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How Plays Work
By David Edgar
Nick Hern Books £10 99
220 pages
Dateline: 28th June, 2009
David Edgar has successfully pursued a dual career as playwright and
academic. He brings to bear his experience in both fields in writing
this readable handbook that might be most directly relevant to budding
writers but also contains much of interest to the general reader.
There is one big hurdle to overcome for the layman. That is a whole
new vocabulary. Repeatedly, terms are thrown into the text which must
be learned and understood before it can make any sense.
Once this is achieved, the greatest strength of How Plays Work
is the writer's wide frame of reference. David Edgar draws heavily on
the greats, Shakespeare, Chekhov and Ibsen, but is also not afraid to
look at his contemporaries and even his own plays, where he wishes to
make a point about some technical aspect of playwriting.
Methodically, the author takes his readers through the different component
parts of any play, explaining what is required and problems that might
arise. He looks at the practicalities of language and those that have
to speak it, the spatial awareness of what goes on on stage and the
people who are placed there and in particular, concentrates on those
two polar opposites, comedy and tragedy.
By illustrating his points with numerous examples, Edgar shows how
others have worked and, in doing so, gives ideas to those who might,
one assumes, be embarking on their first steps towards a career in this
notoriously tricky profession.
At the same time, those outsiders reading the book in an effort to
understand the finer points of the stage writer's art will be entertained
by brief précis of plays or sections of them, many of which will
be old friends but some unfamiliar.
The first few sections of How Plays Work can be hard going while
one gets to grips with the language. From then on, it proves to be a
fascinating read and there is little doubt that budding playwrights
will learn much that will stand them in good stead as they get down
to the task of writing and then perfecting their Magnum Opus.
Philip Fisher
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