Daniel Student asked me to ask some plays, ideally before the end of the week. That was about a month ago, and I have only read the first 20 pages of each of the plays, so I am a bad friend, bad colleague and not in any position to criticize, all at once.
But I just have to say. That plays need action. I just read four plays, and in two the first twenty pages were characters addressing the audience with paragraphs of exposition. Saying who they were; what their backgrounds were. What they wanted.
The "wright" part of "playwright" is not "write," as in, to put words on the page. It's "wright" like in "wheelwright." It means maker. Making a wheel is a skill, and if you don't have the skill, the thing won't carry people.
If build your play skillfully, your characters won't need to *tell* me who they are and what they want, because your story will tell me that.
I know that creating a script is very difficult work. I wish more were going on to help writers develop skill and virtuosity. I would love to see less play writing, and more playwrighting.
Yes, this exactly.
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