Overview
For over two decades, Stephen Jeffreys's remarkable series of
workshops attracted writers from all over the world and shaped the ideas
of many of today's leading playwrights and theatre-makers. Now, with
this inspiring, highly practical book, you too can learn from these
acclaimed Masterclasses.
Playwriting reveals the
various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of
each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it
deconstructs playwriting into its constituent parts, and offers
illuminating insights into:
- Structure – an in-depth exploration of the
fundamental elements of drama, enabling you to choose instinctively the
most effective structure for your play
- Character – advice on how to generate and write
credible characters by exploring their three essential dimensions:
story, breadth and depth
- How to Write – techniques for writing great
dialogue, dynamic scenes and compelling subtext, including how to
improve your writing by approaching it from unfamiliar directions
- What to Write – how to adopt different approaches
to finding your material, how to explore the fundamental 'Nine Stories',
and how to evaluate the potential of your ideas
Written by a true master of the craft, this authoritative guide will
provide playwrights at every level of experience with a rich array of
tools to apply to their own work.
This edition, edited by Maeve McKeown, includes a Foreword by April De Angelis.