But that's not what I want to blog about; more about what has happened as a consequence of that. I was contacted by one of the directors of the plays to ask me about my play; asking for details of my influences, background, info on the play etc. - and this got me to thinking about the whole process of writing plays and having them put on.
Because although you write a play, that is only part of the process; the rest of it includes other people. Unlike other art forms whereby the author has most of the control over most of the art form, most of the time - once a play has been handed over to other people, it's up to them to make decisions about how it will look - what actors will be used; and the pace and intensity created to finally produce that piece of art on stage. It is a collaborative process.
I remember earlier this year being with a number of other writers - writers of short plays as it happens - some of whom had never written a play before. One of them asked how much detail, stage instructions/ directions should be put into the script - and was most put out when some of us said 'as little as possible'. The person wanted to have control over the piece by directing through the stage directions exactly how it should be; how it should look, how the actors should speak (Pauses - silences ) the way they should speak (grumbling, happy etc.).
And of course there has been a strong element of this in the past in published plays - I'm thinking of George Bernard Shaw with his directions which seem to take up more text than the stage dialogue itself - and then of course there were all those Samuel French editions of scripts with lists of music cues, properties and also a plan of the stage entrances, furniture etc. (Taken from the West End production, of course). Heaven help the poor small amateur companies that tried to follow those instructions to the letter.
Nowadays quite the opposite happens and you will find play scripts with minimum directions - perhaps not even an indication of location. (If you want to check this out look at the plays of Sarah Kane and Caryl Churchill for starters) (But then of course Shakespeare doesn't either - the locations were added in later by editors)
A playwright that forgets that they are part of this collaborative process; perhaps shouldn't be writing plays at all. Because it is an important part of the process; a process to enjoy rather than fear, because you will be surprised and perhaps even delighted at what other people make of your work. (Yes, I know I've said before that this can be a disappointing one - things don't quite come out as you planned - but on the other hand you can be surprised.)
I wrote one play for a pub setting and found that in one production of it it was being set in an Airport lounge. In another play some spivs were being played as though they were Breughel beggars with patches over their eyes and arms in slings. You really don't know what people are going to do to your words once they let their imaginations free on them. This recent play has been described as surreal and "A nod to the great absurd British writers of the fifties and sixties" - which all sounds very nice and complimentary - and thank you for that! And that's the director's take on it - it will interesting to see where he goes with that.
So beware. If you are starting out to write a play for the first time - remember unless you are writing a monologue which you intend to perform and direct - and work the lights and the sound and sell the tickets on the front door and usher people to their seats - then write it, send it off and wait for the results. You may even be consulted, as I have been on what I think of a certain idea or asked about pace and intentions - but at the end of the day it will be other people on that stage facing the audience, other people helping to create that piece - and not you alone. Remember those people in writing your play and have fun!
But as I said before, if you can't let go - don't go there in the first place.
*** For your information the plays are being performed alongside some others at the New Ventures Theatre in Brighton from Friday 6 December till Saturday 14 December. And each night the audience gets to vote for their favourite play and the winners will be announced on the last night. I'll be there (Looking forward to it, of course!!)
