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The Citizen, 2005-06-29, Page 11BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, JUNE 29/30, 2005, PAGE 11 That’s why it’s called a craft Writing for the stage requires a whole different set of skills, Powers and Gloria playwright learns By Keith Roulston Playwright: Powers and Gloria They call it “playwrighting” not playwriting and for good reason. While writing for the stage is an art, it is also a craft, just as the other “wrightings” like wheelwrighting or millwrighting. For those of us who come to playwrighting from other forms of writing, in my case journalism, the transition can be long and painful. Though I have been writing plays for nearly 30 years, it’s only in the last seven I finally learned the craft. As an audience member, you may not know what the playwright is doing wrong but you'll know when something is wrong. Instead of being wrapped up in the story, your mind will start drifting and you start shifting in your seat. In Blyth Memorial Hall, with its hardwood floor, we call the resulting noise the “shuffle factor” as restless patrons start shuffling their feet. One of the first lessons you learn in writing for the theatre is that you can’t try to cheat to overcome the realities of the stage. There’s a temptation of making spectacular things happen offstage that aren’t feasible on stage, then having someone describe them. It doesn’t work. What might have been thrilling to watch in real life or see re-enacted in a movie or on TV, sounds boring, boring, boring when a character on stage describes it. Writing for the stage is a very active form of writing. You have to dive in and get involved with your characters and get them involved in the action. For a journalist, used to sitting back, observing and recording and not taking an active part in what’s going on, it can be a major leap to get involved. Looking back, I can see that in my early plays I wrote too many characters who observed rather than drove the action. Keith Roulston: Converting a journalist to stage writing a long process. “Action” or “conflict” in a play doesn’t necessarily mean swordplay or fist fights. Conflict means the verbal wordplay between characters with different points of view that creates the tension that keeps you, as an audience member, from shuffling your feet. As a playwright starts to write a scene he/she must find what each character wants to accomplish. So at the beginning of Powers and Gloria, for instance, Edward Connell Powers, unhappily confined to a wheelchair (temporarily, he’s sure) just wants Gloria, his rough-edged homemaker, to go away, while she, who needs a job, is willing to put up with a lot to keep her job — though even then her patience has limits. Those conflicts take off because one character says something that the other reacts to, who then says something back that the first character reacts to. It’s like the characters are playing a verbal game of catch. In fact sometimes directors use a ball to illustrate what needs to go on. As a writer, you have to structure your dialogue so that the key word or phrase that the “receiving” actor must respond to is at the end of the speech. If you put the key phrase at the beginning or middle, it’s awkward for the second actor to find the trigger to fire back at the actor who made the speech. This was one of the lessons I learned late. Former Festival artistic director Anne Chislett drilled it into my fogged brain as she prepared Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! for production in 1998. I felt bewildered at the time but later on the penny seemed to drop and I got it. Anyone who has taken a high school English class knows the narrative of a play will build to a climax near the end. What you don’t know, unless you’ve had theatrical training, is that there’s not only a climax in the play and in each act, but the whole play is filled with little climaxes of what are termed “beats”. Beats are the little verbal battles between the characters. Two characters with opposing intentions throw those responses back and forth to each other, the tension increasing, until one wins the point. The losing character may then take a different tack and try to win the next “beat” which builds until one or the other triumphs. Within on scene, within one discussion between two characters, there may be several “beats”. Powers and Gloria was originally written for two characters, which means those “beats” had to be carefully planned because you don’t have any other characters to come in to relieve the two actors on stage. Even though the play is stronger because of the addition (at Anne Chislett’s suggestion while she was still at the Festival) of Gloria’s boyfriend Darryl, and Powers’ son James, it benefitted from the tight structural planning required for the original two-character first draft. Also essential in the planning stage is understanding the “journey” or the “arc” of each character. What are their beliefs or characteristics at the beginning of the play? How do they respond to the pressures put on them by the other characters during the play? At least one of the characters generally changes. Again in Powers and Gloria because it originally began as a two- character play, it was important to plan out the journey of Powers and of Gloria not just from beginning to end but through each scene over an eight-month period of Powers’ recovery, and even beat by beat within each scene. Powers and Gloria has required all ■the craft that has been drilled into me over the years by James Roy, Janet Amos, Peter Smith, Eric Coates, and especially Anne Chislett. Only when you've learned the craft of writing for the stage can your own creativity be given the chance to take off. Seven Sisters Gifts & Gardens An eclectic collection of unique gifts including: • Elora Soap Co. Products • Kountry Essence Candles • Ceramic Friends • Many new items for 2005 / Open Tues. - Sat 10 am - 8 pm 181 Dinsley Street, Blyth 523-9900 "‘fu&t auund the cainei [tarn fRly.th fatwal" : Schwartzkopf...Paul Mitchell...Lanza...Scruples...Julio... I o K 2 o io <8Nflc8►J Thank you for entertaining us all i for 31 successful seasons. Chauncey's Hairstyling & Sun tanning M Pa rl nn r & Sun tanning / \ Parlour f J 211 Dinsley St., Blyth, Ont. \C/ 519-523-9722 Established 1982 Chances are...you'll love it! : AG... Lamara...Kopf... Lanza... Scruples... Julio... Schwartzkopf...^ ELLIOTT NIXON INSURANCE BROKERS INC. General Established 1910 Life Congratulations to the Blyth Festival on its 31st season! A warm welcome to all our summer visitors 405 Queen Street Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 (519) 523-4481 Fax: (519) 523-9189 The Township of North Huron daft^iatulaiianf incorporating The Village of Blyth The Township of East Wawanosh and The Town of Wingham PO Box 90, Wingham, ON NOG 2W0 Phone (519) 357-3550 Fax: (519) 357-1110 www.townofnorthhuron.ca Thanks for the memories Blyth Festival!