The Art of Dramatic Writing

8/10/2019 The Art of Dramatic Writing

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The art of dramatic writing

Lajos Egri (1946 1960 2)

How to write a play (1942)


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Premise

Romeo and Juliet = Great love defies even death

King Lear = Blind trust leads to destruction

Macbeth = Ruthless ambition leads to its own destruction

Othello = Jealousy destroys itself and the object of its love

Tartuffe = He who digs a pit for others falls into it himself

Ghosts = The sins of the fathers are visited on the children

The premise should show the goal, and the characters should be driven to this goal,as Fate did in Greek drama


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Premise

Characters emotion + Conflict (or direction) + Results (the end)

egotism leeds to loss of friends

The premise contains a direction and a movementcoming out of a conflict

between the characters emotion and the around world


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Premise few hints about

The premise isnt an universal truth

The author must believe in his premise

Do not have two different premises in the same story

You may have a sub-premise

The premise doesnt come out in one go (you have to work on it)

The premise is a seed and it grows into a plant

The premise do not stand out


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physiology

sociology

psychology

Character

Physiology and Sociology round each otherand give birth to the Psychology

It is bonded to the othersin a relational system

Characters 3 dimensions

! Character biography (Stanislavskij)


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Character The bone structure

PHYSIOLOGY1. Sex2. Age3. Height and weight4. Colour of hair,

eyes, skin5. Posture6. Appearance: good

looking, over orunderweight, clean, neat,

pleasant, untidy. Shape ofhead, face, limbs.

7. Defects: deformities,abnormalities,birthmarks. Diseases.

8. Heredity

SOCIOLOGY1. Class: lover, middle, upper.2. Occupation: type of work, hours of

work, income, condition of work,union or non-union, attitude towardorganization, suitability for work.

3. Education: amount, kind of schools, marks, favourite subjects,

aptitudes.4. Home life: parents living, earning

power, orphan, parents separated ordivorced, parents habits, parentsmental development, parents vices,

neglect. Characters marital status.5. Religion6. Race, nationality .7. Place in community: leader

among friends, clubs, sports.

8. Political affiliations.9. Amusements, hobbies: books,

newspapers, magazines he reads.

PSYCHOLOGY1. Sex life moral standards2. Personal premise,

ambition3. Frustrations, chief

disappointments4. Temperament: choleric,

easygoing, pessimistic,optimistic.

5. Attitude toward life:resigned, militant, defeatist

6. Complexes: obsessions,inhibitions, superstitions,

phobias.7. Extrovert, introvert,

ambivert8. Abilities: languages,

talents.

9. Qualities: imagination, judgement, taste, poise.

10. I.Q.


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Character

You must know all the bone structures pointsbut they need not be mentioned

Anything must come from the characters you have chosen to prove your premise

All emotion has physical effects


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Character CHANGE

A character is in constant change

Life is change

A character is the sum total of his physical make-up

and the influences his environment exert upon himat that particular moment.

Therefore: A character is always keeping moving


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Character DIALECTAL APPROACH

? (how do we design the movement)

THESIS ANTITHESIS

SYNTHESIS

Characters evolution-movement has to seems logical to the public.i.e. the character have no other chances.

Things happen not because the dramatist wants, but because the characters make-upis such that he must fulfils the premise.


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Character Growth

changeA character stand revealed

through conflicts

Conflict begin with a decision

The decision is made because

of the premise of your play Es. Nora ( A Dolls House) starts assinging birds and end up as a

mature womanThis sets in motion anotherdecision, from his adversary

Noras evolution:From: submissive, happy-go-lucky, nave,trusting To: cynical, independent, adult, bitter,

disillusioned

Well discuss conflict later on this session


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Character Growth

Every character a dramatis presents must have within it theseeds of its future development

Es. Nora ( A Dolls House) in the firstlines shows that she is not close with

money (tips the porter) and the canbreaking a promise (she had somemacaroons)

A Dolls House: (premise) Inequality of the sexes in marriage breeds unhappiness

Growth is a characters reaction to a conflict in which he is involved. A charactercan grow through making the correct move, as well as the incorrect one but he

must grow, if he is a real character


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Character WILLS

Character must have thestrength, the stamina, to carry

this fight to its logicalconclusion

Every character will find the

strength if under the rightcircumstances, if the dramatisfound the right psychological

momentThere are not weak character


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Character

Aristotle said: Character is

subsidiary to actionError

The situations are

inherent in thecharacter

Character creates plot,

not vice versa.The only thing that comes first before

the character is the premise

Es. Checkov has no story to tell, no situation to speak of, but his play are

popular because he permits hischaracters to reveal themselves and

the time in which they lived.


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Character PIVOTAL

The one who takes the lead Es. Krogstad in A Dolls HouseOedipus in Oedipus RexJago in OthelloOrgon in Tartuffe

The one who creates conflict

The one who has an high vital

value at stake

He is forced to be like that bycircumstances

His growth is not as extensiveas that of the others

Each character hai his own premise which clashes with the others


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Character ANTAGONIST

He is as strong as the pivotal

character Es. Helmer in A Dolls House

Othello in OthelloClaudio in Hamlet


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Character ORCHESTRATION

The contrasting characters are instruments which work together to give

a well-orchestrated composition

You must have a clear idea of how the forces are lined up

Orchestration means managing the movements gradually

love hatetolerance intoleranceindifference annoyance

The character must be commensurate to the movement of the play

A i


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ConflictAction

1 2 3 4

large conflict

small conflict = transiction

static jumping slowly rising foreshadowing

Each conflict causes the one after it. Each is more intense than the one before

A ti


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ConflictAction

attack counterattack

SpendthriftImmoralImmaculatePessimistic

RuthlessStupidViolent

FrugalMoralDirty

Optimistic

GentleClever

Calm

We see real rising conflict when the antagonists are evenly matched

Conflict is always relative to someone or something

STATIC


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ConflictSTATIC

The character neither does have a strong will

nor he knows what he wants

No dialogue, even le cleverest, can move a play if it does not further the conflict

Es Dolls HouseJUMPING


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Es. Doll s House

ConflictJUMPING

The character neither does have a strong willnor he knows what he wants

Real characters must be given a chance to reveal themselves and we must be given achance to observe the significant changes which take place in them

virtuous - thwarted incorrect improper disorderly immoral - villainous

Ok! Es Dolls HouseRISING


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Ok! Es. Doll s House

ConflictRISING

Rising conflict is the result of a clear-cut premise and well-orchestrated, three-dimensional characters,among whom unity is strongly established

Drama is not the image of life, but the essence. We must condense.

Es Dolls HouseFORESHADOWING


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Es. Doll s House

ConflictFORESHADOWING

Conflict must be foreshadowed

Thus we create tension even if there isnt a real conflict atethe very moment: we are promising conflict

POINT OF ATTACK Es Romeo and Juliet


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ConflictPOINT OF ATTACK Es. Romeo and Juliet

Filumena Marturano

Why a play starts? Necessity!

A play might start exactly at the point where the conflict will lead up a crisis

A play might start at a point where at least one character has reached aturning point in his life

A play might start with a decision which will precipitate conflict

A good point of attack is where something vital is at stake ate the very beginning of a play

A play starts in the middle, and not under any circumstances, at the beginning

TRANSITIONS


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ConflictTRANSITIONS

Constantly changing

In a good play none of the characters is ever immobile

Friendship disappointmentDisappointment annoyance

Annoyance irritationIrritation anger

Anger assaultAssault threat

Threat premeditation

Premeditation murder The public doesnt need to record (be awareof) every movement of a transition.

STRUCTURE Es. Cherry Orchard


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ConflictSTRUCTURE

crisis climax resolutiona state of thingsin which adecisive change

one way oranother isimpending

rising conflict

1 2 3 4

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

the no-return point. The

highest in the scene

A man steals: conflict . He is pursued: rising

conflict . He is caught: crisis . He is condemnedby the court: climax . Transferring him to

prison: resolution

Es. Cherry Orchard


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Recapitulation Few things tounderlining

Obligatory scene

Exposition

Dialogue

Entrances and Exits


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RecapitulationObligatory scene

Is the scene for which everyone is waiting, the scene which has been promisedthroughout and which cannot be eliminated

A point of concentration toward which the maximum expectation is aroused

There is no phase which is more important than others.

The obligatory scene must not be treated as an independent issue

Obligatoryscene

YES

NO


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RecapitulationExposition

It is said the act of establishing mood, atmosphere, background, before the action begins

It is part of the whole play

It should proceed constantly, without interruption

It has to be done through physical actionsIt has to be the characters own growth


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RecapitulationDialogue

It must reveal the character

It must foreshadow coming events

Mind the followings:

Save wordsSacrifice brilliance

Let the man speak in the language of his own word

Dont be pedantic

Use clever language (gags) only as truly part of the play

Dialogue must be dialectical in itself (it has is own rhythm crescendo)

Do not overemphasize dialogue (do not overcame the characters)

Entrances


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RecapitulationEntrancesand Exits

You must be aware of the reason because the character enters or exits

The character must have his well rooted will to get in or get out

It is bad to send a character out of the room for a glass of water merely so that two other characters could talk privately and then have himreturn when the inish their chat.


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Art is not the mirror of life, butthe essence of life

Lajos Egri (1946)

Documents

The Art of Dramatic Writing