PETER LANGMAN From pages 40-44
Playwriting Rules: Rejecting the Recipe
I keep saying to myself, “One of these days, I don’t know when, I’m going to do a playwriting book,” but it would be
an anti-playwriting playwriting book. Every time I read a playwriting book, I think, “That sounds good,” but then I
think, “Now how do I break all the rules I just read?” — Paula Vogel
CONVENTIONAL wisdom regarding play structure these days seems to focus on such questions as “whose play is it?”
and “what does the protagonist want?” I recently read a book on how to write plays where the author stated that
every good play, whether tragedy or comedy, drama or farce, long or short, consisted of the same components:
main characters who want something, obstacles to getting what they want, and a climax where they succeed or fail in
getting what they want. I have heard the same ideas propounded in a variety of settings and writings. Though this
may describe some plays, it certainly does not describe all plays.
Recognizing the variety of play structures is important for two reasons. First, if developing playwrights think that
there is only one way to write a play, they will limit themselves to a narrow range of possibilities. Second, if literary
managers and directors think that a play has to follow the recipe cited above, they will not be open to plays that vary
from that recipe, limiting the range of plays that get produced. Thus, in reaction against this recipe, I want to make
the case that good plays exist that violate all the so-called required elements cited above.
Protagonists Who Drive The Story
First, let’s consider the “requirement” that a play have a clear protagonist. Many well-known works consist of an
ensemble of roles without a protagonist. For example, there are plays of Chekhov, William Inge (Bus Stop), August
Wilson (Two Trains Running, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and Thornton Wilder (Our
Town, The Long Christmas Dinner) that do not have protagonists.
Eugene O’Neill did quite well in Long Day’s Journey into Night without a main character. O’Neill’s four main
characters certainly want things, and they have multiple conflicts among themselves and within themselves, but
there is no protagonist and no central conflict that drives the action.
Even Shakespeare created ambiguity regarding a protagonist in Julius Caesar, where the title character is killed
in the third act, and Brutus and Antony are left as possible protagonists. More recently, Tony Kushner’s Angels in
America weaves together several strands of plot without a main character who drives the action of the play. Thus,
there are clearly plays that succeed without a protagonist.
Wants That Are Blocked
The idea that plays consist of a protagonist’s struggle to overcome obstacles to obtain what (s)he wants can also be
challenged. In some classic plays, the protagonists do not struggle throughout the story to obtain what they want,
but obtain what they want quickly, with the rest of the play illustrating the unforeseen consequences of getting what
they want. Let’s consider two of Shakespeare’s greatest works: Macbeth and King Lear.
Macbeth wants to be king and he is named as king in the second act, with three more acts to come. The play is
not about the obstacles he faces in trying to satisfy his desire, but rather follows the chain of
events precipitated by accomplishing his goal.
The same is true of King Lear. At the start of the play he says he wants to relieve himself of the burden of ruling
by dividing his kingdom among his daughters. This is accomplished in the first scene of the play. There is no drawn-
out struggle to achieve his goal. Rather, the story follows the sequence of events set in motion by the king’s rash
action.
These plays could be used to illustrate the cliché “be careful what you wish for — you just might get it.”
Alternative Structures
Some writers on playwriting divide plays into those that are more character-focused and those that are more plot-
focused. Other writers use the categories of character-focused and event-focused. These are helpful distinctions,
but they can be expanded on. In fact, I think that a good starting point is for playwrights to consider how they intend
to use time in their plays. Before a play can be written, the writer needs to decide at what point the play starts, and
whether the focus of the play is on what happened in the past or what is happening in the present.
Past-Focused Plays
Revelation Plays A revelation play is one in which the action of the play moves toward revealing something that
occurred in the past. A classic example is Sophocles’ Oedipus. A more recent example is Suddenly Last Summer by
Tennessee Williams. Both plays end with a revelation. Both plays arrive at the revelation through dialogue in
the present. A variation on this structure is a play such as A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller. In this play, a murder
is investigated in order to identify the murderer. Rather than taking place only in the present (as in Oedipus and
Suddenly Last Summer), the action of A Soldier’s Play alternates between what is happening in the present and
flashbacks to the past.
There are other variations in revelation plays. Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller) is a play that blends present
happenings with Willie Loman’s memories. It is a type of revelation play, however, in that near the end the audience
witnesses through Willie’s memory the event that was the turning point in Biff’s life. Unlike the revelations in Oedipus
and Suddenly Last Summer, which are experienced by all the characters on stage, Willie’s revelation is only a
revelation to the audience. He has been carrying the memory with him for years, so it is not a revelation to him, and
the memory is not revealed to other characters in the play.
Thus, there are multiple ways to structure a revelation play in terms of how the revelation is handled (dialogue or
flashback) and who is aware of the revelation.
Memory Plays A memory play is set up by a narrator who reminisces about a particular time in the past. A good
example of a memory play is Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel. This play is narrated by one of the characters as
an adult, recalling the summer when he was seven years old. There is no single focus or drive to the play, and no
particular secret that is revealed. Rather, it shows us the life of a family in Ireland struggling against poverty and
other forces that eventually will break it apart.
Past-focused plays can have a protagonist driving the action as in Oedipus. They can also have no protagonist,
consisting rather of an ensemble cast, as in Dancing at Lughnasa.
Present-Focused Plays
Protagonist Plays There are different types of present-focused plays, too. As noted above, a play can have a
protagonist with a primary drive who fights against the obstacles in his/her path. Also as noted above, a play can
have a protagonist who acts to get what (s)he wants, and thereby sets in motion a series of events that create
further struggles. But protagonist plays are not the only kind of present-focused plays.
Ensemble Plays Examples of ensemble plays include works by Chekov, Inge, O’Neill, August Wilson, and
Thornton Wilder. These plays often have no protagonist who drives the action. They can have a central focus, as in
The Cherry Orchard (Chekov), where the primary concern is the fate of the family estate. There does not need to
be a primary focus, however. In August Wilson’s Two Trains Running there are various characters who want various
things, but no central focus. In fact, the richness of the piece is not found in the action that occurs on stage,
because virtually all the action occurs off-stage (violating a commonly cited rule that it is better to show the audience
through action rather than tell the audience through dialogue). The richness of the piece is in the characters and
their conversation that flows from discussing death and burial, to spirituality, to memories of the South, and so on,
revealing the characters’ lives, their perspectives, and their dignity. Two Trains Running is a play without a story, but
several “sub-stories,” some of which are resolved, and some of which are not.
Thornton Wilder Thornton Wilder gave us plays like Our Town and The Long Christmas Dinner that are difficult to
categorize. They have no protagonists, and they have no central story. Though they are ensemble pieces, they do
not derive their strength from the richness of the characters. Rather, they portray ordinary people in all their
ordinariness. At the same time, however, they portray birth, life, and death with great poignance. The approach in
these plays is not to focus on an individual who strives, but to represent life through plain folk who stand for all of
humanity. It’s a very different style of writing, but a remarkably powerful one. John Gassner wrote, “The Long
Christmas Dinner is the most beautiful one-act play in English prose.” And it manages to be so without a protagonist,
a central conflict, character development, or even the semblance of a plot.
Summary
The point of describing these different types of plays is to illustrate that the recipe for plays cited at the beginning of
this article is a highly limited view. Successful plays have been written without protagonists, without central conflicts,
and even without striking characters or significant story-lines. Playwrights have a multitude of options regarding
structures and styles, and should be free to use whatever method suits the needs of their concepts.
Playwriting Rules: Rejecting the Recipe
I keep saying to myself, “One of these days, I don’t know when, I’m going to do a playwriting book,” but it would be
an anti-playwriting playwriting book. Every time I read a playwriting book, I think, “That sounds good,” but then I
think, “Now how do I break all the rules I just read?” — Paula Vogel
CONVENTIONAL wisdom regarding play structure these days seems to focus on such questions as “whose play is it?”
and “what does the protagonist want?” I recently read a book on how to write plays where the author stated that
every good play, whether tragedy or comedy, drama or farce, long or short, consisted of the same components:
main characters who want something, obstacles to getting what they want, and a climax where they succeed or fail in
getting what they want. I have heard the same ideas propounded in a variety of settings and writings. Though this
may describe some plays, it certainly does not describe all plays.
Recognizing the variety of play structures is important for two reasons. First, if developing playwrights think that
there is only one way to write a play, they will limit themselves to a narrow range of possibilities. Second, if literary
managers and directors think that a play has to follow the recipe cited above, they will not be open to plays that vary
from that recipe, limiting the range of plays that get produced. Thus, in reaction against this recipe, I want to make
the case that good plays exist that violate all the so-called required elements cited above.
Protagonists Who Drive The Story
First, let’s consider the “requirement” that a play have a clear protagonist. Many well-known works consist of an
ensemble of roles without a protagonist. For example, there are plays of Chekhov, William Inge (Bus Stop), August
Wilson (Two Trains Running, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and Thornton Wilder (Our
Town, The Long Christmas Dinner) that do not have protagonists.
Eugene O’Neill did quite well in Long Day’s Journey into Night without a main character. O’Neill’s four main
characters certainly want things, and they have multiple conflicts among themselves and within themselves, but
there is no protagonist and no central conflict that drives the action.
Even Shakespeare created ambiguity regarding a protagonist in Julius Caesar, where the title character is killed
in the third act, and Brutus and Antony are left as possible protagonists. More recently, Tony Kushner’s Angels in
America weaves together several strands of plot without a main character who drives the action of the play. Thus,
there are clearly plays that succeed without a protagonist.
Wants That Are Blocked
The idea that plays consist of a protagonist’s struggle to overcome obstacles to obtain what (s)he wants can also be
challenged. In some classic plays, the protagonists do not struggle throughout the story to obtain what they want,
but obtain what they want quickly, with the rest of the play illustrating the unforeseen consequences of getting what
they want. Let’s consider two of Shakespeare’s greatest works: Macbeth and King Lear.
Macbeth wants to be king and he is named as king in the second act, with three more acts to come. The play is
not about the obstacles he faces in trying to satisfy his desire, but rather follows the chain of
events precipitated by accomplishing his goal.
The same is true of King Lear. At the start of the play he says he wants to relieve himself of the burden of ruling
by dividing his kingdom among his daughters. This is accomplished in the first scene of the play. There is no drawn-
out struggle to achieve his goal. Rather, the story follows the sequence of events set in motion by the king’s rash
action.
These plays could be used to illustrate the cliché “be careful what you wish for — you just might get it.”
Alternative Structures
Some writers on playwriting divide plays into those that are more character-focused and those that are more plot-
focused. Other writers use the categories of character-focused and event-focused. These are helpful distinctions,
but they can be expanded on. In fact, I think that a good starting point is for playwrights to consider how they intend
to use time in their plays. Before a play can be written, the writer needs to decide at what point the play starts, and
whether the focus of the play is on what happened in the past or what is happening in the present.
Past-Focused Plays
Revelation Plays A revelation play is one in which the action of the play moves toward revealing something that
occurred in the past. A classic example is Sophocles’ Oedipus. A more recent example is Suddenly Last Summer by
Tennessee Williams. Both plays end with a revelation. Both plays arrive at the revelation through dialogue in
the present. A variation on this structure is a play such as A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller. In this play, a murder
is investigated in order to identify the murderer. Rather than taking place only in the present (as in Oedipus and
Suddenly Last Summer), the action of A Soldier’s Play alternates between what is happening in the present and
flashbacks to the past.
There are other variations in revelation plays. Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller) is a play that blends present
happenings with Willie Loman’s memories. It is a type of revelation play, however, in that near the end the audience
witnesses through Willie’s memory the event that was the turning point in Biff’s life. Unlike the revelations in Oedipus
and Suddenly Last Summer, which are experienced by all the characters on stage, Willie’s revelation is only a
revelation to the audience. He has been carrying the memory with him for years, so it is not a revelation to him, and
the memory is not revealed to other characters in the play.
Thus, there are multiple ways to structure a revelation play in terms of how the revelation is handled (dialogue or
flashback) and who is aware of the revelation.
Memory Plays A memory play is set up by a narrator who reminisces about a particular time in the past. A good
example of a memory play is Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel. This play is narrated by one of the characters as
an adult, recalling the summer when he was seven years old. There is no single focus or drive to the play, and no
particular secret that is revealed. Rather, it shows us the life of a family in Ireland struggling against poverty and
other forces that eventually will break it apart.
Past-focused plays can have a protagonist driving the action as in Oedipus. They can also have no protagonist,
consisting rather of an ensemble cast, as in Dancing at Lughnasa.
Present-Focused Plays
Protagonist Plays There are different types of present-focused plays, too. As noted above, a play can have a
protagonist with a primary drive who fights against the obstacles in his/her path. Also as noted above, a play can
have a protagonist who acts to get what (s)he wants, and thereby sets in motion a series of events that create
further struggles. But protagonist plays are not the only kind of present-focused plays.
Ensemble Plays Examples of ensemble plays include works by Chekov, Inge, O’Neill, August Wilson, and
Thornton Wilder. These plays often have no protagonist who drives the action. They can have a central focus, as in
The Cherry Orchard (Chekov), where the primary concern is the fate of the family estate. There does not need to
be a primary focus, however. In August Wilson’s Two Trains Running there are various characters who want various
things, but no central focus. In fact, the richness of the piece is not found in the action that occurs on stage,
because virtually all the action occurs off-stage (violating a commonly cited rule that it is better to show the audience
through action rather than tell the audience through dialogue). The richness of the piece is in the characters and
their conversation that flows from discussing death and burial, to spirituality, to memories of the South, and so on,
revealing the characters’ lives, their perspectives, and their dignity. Two Trains Running is a play without a story, but
several “sub-stories,” some of which are resolved, and some of which are not.
Thornton Wilder Thornton Wilder gave us plays like Our Town and The Long Christmas Dinner that are difficult to
categorize. They have no protagonists, and they have no central story. Though they are ensemble pieces, they do
not derive their strength from the richness of the characters. Rather, they portray ordinary people in all their
ordinariness. At the same time, however, they portray birth, life, and death with great poignance. The approach in
these plays is not to focus on an individual who strives, but to represent life through plain folk who stand for all of
humanity. It’s a very different style of writing, but a remarkably powerful one. John Gassner wrote, “The Long
Christmas Dinner is the most beautiful one-act play in English prose.” And it manages to be so without a protagonist,
a central conflict, character development, or even the semblance of a plot.
Summary
The point of describing these different types of plays is to illustrate that the recipe for plays cited at the beginning of
this article is a highly limited view. Successful plays have been written without protagonists, without central conflicts,
and even without striking characters or significant story-lines. Playwrights have a multitude of options regarding
structures and styles, and should be free to use whatever method suits the needs of their concepts.
| The Lehigh Valley Literary Review I |
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| Contents: Trina Brady-Johnson Attending the English Conference 4 Bradford Zuercher Skeleton Boy 5 Joshua Langman Reflections 7 Christine A. Krahling Book Review: Garlic and Sapphires 8 Frederick Seton Dear Aleister 9 Ethan Brightbill All That is Needed to Rule 12 Randy Boone Heart Like a Barrel Full of Pudding 13 Nancy Moffett Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? 14 Charles Kiernan A Short History of the Counter Monks 18 |
The Lehigh Valley Literary
Review Is a semi-annual
publication. An Individual
subscription costs $10 a year.
Individual copies are available
for $5 each. Institutional
subscriptions are $20 a year.
Checks may be sent to:
Lehigh Valley Writers
Academy
850 N. 5th Street, Lower Level
Allentown, PA 18101
• Submissions: Poetry and
plays may be submitted to:
poetryandscriptwriting@lvwa.
info
Fiction and nonfiction may be
submitted to: fiction@lvwa.info
• Editorial Staff
Editor-in-chief:
Peter Langman
Fiction and nonfiction editor:
Peg Zeiser
Poetry and script editor:
Peter Langman
Proofreading and design:
Joshua Langman
Review Is a semi-annual
publication. An Individual
subscription costs $10 a year.
Individual copies are available
for $5 each. Institutional
subscriptions are $20 a year.
Checks may be sent to:
Lehigh Valley Writers
Academy
850 N. 5th Street, Lower Level
Allentown, PA 18101
• Submissions: Poetry and
plays may be submitted to:
poetryandscriptwriting@lvwa.
info
Fiction and nonfiction may be
submitted to: fiction@lvwa.info
• Editorial Staff
Editor-in-chief:
Peter Langman
Fiction and nonfiction editor:
Peg Zeiser
Poetry and script editor:
Peter Langman
Proofreading and design:
Joshua Langman
Dan Rutberg
Home of the Road Warriors 23
Nancy Scott
Four Dozen Years 30
Aleah Goldin
Ignorance Blinds 31
Nancy Scott
Birch 34
Marie Calderoni
Good Grief 35
Lynnel Jones
Done 37
Trina Brady-Johnson
A Lament for Albion 38
Peter Langman
Playwriting Rules: Rejecting the Recipe 40
Authors’ Biographies 45
Lehigh Valley Writers Academy 49
Home of the Road Warriors 23
Nancy Scott
Four Dozen Years 30
Aleah Goldin
Ignorance Blinds 31
Nancy Scott
Birch 34
Marie Calderoni
Good Grief 35
Lynnel Jones
Done 37
Trina Brady-Johnson
A Lament for Albion 38
Peter Langman
Playwriting Rules: Rejecting the Recipe 40
Authors’ Biographies 45
Lehigh Valley Writers Academy 49
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