Playwriting : structure, character, how and what to write / Stephen Jeffreys ; edited by Maeve McKeown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jeffreys, Stephen, author.

Contributor:

McKeown, Maeve, editor.

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Playwriting.

Physical Description:

xv, 270 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First TCG edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Theatre Communications Group, [2020]

Contents:

Theatre Events Structure p. 10

I Story Structure p. 13

The Three Elements of Story p. 13

The Three-part Story: Macbeth p. 17

The Advantages of Conventional Story Structure p. 24

Story Structure in Plays with Multiple Characters p. 26

II Time and Place Structure p. 28

Open/Closed Time and Place p. 29

I Closed Time, Closed Place p. 30

(a) Choose an interesting location p. 32

(b) Use the interval p. 34

(c) Plot devices p. 34

(d) What happens offstage? p. 34

2 Open Time, Closed Place p. 35

3 Closed Time, Open Place p. 38

4 Open Time, Open Place p. 39

The three-act play p. 39

The four-act play p. 43

The multi-scene play p. 47

The two-set play p. 52

Recurring settings p. 53

Panorama plays p. 53

A dominant scene p. 55

Lots of scenes p. 55

Scene changes p. 56

III Experimental Structures p. 59

Disrupted / Simultaneous Time and Space p. 61

1 Disrupted Time, Closed Place p. 62

2 Disrupted Time, Open Place p. 64

3 Disrupted Time, Simultaneous Place p. 67

4 Open Time, Simultaneous Place p. 69

Playing with Narrative p. 71

Mimimalism p. 71

Inundation p. 72

Interruption p. 74

Repetition p. 75

Appropriation p. 75

Subverting Other Dramatic Conventions p. 79

Character p. 79

Theatre's Relationships with the Audience, the Artist and the World p. 80

2 Character p. 85

1 The Three Dimensions of Character p. 89

1 The Character's Story p. 90

The Past: The Backstory of the Play p. 90

The Present: The Action of the Play p. 91

The Future: What Happens Next? p. 96

2 The Character's Breadth p. 97

Physical Characteristics p. 98

'Fads and Quirks' p. 99

What the character says about themselves p. 100

What other characters say about them p. 101

What they do p. 102

What the writer says about the character p. 103

3 The Character's Depth p. 105

II Working with Character p. 109

Aristotle's Four Criteria p. 109

'Good' p. 109

'Appropriate' p. 111

(a) The character who is appropriate to the: the task, and succeeds p. 111

(b) The character who is appropriate to the: the task, but fails p. 112

(c) The character who is ill-equipped for the: the task, and fails p. 113

(d) The character who is ill-equipped for the: the task, but succeeds p. 114

'Lifelike' p. 115

'Consistent' p. 117

Personality Types p. 118

Jung's 'Compass' p. 119

Extroverts and Introverts p. 122

The Myers-Briggs System p. 123

Other Tools p. 124

Observation p. 124

Character Relationships p. 125

Number of protagonists p. 128

Group characters p. 128

Harriet Walter's 'Six Keys' p. 129

3 How to Write p. 131

I Six Kinds of Logic p. 133

Deductive and Inductive Logic p. 134

Causal and Off-the-wall Logic p. 138

Dialectical and Poetic Logic p. 142

Types of Dialogue p. 149

Ordinary Speech p. 149

It's not consecutive p. 151

False starts p. 152

Interruptions p. 152

Self-correction p. 152

Private code p. 152

Bad grammar p. 152

Character-based Dialogue p. 154

The Authorial Voice p. 157

Neutral Dialogue p. 159

Tools for Writing Dialogue p. 161

Grice's Conversational Maxims p. 161

Maxim of Quantity p. 162

Maxim of Quality p. 162

Maxim of Relevance p. 162

Maxim of Manner p. 162

'Actions' p. 168

III Writing Scenes p. 169

The Left-brain Approach p. 170

The Visual p. 170

The Structural p. 171

The Right-brain Approach p. 172

IV Subtext p. 180

Analysing Subtext p. 181

Writing Subtext p. 183

Three Types of Subtext p. 184

4 What to Write p. 191

Foxes and Hedgehogs p. 194

I Types of Play p. 196

Autobiographical Plays p. 197

The Zeitgeist Play p. 197

The Parallel-world Play p. 199

The Specific-experience Play p. 200

Researched Plays p. 200

The Microcosm Play p. 201

The Verbatim Play p. 204

The Workshop Play p. 205

Historical Plays p. 206

Plays Based on Historical Characters p. 210

Historical Situations p. 211

Historical Themes p. 212

Adaptations p. 213

Well-known Novels p. 213

Lesser-known Novels p. 214

Movies p. 215

The Form-led Play p. 216

The Specific-commission Play p. 217

II The Nine Stories p. 218

Group One: Beginnings p. 219

1 Romeo and Juliet: 'The Love Story' p. 219

'The Love Story' inverted p. 223

2 Orpheus: 'The Gift That is Lost' p. 224

Orpheus inverted p. 226

3 Jacob and Esau: 'The Rival Siblings' p. 226

Inversion: siblings united p. 228

Group Two: Middles p. 229

4 Circe: 'The Spider and the Fly' p. 229

Circe inverted p. 231

5 Tristan and Isolde: 'The Love Triangle' p. 231

'The Love Triangle' inverted p. 233

6 Achilles: 'The Fatal Flaw' p. 233

Achilles inverted p. 236

Group Three: Endings p. 236

7 Cinderella: 'Good Triumphs in the End' p. 236

Cinderella inverted p. 237

8 Hercules: 'The Hero Who Keeps Going' p. 238

Hercules inverted p. 240

9 Faust: 'The Debt That Must Be Paid' p. 240

Faust inverted p. 242

Combining Stories p. 242

Endings p. 244

Redrafting p. 247

Submitting Drafts p. 248

Meeting with Literary Managers or Directors p. 249

Lunch Theory p. 250

The Four Criteria for Accepting Commissions p. 251

Your Voice p. 252.

Notes:

Reprint. Originally published: London : Nick Hern Books Limited, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 264-266) and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Other Edition:

Reprint of: 1848427905 Jeffreys, Stephen. London : Nick Hern Books Limited, 2019

ISBN:

9781559369725

1559369728

OCLC:

1100424747

Publisher Number:

99984133991