The Playwright:
Creating the Script

Outside reading...
        Aristotle. Poetics. Translation by S.H. Butcher, London, 1907.

1. What are the playwright's tasks?

1. Select the specific subject matter of the play,
2. Determine the focus and emphasis,
3. Establish the purpose,
4. Establish the point of view,
5. Develop the dramatic structure, and
6. Create the dramatic characters.

2. Generally, what is the subject matter of a play?

Aristotle defined drama as "the imitation of men in action." There for, the subject matter of all drama is "man," the human being. It is the playwright's responsibility to select a specific human being, and to focus on this person's story and character.

3. What is the purpose of drama?

To entertain, to teach, to question, to excite, to move, to thrill, to frighten...

Answering the question: "What is theatre for?," Jeffrey Sweet, a playwright on the Theatre Mailing List, posted...

Theatre is for a lot of things. Entertainment, of course. It's also a social event at which groups of people jointly participate in creating / witnessing images of their culture and so see these images in a new way. It's also for play -- to provide an outlet for people to have a good time in a structured way. It can also be for education -- to make vivid, for instance, arguments and controversies which would look less vital summarized in historical, philosophical, sociological or anthropological texts. (Jeffrey Sweet, 1999)

4. What are Aristotle's Six Elements of Dramatic Structure?

1. Plot,
2. Character,
3. Thought (or theme),
4. Dialogue (or diction),
5. Rhythm (or music),
6. Spectacle (or the physical production).

Noted scholar Jon Berry has an interesting theory about Aristotle's Six elements of Drama. While Aristotle ranked them in a specific order, Dr. Berry claims that in our pluralistic society, different genres of plays tend to emphasize different elements. Sample plays he chooses to use to illustrate his idea has Agamemnon ranking Plot highest, Hamlet as ranking Character highest, and Death of a Salesman ranking Plot and Character equally high. Academics can debate how much any given production stresses a given element, but it makes sense to me that some productions emphasize Spectacle more than Aristotle could have ever imagined. (Mark Harvey, Professor of Lighting and Sound Design, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1999)

5. What plays did he use as his role model?

The classical Greek drama of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.

6. What essential element must be present for a play to have dramatic action?

Conflict between balanced opposing forces. These forces create the obstacles and complications necessary to generate the action.

A character comes upon an obstacle to his desire (super-objective) and attempts to overcome that obstacle by a dramatic action-- a moment. Sometimes he is successful; other times not. The play moves from moment-to-moment until it reaches the climax. This course of dramatic action, and the tension which it creates, does not necessity lead to an outburst of anger or violence. In great plays, such as Shaw's St.Joan, "the fullness of joy, exultation, grief," to borrow John Crowther's phrase, is often the result of overcoming, or failing to overcome, an impossible hurdle. A great deal, if not all, of the world's great dramatic literature is constructed in this manner. (il professore, 2000)

7. What are the three basic types of conflict found in western drama?

Conflict between ...

1. Man and the Universe (God, the elements),
2. Man and Man,
3. Man and Himself.

8. What is the difference between a play's story line, and its plot?

A play's story is what happens in the drama, the plot of the play is how the playwright presents that story to the audience.

9. What is the difference between a climactic plot and an episodic plot?

In a climactic plot, the plot begins near the end of the story. The action involves a limited number of characters, unfolds in one or two days, and typically occurs in one location. The climactic play evolved in ancient Greece (5th Century BCE) and was popular during the French Rennaisance (1630 to 1700) and the early Realistic Period (1890 to 1940).

In an episodic plot, the plot begins near the beginning of the story. The action typically involves a large cast, unfolds over a number of months (or years) and is broken into many short scenes staged in numerous different locations. The episodic patten is primarily seen in the work of Shakespeare (1564 to 1616) and the early 19th century Romantic Playwrights

10. What is the climax?

The point of highest dramatic tension where the conflict of the play is resolved.

     A Crisis?

A mini-climax which falls near the end of each act (except the last act) or scene.

11. Where does the climax normally fall in the structure of a play?

Near the end of the last act.

12. Why is there a mini-climax (crisis) at the end of each act?

To make sure the audience returns after the intermission.

13. What makes a character dramatic?

Dramatic characters are extraordinary, they are "larger than life." Historically, major characters in classical tragedy have been kings, queens, generals, or a member of a noble familiy. They have also represented either the best, or worst, of human behavior.

14. What are the four plains or levels of dramatic characterization?

1. Physical,
2. Social / economic,
3. Psychological,
4. Ethical / moral.

15. What is a character's spine, or major objective?

A character's spine, using Stanislavski's terminology, is the character's major goal or super-objective.

16. What are the three dramatic techniques a playwright can use to reveal his characters to the audience?

1. By what the character says,
2. By what he does, and
3. By what other character's say about him.

17. What additional techniques can be used by a screen or radio playwright?

Both film and television writers can, through subjective camera angles and voice overs, go into the mind of a character, and relate his thoughts directly to the audience.

18. What is a playwright's major means of expression?

Dialogue.

19. What are the six functions of dramatic dialogue?

1. Give information,
2. Reveal character,
3. Direct attention (foreshadow),
4. Reveal theme or ideas,
5. Establish the level of reality, and
6. Establish the tempo and rhythm of the play.

20. How can a playwright reveal his drama's theme to the audience?

There are two techniques.

1. By literally becoming a character in the play, and directly relating his ideas to the audience, or
2. By implying these ideas through the plot and the dramatic characters he creates.

The playwright normally builds his theme around "universal issues," such as love, family, power, greed, betrayal, friendship.

21. What will happen if the pace of a performance is too slow?

The audience will become restless and lose interest in the production.

     Too fast?

The audience will empathize with the actor, not the character, and will become exhausted. The pace of a show is more likely to drag (be too slow) than to be too fast.

22. What does a break in the rhythm of a show indicate to the audience?

That there has been a missed cue, or a dropped line.

23. How does a playwright determine a play's spectacle value?

By his choice of characters, settings, action, and time of day.