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theatralite
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Posted: Sun Mar 4th, 2007 09:38 pm |
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It was suggested on this section that playwrights should let their imaginations run wild and not bother their heads or pens with trivia such as the practicalities of staging their plays.
As someone who reads plays for possible production I very much question this attitude.
Yes, an audience can be asked to use their imagination. I just saw a production of a new John Godber type play by Hull Truck where what started as a simple box set became a disco, a workshop, a fast travelling car,etc. All with a little manipulation of a few basic props.It worked.
But most companies pro or am have limited budgets and most audiences want "realism". It's no accident that still the majority of plays being written use the traditional box set, small casts, etc.
If you want to improve your chances of getting your play staged it makes good sense to learn what sells.
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in media res
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Posted: Mon Mar 5th, 2007 03:51 am |
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Not knowing what works (as opposed to what sells) as a writer is about as effective as not knowing how to box when you get into the ring with a Muhammad Ali.
What works is timeless. What sells is contemprary market forces. The same play written five years ago may or may not be selling just because of what may be going on in the world at the time. These are producer/investor decisions.
Know all you can. Doesn't mean you have to go to college or anything like that. Just study. Read.
Also, from experience I can fairly tell you, most plays get produced because someone has known or met someone or gets a referral by someone along the way. Very few get produced at least at a commercial or regional theatre level by coming "over the transom." (I am not talking about contests and competitons when I say that. They can be great entry level productions to build a resume' and to keep sharp.)
If a theatre has the chance to produce a play by someone they know as opposed to someone they do not know, they will normally choose the play by the person they know, even if that play is a lesser quality.
But the more you know about the construct of theatre, the better your chances are at any level. And get involved and in association with a theatre!
in media resLast edited on Mon Mar 5th, 2007 01:07 pm by in media res
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tragedian
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Posted: Mon Mar 5th, 2007 01:45 pm |
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"If a theatre has the chance to produce a play by someone they know as opposed to someone they do not know, they will normally choose the play by the person they know, even if that play is a lesser quality."
If this is indeed the reality of getting one's play produced and in my case an unknown living outside the U.S., makes me ponder the whole submission process. As they say: it's not what you know but who you know.
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in media res
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Posted: Mon Mar 5th, 2007 02:44 pm |
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tragedian,
I guess I was not thorough.
Notice, I said at the regional and commercial theatres.
That does not mean do not submit! By submitting they CAN get to know your writing. Especially when they ask to see something else, they mean it. But by not submitting you get nowhere. You can establish a relationship with a Literary Manager as long as you keep submitting. This takes time.
Most Literary Managers are part time and they farm out scripts to readers to make it through the selections process. If they like it, it can get passed up along the track. Do the math: there are 365 days in a year. If one is read everyday, that is not a lot of plays that get read by a Literary Manager every year. How the hell can they? And yet I know some - not all - do keep up a strong volume of reading new stuff. One I knew read two a day!!!!
I had to read ten plays last month for a very nice competition. I read each one at least twice and several three times to give a decent fair analysis. And it is work, if taken seriously. I take it seriously because I would want someone to take my work seriously. I recommended two. Most Lit people do not have that luxury of time to read them as much. You have to grab them the first time.
However, keep this in mind: every time...and I mean every time...a good reader reads a script they are hoping it is absolutley wonderful! They go in with the desire to be astonished by what they are reading. They want to rush to someone and say: "Look what I found!"
For example: one play I recommended I did not like the characters, I did not like what the play stood for, and I would never want to be in the play as an actor, and I would never want to direct the play...however, I would love to see the play!!!!! It "got me!" It was really good stuff! You can't get much fairer judgment than that!
But, I still maintain, know all you can. By knowing all you can, that also means knowing the people. All this does takes time.
And I more than encourage you to submit, submit, submit.
Hmmmmm. There is a submission spree that started March 1 on this Forum!
best,
in media resLast edited on Mon Mar 5th, 2007 02:51 pm by in media res
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theatralite
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Posted: Mon Mar 5th, 2007 11:22 pm |
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Of course you're right. Most, well certainly the majority, of well known playwrights from Shakespeare on have had the foot in the door so to speak.
Shaw having failed as a novelist but succeeded as a theatre critic was offered to chance to have his first play produced. He didn't say he'd only half written it!
Pinter, Ayckbourn, Campton . . .the list is almost endless all were asked to write their first play and guaranteed production.
Having the right connections and/or being in the right place at the right time can always help to get that foot on the ladder (or stage might seem more appropriate?)
I've just seen a first play by a local playwright who just happens to be working in the publicity department of the local theatre. Every little helps?
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theatralite
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Posted: Mon Mar 5th, 2007 11:29 pm |
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| A minor point but over here we using use the terms Artistic Director rather than Literary Manager. I guess the difference also is that the AD also directors many of the plays he chooses or commissions. Commissioning of plays is common practice in provincial theatre. In Children's Theatre almost all plays are commissioned.
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Anubian Nights Theatre Co
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Posted: Thu Mar 22nd, 2007 10:11 pm |
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'Yes, an audience can be asked to use their imagination. I just saw a production of a new John Godber type play by Hull Truck where what started as a simple box set became a disco, a workshop, a fast travelling car,etc. All with a little manipulation of a few basic props.It worked.'
This sounds more like the set designer has used their imagination to create a very effective set that meet the demands of the play and stayed within budget. This is the designers job, not the playwrights.
I am currently writing a 'freak show' set on Kirby Wires where seven performers with varying degrees of mobility (or lack of it) will spend two hours suspended above the set. Luckily it has been bought by a literary manager with a bit of vision who hasn't panicked at the apparent complexity and vast expense of my proposed settings.
If the person responsible for reading the plays in a theatre is scared of theatricality and wild vision, then there isn't much hope for us writers. Obviously a set, like everything else in theatre, is a collaboration and one must be prepared to give and take, but there is no need to restrict one's imagination by thinking about budgets and practicality - you can always work those out later.
If one believes that an audience wants 'realism', one wonders what they are doing stepping into an 'unreal' world where everything is made up - if that was the case they wouldn't be in a theatre but rather spending their evening watching documentaries on TV at home. It is our role as creative people to hopefully inspire out audiences to think 'out of the box' and we can't do that by constraining our imaginations.
Regards, TKL
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theatralite
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Posted: Fri Mar 23rd, 2007 12:35 am |
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One shouldn't limit one's imagination nor be too surprised if totally ignoring the constraints under which some companies operate you find your script rejected yet again.
Recklessly saying to hell with writing for the market I don't need to know about theatre is taking the road to possible disappointment. By all means write a script for a hundred but don't expect anyone to produce it.
Its hardly surprising perhaps that many successful playwrights started out in theatre and know how to increase their chances of getting a script accepted for production. Knowing your market is good advice for any writer, whatever the field they're aiming at and commonsense.
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theatralite
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Posted: Fri Mar 23rd, 2007 12:44 am |
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| Actually I do have a play written for a hundred. It was written so as to involve a whole village but it was specially written to order. It was performed only once. But one can still say it took account of its market and as it was essentially a promenade performance around the natural settings of the village it took account of the staging also.
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Anubian Nights Theatre Co
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Posted: Fri Mar 23rd, 2007 02:00 am |
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If you were asked to write a play to order for 100 participants I can't really see how that relates to your first post...
A more interesting point might be to ask what you as a reader for new plays would have done if such a play with such a huge cast had landed out of the blue on your desk?
Would you have decided it was impossible to financially cope with 100 actors at Equity minimum every week, or would you have tried to see if there might be a way of finding 100 people from a local community who would like to be involved in a dramatic production for the pure joy of it?
One could then turn a seemingly, logistic and financial impossibility into a community celebration that embraced and brought together a huge group of disparate people in a dramatic project and everyone would be happy - the writer would have got their vision realised and the local community would have benefited.
Had the writer in such a circumstance felt constrained practically by the execution of his or her vision and went back to writing drawing-room drama then a magnificent opportunity might have been missed.....
Regards, TKL
Last edited on Fri Mar 23rd, 2007 02:06 am by Anubian Nights Theatre Co
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theatralite
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Posted: Sat Mar 24th, 2007 11:45 pm |
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It's a minor point but I should have made clear that I did not write the play. I merely have the script.
Now clearly we're going to have to agree to differ on this one. But the point of practicality or not was driven home yet again to me at a script in hand playreading this evening.
The play was a brilliant evocation of the horrors of the 1st World War and the brutal shooting of a young soldier for alleged desertion of duty. It deserved a wider audience but . . .
It includes a scene with a tractor, the shoeing of a horse which is required to be seen on stage plus obviously the horse, a dug out, parade yard, cottage, etc. It is unlikely to ever see a full stage production which seems a damned shame because it would be too expensive to mount.
The play was followed by a comedy which managed to cope with at least seven scenes a church, disco, etc. But it would be easily staged with skilful lighting.
The difference between the practicality of the two plays setting aside the difference in subject matter was quite startling. One playwright knew his theatre, the other didn't!
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Anubian Nights Theatre Co
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 12:29 am |
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Sure we will have to agree to differ. Though I would say from your last post that one writer must have known a brave and imaginative designer and one didn't!
I would hate to have lost Shakespeare's stage direction 'exit pursued by a bear' because of the price of bears!
I did once restrain myself from asking for 20 dancing albino elephants but that was about as far as I have been willing to compromise :-).
Best wishes, TKL
P.S. The Hampstead Theatre in North London staged a stunning evocation of the 1st world war trenches on a shoestring in a recent production based on the life of Rudyard Kiipling's son. They used a kind of pop-up flat the size of the stage, a few quids worth of dry ice and many buckets of mud....
Last edited on Sun Mar 25th, 2007 12:38 am by Anubian Nights Theatre Co
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theatralite
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 07:56 pm |
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| OK the last word is yours.
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