Playwriting: Structure, Character, How and What to Write - Softcover

Jeffreys, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559369728 ISBN 13: 9781559369725

Publisher: Theatre Communications Group, 2020

Synopsis

For over two decades, Stephen Jeffreys’ remarkable series of workshops—conducted at the Royal Court Theatre, London—attracted writers from all over the world and shaped the ideas of many of today’s leading playwrights and theatre-makers. Now, with this inspiring, highly practical book, you too can learn from these acclaimed Masterclasses.

Playwriting reveals the various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it deconstructs them into their constituent parts, and offers illuminating insights into:

• Structure: an in-depth exploration of the fundamental elements of drama, enabling you to choose instinctively the most effective structure for your play.

• Character: advice on how to generate and write credible characters by exploring their three essential dimensions: story, breadth, and depth.

• How to Write: techniques for writing great dialogue, dynamic scenes, and compelling subtext, including how to improve your writing by approaching it from unfamiliar directions.

• What to Write: how to adopt different approaches to finding your material and an exploration of the fundamental "Nine Stories," plus how to evaluate the potential of your ideas.

Written by a true master of the craft, this authoritative guide will provide playwrights at every level of experience with a rich array of tools to apply to their own work.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen Jeffreys’ plays include The Libertine and I Just Stopped By to See the Man (Royal Court); Valued Friends and A Going Concern (Hampstead); Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad (part of the Tricycle Theatre’s Great Game season about Afghanistan); The Convict’s Opera (Out of Joint); Lost Land (starring John Malkovich, Steppenwolf, Chicago); The Art of War (Sydney Theatre Company) and A Jovial Crew (Royal Shakespeare Company). His adaptation of Dickens’ Hard Times has been performed all over the world.

He wrote the films The Libertine (starring Johnny Depp) and Diana (starring Naomi Watts). He co-authored the Beatles musical Backbeat which opened at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, and went on to seasons in London’s West End, Toronto and Los Angeles, and translated The Magic Flute for English National Opera in Simon McBurney’s production.

For eleven years, Jeffreys was the Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre, where he was a member of the Council. His celebrated playwriting workshops influenced numerous writers and provided the material for this book, which he was working on right up until his early death in 2018.

Review

"What Stephen Jeffreys doesn’t know about playwriting isn't worth knowing." (Stephen Daldry)

"Stephen was more than just a great bloke whose easy laugh set a room alight; he was a genuine geek, an obsessive about the craft of writing... As I read, I was reminded again of his deep connection to plays and how they work. There are gems in here, there is guidance, there is the spirit of Stephen Jeffreys." (April De Angelis)

"I had the great pleasure of working with Stephen on his play The Libertine. Would that all playwrights had his openness, his talent, his hard-headedness, his experience, his enthusiasm, his audacity, his complexity, and perhaps best of all his talent and interest in eliciting the best in others." (John Malkovich)

"Like a bird in the air, Stephen was utterly in his element as a teacher. We sat spellbound." (Phyllida Lloyd)

"Stephen was a true mentor... I still draw upon much of what he taught me today." (Abi Morgan)

"An incredibly useful writing helpmeet. As witty and humane as its author." (Emma Thompson)

"What Stephen taught me has shaped my mind and I have shared this with countless writers." (Kwame Kwei-Armah)

"Stephen Jeffreys is as important a teacher as he is brilliant a writer... Without him, I wouldn't have been able to write the plays that I have written." (Simon Stephens)

"Stephen's wit was legendary. 'Wit': from the proto-Indo-European word 'weid' meaning 'to see'/'to know.' Stephen 'saw' clearly and 'knew' profoundly; which is why we sought out the clarity of his words and learned deeply from his laughter." (Simon McBurney)

Edition details

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1559369728
• ISBN 13: 9781559369725
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224