Sunday, August 31, 2008

Play Update

As of writing this, I am about 60 pages into my (untitled) play. I'm very much enjoying spending a couple of hours a day writing.

A lot of the time, I'll write on the train. Since I'm going between various places on a daily basis, I use my travel time to listen music, catch up on Podcasts and write.

The play is "situational" in style (just like anything else I've ever attempted to write) I'm so intrigued by putting characters of different persuasions, different backgrounds and different opinions in a single space, and creating interaction.

When characters are confined to one common space, (especially if they are either physically or socially 'trapped' in that space) it forces the characters to face whatever situation they're in, and it raises the stakes of the drama. Well, potentially it does.

When I was in college I wrote a short one-act play called 'Discovery' in which a business woman is trapped in an elevator with the building's janitor. Two seemingly different people, of contrasting social status.
At the opening of the play, the two characters are argumentative, and oppose each other. The business woman is the 'high status' character, and the Janitor is subservient. As the play progresses the two level out to an 'even' status, and by the end entirely swap status. By the end of the act, the business woman has broken down completely and relies on the Janitor to comfort her.

I also cast and directed the piece. An added bonus was that, in staging the play, we were able to build the set of the elevator so it was adaptable, and as the piece played out, the walls of the elevator subtly and ever so slightly moved closer and closer in, causing the space to get smaller and smaller. It was a great effect.

I'm noticing this pattern in my writing, confinement and 'situation' based drama.

By no means are the characters in this piece physically 'trapped' but they are trapped in some ways, and forced to be together in the context of the play.

I'm hoping to have it finished soon. The debate then will be, who will I show it to, and what will I do with it?

1 comment:

[LaLa] Lauren said...

I demand to be an extra in this play.