Writing for Theatre - Arnold Wesker

5: The craft of theatre involves...

... a great deal more than people talking on a stage. It requires:

an understanding of the power of metaphor

an understanding of structure

a sense of rhythms of lines of speech; rhythms between lines, between sections, between scenes, between acts

a sense of place - settings

a sense of choreography - movements and actions

a clear understanding to characters: their complexity, their contradictions, their perceptions of others, and of how you perceive them.

Your craft requires an understanding of the distinction to be made between journalism and poetry, i.e the tangible and the intangible.

Example: the making of a cup of tea on stage is journalism, tangible; the busting into song, a leap in the air, a sudden smile all for not apparent reason is (or could be) poetry, intangible, like the "twang" of wire in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Both are qualities needed in any work of art; but the greatest works of art have more poetry than journalism.

6: They will not love you forever

...neither critics nor those in the theatre.

Therefore:

You must develop

Never repeat yourself

Keep inventing

Keep your mind and imagination well-oiled by exposing yourself to all sorts of other artistic experiences. The best artists usually have the effect of reviving our batteries, revealing to ourselves what more we've got within ourselves - books, theatre, film, music; expose yourself to all sorts of people and experiences. You must know those you want to attack better than themselves.

Listen not only to what people say but the way they say it. Keep notes about those who interest you most, record dialogue whose vigour strikes you. Do not pursue what is absurd if what you've experienced does not call for the absurd. When it does call for it, use it. Nor engage irony when tenderness is called for, or lyricism if the mood requires harsh naturalism.

Life comes too multifaceted to make a fetish of only one aspect of it. Reality is too complex to re-create it in a singular style which then becomes a beloved "personal signature". I worry about writers who straitjacket their material into personal mannerisms which are mistaken for their "voice", or their "style". Let your material dictate its own inherent style.

Build up a body of work impressive enough to make it difficult for them to dismiss you.

New generations of writers are being born today who will inevitably challenge your place, and whom fickle critics and directors will want to champion because they're new. That's as it should be, but by that time you must have moved to another place; you must have created enough momentum to enable you to continue steadily and evade the demoralising feeling of being threatened.

Nothing nothing nothing stands still.

Nor must you!

1: The difference between art as therapy and art as experience
2: To distinguish between material that is the stuff of literature and material that is anecdote
3: Responsibility to the craft
4: The artist as guardian of truths as they see them
5: The craft of theatre involves...
6: They will not love you forever