Playwriting

This book is ideal for anyone keen to understand how contemporary plays and playwrights work, particularly those wanting to write for the stage themselves. Drawing heavily on contemporary practice, it considers moments from a range of plays, with a focus on those from the National Theatre's repertoire. The book embraces a range of different dramaturgical structures and styles popular today; plays by a diverse selection of writers; and the current openness of dramatic form. A book of tools, rather than rules, this guide provides suggestions and provocations, exercises and tricks, examples and discussions. An ideal text for playwrights to hone their craft.

Dan Rebellato is an experienced, internationally performed playwright for theatre and radio. He has taught playwriting for 25 years for various universities, writers' groups, Arvon and elsewhere. He has also written widely and influentially on contemporary British theatre, with a focus on the theory and practice of new writing. He is Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Introduction 1. What Does a Playwright Do? 2. How to have Ideas 3. Monologue 4. (How) Can We Learn from Aristotle? 5. Structure 6. Form 7. Plot vs. Story 8. Time and Place 9. Making a Scene 10. Dialogue and Subtext 11. Character 12. Writing Your Play 13. Getting It Staged Notes Further Reading