The art of dramatic writing

Lajos Egri (1946 1960 )

2

How to write a play (1942)

 Premise

Romeo and Juliet = Great love defies even death

King Lear = Blind trust leads to destruction

Macbeth = Ruthless ambition leads to its own destruction

Othello = Jealousy destroys itself and the object of its love

Tartuffe = He who digs a pit for others falls into it himself

Ghosts = The sins of the fathers are visited on the children

The premise should show the goal, and the characters should be driven to this goal,
as Fate did in Greek drama
 Premise

Characters emotion + Conflict (or direction) + Results (the end)

egotism leeds to loss of friends

The premise contains a direction and a movement

coming out of a conflict
between the characters emotion and the around world
 few hints about
Premise
The premise isnt an universal truth
The author must believe in his premise
Do not have two different premises in the same story
You may have a sub-premise
The premise doesnt come out in one go (you have to work on it)
The premise is a seed and it grows into a plant
The premise do not stand out
 It is bonded to the others
Character in a relational system

Characters 3 dimensions
physiology

Physiology and Sociology round each other

and give birth to the Psychology

psychology

sociology

! Character biography (Stanislavskij)

 The bone structure
Character
SOCIOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY
1. Sex life moral standards
1. Class: lover, middle, upper.
PHYSIOLOGY 2. Personal premise,
2. Occupation: type of work, hours of
1. Sex work, income, condition of work, ambition
2. Age union or non-union, attitude toward 3. Frustrations, chief
organization, suitability for work. disappointments
3. Height and weight 3. Education: amount, kind of
4. Colour of hair, 4. Temperament: choleric,
schools, marks, favourite subjects, easygoing, pessimistic,
eyes, skin aptitudes. optimistic.
5. Posture 4. Home life: parents living, earning 5. Attitude toward life:
6. Appearance: good power, orphan, parents separated or resigned, militant, defeatist
divorced, parents habits, parents
looking, over or
mental development, parents vices,
6. Complexes: obsessions,
underweight, clean, neat, inhibitions, superstitions,
pleasant, untidy. Shape of neglect. Characters marital status.
phobias.
head, face, limbs. 5. Religion
7. Extrovert, introvert,
7. Defects: deformities, 6. Race, nationality.
ambivert
abnormalities, 7. Place in community: leader
birthmarks. Diseases. among friends, clubs, sports.
8. Abilities: languages,
talents.
8. Heredity 8. Political affiliations.
9. Qualities: imagination,
9. Amusements, hobbies: books, judgement, taste, poise.
newspapers, magazines he reads.
10. I.Q.
 Character

You must know all the bone structures points

but they need not be mentioned
Anything must come from the characters
you have chosen to prove your premise

All emotion has physical effects

 CHANGE
Character
A character is in constant change

Life is change

A character is the sum total of his physical make-up

and the influences his environment exert upon him
at that particular moment.

Therefore: A character is always keeping moving

 DIALECTAL APPROACH
Character
? (how do we design the movement)
THESIS ANTITHESIS

SYNTHESIS

Characters evolution-movement has to seems logical to the public.

i.e. the character have no other chances.

Things happen not because the dramatist wants, but because the characters make-up
is such that he must fulfils the premise.
 Growth
Character
change
A character stand revealed
through conflicts
Conflict begin with a decision
The decision is made because
of the premise of your play
Es. Nora (A Dolls House) starts as
This sets in motion another singing birds and end up as a
decision, from his adversary mature woman
Noras evolution:
From: submissive, happy-go-lucky, nave,
trusting
To: cynical, independent, adult, bitter,
disillusioned

Well discuss conflict later on this session

 Growth
Character
Every character a dramatis
presents must have within it the
seeds of its future development
Es. Nora (A Dolls House) in the first
lines shows that she is not close with
money (tips the porter) and the can
breaking a promise (she had some
macaroons)
A Dolls House: (premise) Inequality of the sexes in marriage breeds unhappiness

Growth is a characters reaction to a conflict in which he is involved. A character

can grow through making the correct move, as well as the incorrect one but he
must grow, if he is a real character
 WILLS
Character
Character must have the
strength, the stamina, to carry
this fight to its logical
conclusion
Every character will find the
strength if under the right
circumstances, if the dramatis
found the right psychological
moment
There are not weak character
 Character
Aristotle said: Character is
Error
subsidiary to action

The situations are Character creates plot,

inherent in the not vice versa.
The only thing that comes first before
character the character is the premise

Es. Checkov has no story to tell, no

situation to speak of, but his play are
popular because he permits his
characters to reveal themselves and
the time in which they lived.
 PIVOTAL
Character

The one who takes the lead Es. Krogstad in A Dolls House
Oedipus in Oedipus Rex
The one who creates conflict Jago in Othello
The one who has an high vital Orgon in Tartuffe
value at stake
He is forced to be like that by
circumstances
His growth is not as extensive
as that of the others

Each character hai his own premise which clashes with the others
 ANTAGONIST
Character
He is as strong as the pivotal
Es. Helmer in A Dolls House
character
Othello in Othello
Claudio in Hamlet
 ORCHESTRATION
Character
The contrasting characters are instruments which work together to give
a well-orchestrated composition

You must have a clear idea of how the forces are lined up
Orchestration means managing the movements gradually

love hate
tolerance intolerance
indifference annoyance

The character must be commensurate to the movement of the play

 Action
Conflict

large conflict
small conflict = transiction

1 2 3 4

static jumping slowly rising foreshadowing

Each conflict causes the one after it. Each is more intense than the one before
 Action
Conflict attack counterattack

Frugal Spendthrift
Moral Immoral
Dirty Immaculate
Optimistic Pessimistic
Gentle Ruthless
Clever Stupid
Calm Violent
We see real rising conflict when the antagonists are evenly matched

Conflict is always relative to someone or something

 STATIC
Conflict
The character neither does have a strong will
nor he knows what he wants

No dialogue, even le cleverest, can move a play if it does not further the conflict
 JUMPING Es. Dolls House
Conflict
The character neither does have a strong will
nor he knows what he wants
Real characters must be given a chance to reveal themselves and we must be given a
chance to observe the significant changes which take place in them

virtuous - thwarted incorrect improper disorderly immoral - villainous

 RISING Ok! Es. Dolls House
Conflict
Rising conflict is the result of a clear-cut premise and well-
orchestrated, three-dimensional characters,
among whom unity is strongly established

Drama is not the image of life, but the essence. We must condense.
 FORESHADOWING Es. Dolls House
Conflict

Conflict must be foreshadowed

Thus we create tension even if there isnt a real conflict ate
the very moment: we are promising conflict
 POINT OF ATTACK Es. Romeo and Juliet
Conflict Filumena Marturano

Why a play starts? Necessity!

A play might start exactly at the point where the conflict will lead up a crisis
A play might start at a point where at least one character has reached a
turning point in his life
A play might start with a decision which will precipitate conflict
A good point of attack is where something vital is at stake ate the very
beginning of a play

A play starts in the middle, and not under any circumstances, at the
beginning
 TRANSITIONS
Conflict
Constantly changing
In a good play none of the characters is ever immobile

Friendship disappointment
Disappointment annoyance
Annoyance irritation
Irritation anger
Anger assault
Assault threat
Threat premeditation
Premeditation murder
The public doesnt need to record (be aware
of) every movement of a transition.
 STRUCTURE Es. Cherry Orchard
Conflict
1 2 3 4

rising conflict crisis climax resolution

a state of things the no-return
point. The 3
in which a
decisive change highest in the 2
one way or scene 4
another is
impending 3
2
4
1

1
A man steals: conflict. He is pursued: rising
conflict. He is caught: crisis. He is condemned
by the court: climax. Transferring him to
prison: resolution
Few things to
underlining Recapitulation
Obligatory scene

Exposition

Dialogue

Entrances and Exits

 Obligatory scene Recapitulation
Is the scene for which everyone is waiting, the scene which has been promised
throughout and which cannot be eliminated

A point of concentration toward which the maximum expectation is aroused

There is no phase which is more important than others.

The obligatory scene must not be treated as an independent issue

YES

Obligatory
scene
NO
 Exposition Recapitulation
It is said the act of establishing mood, atmosphere, background,
before the action begins

It is part of the whole play

It should proceed constantly, without interruption

It has to be done through physical actions

It has to be the characters own growth

 Dialogue Recapitulation
It must reveal the character
It must foreshadow coming events

Mind the followings:

Save words
Sacrifice brilliance
Let the man speak in the language of his own word
Dont be pedantic
Use clever language (gags) only as truly part of the play
Dialogue must be dialectical in itself (it has is own rhythm crescendo)
Do not overemphasize dialogue (do not overcame the characters)
 Entrances
and Exits Recapitulation
You must be aware of the reason because the character enters or exits
The character must have his well rooted will to get in or get out

It is bad to send a character out of the room for a glass of water merely
so that two other characters could talk privately and then have him
return when they finish their chat.
Art is not the mirror of life, but
the essence of life
Lajos Egri (1946)