
Me: One hundred percent my playwriting friend!

So far, we’re doing pretty well with gathering the building blocks of our play. We’ve looked at what to write, how to build our characters, the start of structuring our storyline and getting to grips of dialogue. We’ve also looked at some of the key rules of playwriting:

1) Don’t be boring
2) Stay curious
3) Don’t give up

And now number 4: All writing is re-writing

One of the hardest things about writing plays is knowing when they are finished. This is especially true as plays are different to novels in that what you are creating is the script for a show. Your play will only truly come to life when it is performed, when you bring it some friends (a director, actors, designers and technicians) to play with it. It’s very common for a writer to be making changes to their script right up to just before opening night!

So, with that in mind we are going to practice redrafting by looking again at our dialogue. When working with writers on their plays, I will frequently give them notes. These are exactly what they sound like, I give them notes on how I think they could make their play better and questions that I have about what they have written. When I do so, I try to keep two things in mind which you might find helpful in our next two tasks:

Think about your editing as ‘taking a good thing and making it better’ rather than correcting mistakes
Think about what sort of play this is, or what the writer (in this case that’s you!) wants this scene to do or what they want to tell us about a character in this moment.

For example, if your play is about a family with secrets, do you really need that that long conversation about the weather in France? Or if your main character is known for their meanness, how could you show that in conversation over dinner, perhaps they hog the gravy?

Task 1

In order for us to get rewriting we are going to need some dialogue to work with. This time we are going to do something a little different. It can be hard to be brutal with your work when you first start. We are going to use this scene from a 1999 episode of EastEnders by Marc Peirson via the BBC Writer’s Room:

Have a read of the below:

CAROL: Thanks for helping out Pat.
PAT: Don’t get used to it!
CAROL: No seriously. I don’t think I’d cope on me own. I feel like a goldfish in a bowl in here.
PAT: (PATTING HER ARM) I told you. It’s what friends are for. Besides, I really miss the smell of grease and frying bacon.
(THE DOOR OPENS AND DOT ENTERS.)
CAROL: Be with you in a minute. Bit busy this morning.
DOT: Yes. No rush. You take it easy dear.
PAT: Quite right. That’s what I been telling her.
DOT: You should be taking it easy.
CAROL: Right then. What’ll it be?
DOT: (GRINNING) That’s the question ain’t it. Little boys are less bother but I’m not so sure.
CAROL: Well like I said Dot we’re a bit busy so, what do you want?
DOT: You must be really looking forward to having another little one about the house dear. It must be awfully quiet there now, what with everybody leaving.
(CAROL FLINCHES)
CAROL: (UPSET) Can you take over here Pat. I need to get some more milk.
(CAROL HURT LEAVES)

Done that? Great! Now I want you to have a think about the following questions:

Where do you think the three women are?
What can you tell about the different characters by how they speak? Can you have a guess at how old they might be or any clues as to what sort of person they are?
How do each of the women feel about each other? Are they all friends? Who would you say is in charge in this scene?
Why do you think Carol is upset? Why doesn’t she want Dot to see that?
Why might Carol feel everyone is looking at her (I feel like a goldfish in a bowl)
Do you think Carol is excited about the baby?
If you weren’t reading this but were hearing it as a radio play, would you be able to tell the characters apart?

Wow! You can tell a lot from a short extract can’t you. So that sets us up well for Task 2...

Task 2

Re-writing is about making work better but also about trying out other options and ideas to try and unlock parts of your play.

Have a look at the answers that you have written for the Task 1 when we pulled apart the EastEnders script.
Now I want to add something or majorly change one of your answers. For example, maybe you thought that Carol was upset because when Dot referred to ‘everyone leaving’, she meant that Carol’s partner had left her. You could change that to Carol is upset as she didn’t want anyone to know about the baby and yet, Dot has somehow found out!
Now rewrite the scene with that in mind, what changes? What stays the same? How can you imply your new information? Think back to us taking a walk down the street (Link to day 5) and see how you can work your subtext muscles.

Task 3

Now you’ve had a go with someone else’s work, it’s time to unleash this on your own! Go back to your script from Day 6 and see what you can change. Take that good thing and make it better!

Hello and welcome to the penultimate block of Build a play! I know what you are thinking – thank goodness that’s over, WAIT, but we barely have anything down yet! How can it be over? Frank come back!!!

Don't panic! When we talk about building blocks, we weren’t talking about scenes (we’ll come back to this in just a minute). Instead we were looking at filling your toolbox with everything you need to write a play. We’ve looked at how to build, develop and introduce characters, set up situations, bring tension and subtext into dialogue and, most importantly, how to find what you want to look at.

We’ve also set down our 4 rules of playwriting. Time for a quick recap:

1. Don’t be boring
2. Stay curious
3. Don’t give up
4. All writing is re-writing

So now that you are well equipped, you can use the last 8 sessions as a reference guide to unlock moments when you get stuck. Now let’s plan out your play!

Task 1

Just above I was talking about scenes. Scenes in a play are how you divide the action up. The dictionary defines 'Scene' more generally as ‘sequences of general action’ when referring to films or plays, but I rather like the definition that it gives for real life ‘place where an incident in real life occurs or occurred'.

Thinking about scenes in your play, each one should mark something occurring – this could be a big thing such as finding out a character’s secret, or like we establish a friendship between two minor characters. In each scene, something in your play should change, even if that change is very small, so that the action keeps moving forward.

As you are writing your play, keep a running scene breakdown. This is a list of all your scenes. For example, here is a very, very simplified scene breakdown for Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

Scene 1. A ghost appears

Scene 2. Norway threatens to invade. The audience learn about Hamlet’s messed up family

Scene 3. Ophelia is banned from visiting her boyfriend Hamlet

Scene 4. The ghost is back!

Scene 5. The ghost reveals that it is Hamlet’s father

Now go back to Day 4 and Task 1 and remind yourself of structure.

Fill this is now using the characters you have developed over the tasks we looked at on Day 3 and Day 6.

Done that? Awesome! How did it compare to when you first tried it? See, plays are like planting a forest not a garden – sometimes if you leave those ideas alone and just make sure they have some sun, they grow into something much more interesting. Unwieldy, yes quite probably, but much richer and more verdant!

Now take at look at your first three points. Can you try and create a scene breakdown of what might need to happen to get your characters from A to B to C? Can you break that down into scenes? For example:

Scene 1: The audience are introduced to our main characters. Where do we meet them? How will you set this up so the audience get the first impression you want to convey of that character? Do you want us to like them from the start? Are they trustworthy? Don’t forget about Day 5 and subtext!

Scene 2: We find out what the character wants through an overheard conversation by another character.

Scene 3: That minor character takes the thing that our main character wants

Scene 4: The main character confronts them leading to a complete breakdown of their social group

Don’t be afraid to make it very basic, think of this as a list of ingredients rather than the precise recipe for a delicious cake, your brilliant play. So, if there are points that you aren’t sure of, put them in as well! Think of it as setting out a bench with all the spices and tasty possibilities that this cake- I mean play might incorporate.

Totally unrelated but I could really go for a piece of Victoria sponge...

Task 2

Once you have had a go at that. Have a look at all your ingredients and have a think about what can go and what can stay. Start to flesh out the details as to what might actually happen in that scene to allow you to achieve that moment of ‘change’ or ‘occurrence’. Remember, none of this is set in stone, (rule 4!) so have some fun with it.

Ask yourself:

Could this scene come later/ earlier?
What form might this scene take? Is it a conversation, a monologue, an telephone chat? Maybe it has no dialogue at all, for example, we see the mother steal the necklace from the daughter’s bedroom.
Who out of your characters is present in each scene? Who at what stage, knows what about other characters? Are there things that the audience find out in some scenes that the characters don’t know at all (this is called dramatic irony by the way and is an extra fancy baking ingredient!)

Great! You should now have a relatively detailed breakdown for ... Act 1!

Task 3

I think you know what’s coming next... go and write these scenes!

Remember:

Keep the action flowing. Each line of your play has to earn its place. Do we learn something by it? Does it tell us about the character or their world?
Remember what the point of this scene is, its purpose in the wider landscape of the play. For our purposes I would say that you don’t want your scene to be more than 5 o6 6 pages long.
You can use stage directions and setting instructions to tell us how the characters move around the stage. (we’ll talk more about these on Thursday so don’t worry too much)
Don’t be boring!

Good luck!

Can you believe it? We’re reached the final day of our Build a play journey, and here we will leave you to complete your masterpiece. We’ve explored character, structure, dialogue, world building and established our four rules:

1) Don’t be boring
2) Stay curious
3) Don’t give up
4) All Writing is Re Writing

A very important question I want to you to consider before we go is: what do playwrights, of any age and any experience, have above anything else? emotions and imagination.

Plays have to have emotional truth – this is what the audience will relate to and will go on a journey with. Everyone has experienced happiness, anger, hate, love, jealousy, envy, laughter. And the context in which you explore these emotions truthfully is through the use of your imagination.

Plays are about Character, Action, Conflict, Ideas. Plays are about Stories – how they’re told and what they mean in our experience of the world. Plays are about Language and Images. Plays are about Imagination and Discovery and Recognition. Plays are about Emotion. Plays are about the Mind. Plays are about the intimate collaboration that takes place between the Stage and the Audience in Time and Space, in Sound and Light and the Senses.

Task 1

At the top of this journey, I asked you about the type of work you like. What excites you. Now I want you to take some time to think about yourself as a writer. Try and fill in the following and keep it above your desk.

I write in order to…
I do not write in order to…
I make theatre which…
I do not make theatre which…
The philosophy which informs my art is…
When I want to say something about the world, it’s because…
For me, the audience is…
My biggest influences are…

Your Ongoing Tasks

Here are some top tips as to what you should keep doing:

Read plays. This might seem very basic, but you’d be amazed how often I’ve asked a writer their favourite plays and they’ve replied with novels. Our theatres are currently closed as I write this due to Covid-19 but when we are back, why not come hang out in our writer’s room (link?) and read some scripts. You can also watch theatre online and hopefully in person again soon!
Journals – always keep a small notebook with you at all times to just jot down little things you see or hear – a conversation on the bus / an old person and how they cross the street – writers are also social observers and this is a great way to get stimuli for your writing. It will also help you to be more aware of the ways in which people talk – and what makes good dialogue.
Diaries – this is useful but can be hard to keep up. You should try to keep a diary of a) what happens to you b) what you think and feel and c) what you dream.
Do you write every day? If not, try to.

Keep going, keep exploring – now start that first page!

This is the end of the Build a play missions......for now.

Thanks for getting involved!