This week we carried out a selection of workshops surrounding the theatre industry  we worked on learning how to structure a script, how to write a script as well as how to understand conflict in plots and also learnt how subtext works.

The week began with an introduction to theatre and a discussion on how every story has conflict.

During a discussion with Greg we learnt about conflict and how to recognize it in theatre.

We first had the three act structure explained to us;

  1. Characters need
  2. Need meets obstacles
  3. Need either satisfied or denied

This was very useful to learn because it explains how a play or even a story should be structured to ensure progression is present throughout the entirety. I will regularly refer to this method when writing because it has taught me that whatever medium you are writing in there must always be progression as it moves forward in order to keep the audience entertained and interested.

Following learning the basics to script writing we then went on to write a script for ourselves during a class task. The task involved everyone in the class writing two characters, a setting and an object onto separate pieces of paper. All the pieces of paper were than placed into a hat and shuffled – each person that had to pick two people, a setting and an object from the hat at random. Whatever we picked would be the foundations of our play.

I picked;

Tessa Clain

Farmer Tel

An abandoned warehouse

A skateboard

To begin I was really unsure of what approach to take for this play but after comparing a few ideas I decided to write a play about a teacher walking home from work who hears sounds in an abandoned warehouse, she investigates and finds out that the local farmer is a spy.

ACT 1

Abandoned warehouse in Houston, America. Tessa Clain, a local teacher, is walking home from work when she passes an empty warehouse; she hears screaming inside and decides to investigate.

Tessa Clain: (Tessa lightly slides open the door and silently tiptoes along the floor – leaning closely against the wall trying to go unnoticed, she peers around the corner of a wall when she spots a dark figure on the phone)

Farmer Tel: (Answers the phone and announces his news) Its done. All targets have been hit. Agent Tel out. (hangs up the phone)

Tessa Clain: (Continuing to look around the corner and attempt to identify the figure. Suddenly she notices the man is stood over a pile of dead bodies) Whaa..ttt are you doing? Why are all these people dead? (shouting and emerging from her hiding spot)

Farmer Tel: (rolling eyes, he turns to face the person behind him)

Tessa Clain: (staring at the persons face) Farmer Tel!! (she screams)

Farmer Tel: Tessa. (shouting) What are you doing? Get out of here.

Tessa Clain: I heard screaming, I came to help. Why have you killed all these people. Who are you??

Farmer Tel: You shouldn’t be here. I’m dealing with something, you need to leave. (he shouts aggressively)

Tessa Clain: I don’t understand, your the local farmer! Your a killer, how are you a killer? (clearly confused)

Farmer Tel: (looking around cautiously) You need to forget this!

Tessa Clain: I’m sorry, I just cant! (Grabs a nearby skateboard and takes off, trying to get as far away from Farmer Tel as she can)

I really enjoyed this task as it was really out of my comfort zone, I had never done anything like it and it meant I could experiment with different mediums and learn more about writing.

I think for a first attempt at writing for theatre this script is a good first draft however I can see a lot of obvious corrections that need to be done when comparing my work to a professional piece. I think the main plot of the play could be improved – I am not entirely sure that the skateboard fits in very swiftly in my draft and I also think the format of the script could be improved with more research into script writing, I didn’t fully understand how to write the script in the right format but I think with practice this could easily be corrected and improved.

Next, we completed a task class on subtext. Subtext is an underlying and often distinct theme in a piece of writing or conversation.

After a class discussion about subtext and how it works we were all asked to complete a task set by Greg. The task involved writing a small scene using only subtext.

This is what I wrote:

Megan: Ah, I really need a lift to school tomorrow, my cars having a service and I so don’t want to get the bus! Trina can you take me?

Trina: Oh no sorry, I cant! I have the dentist in the morning so I wont be in till later.

Lucy: I can take you? Ill get you at 8?

Megan: Oh thanks for the offer, but its abit out your way?

Lucy: Its fine, ill just go the other way around!

Megan: No no, don’t worry! I’ll get the bus.

I enjoyed this task as it helped me to understand exactly how subtext works. I think by learning the skill of subtext it could help me to improve my writing as it can add both humor and conflict to a piece of writing. During a class discussion we were told to all read further into conversations and to listen to others speak because subtext is always used and if we can recognize it we will be sure to use the skill more frequently.

We were then given the task of writing a short play with only a short brief – the brief was simply ‘the writings on the wall’ the simplicity of the brief meant we could take this in whatever approach we wanted. To begin, I was unsure of how I wanted to tackle the brief – I had two ideas and was unsure of which I wanted to choose:

After discussing each idea with Greg, I decided to use the horse stable idea. I thought it would make a difference to what I usually write because I base alot of my work around the fashion industry.

To begin, I wrote a plan for my script as shown below:


I then went on to begin writing the script:

ACT 1

Monday morning and the North Ridge stables showjumping team are gathered in the tack room. Coach Brady is standing beside a tactic board writing a plan ahead of the show on Saturday.

Coach Brady: (Picking up her pen and pointing to her plan on the tactics board) Right guys, the fall finale is this Saturday and we need to decide who will be competing in each event.

Danielle: (rolling her eyes) Can we do this later, I need to go and feed Storm?

Coach Brady: (sighing) No, Danielle! I know this show is smaller than what you are all used to but you need the points to get into the senior circuits and this show is the foundations to getting there and I need every one of you to put 100% into it. You all need to really push your training if you want a place at seniors, its far more competitive than you all think. Everyone clear?

Alex: Yep, all good with me. (smiling at his coach)

Danielle: (Sarcastically) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I go now, like I said I’m busy?

Will: (Defensive) Come on Danielle, Coach Brady is only trying to help. And yeah, I understand coach!

Chelsea: (Shrugging) I understand!

Coach Brady: (Angrily) Thanks guys. And no Danielle, you can’t go! We need to decide who is doing each event. Right so we have 50cm, 60-70cm, 100cm and 110cm. Who wants which?

Alex: (Standing up) Well I think its mine and Spartans turn to do the 110 cm, we’ve been training hard and I think we deserve a shot. Spartan gets so underestimated on this team, he’s such a good jumper yet gets overlooked?!

Coach Brady: I agree Alex, Spartan is a good horse but I just don’t think hes ready to compete at that height! He’s still to unpredictable – he cuts corners, runs to deep into his approaches and knocks poles; we can’t afford a mess up on the biggest event at the competition. What about if you do 100cm this time? Work up gradually?

Alex: Fine but me and Spartan will prove you wrong! (Getting up and walking away) I’m off to go train.

Unfortunately, this is as far as I got with this piece due to a tight time frame and I feel I slightly struggled with moving the plot forward – I think I felt that as the script was progressing rather than becoming more interesting, it was becoming dull and boring.

Overall, I was not as happy with this piece as I was hoping to be. I was hoping to make it more comedic and make the argument between the characters funny however I think I made it too serious which I think to an audience who didn’t understand horses would be quite boring.

I think again I also need to work on formatting the script itself, I think my stage directions are unclear and not written to a professional standard.

I think in the future, I would try to use skills such as subtext, 3 act structure and so on more frequently within my script writing in order to create a more professional standard of writing. I really enjoyed this week as it allowed me to develop new skills and learn more about script writing and the theatre industry which was a topic I didn’t know much about to begin with however after this week I feel like I have gained a deeper insight into writing for theatre and that having these skills will improve my writing significantly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.