The art of dramatic writing

Lajos Egri (1946 1960 )

How to write a play (1942)
2

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

Premise

few hints about

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

in a relational system

Character
physiology

Characters 3 dimensions

Physiology and Sociology round each other

and give birth to the Psychology

psychology

sociology
! Character biography (Stanislavskij)

Character

The bone structure

SOCIOLOGY
PHYSIOLOGY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

8.

Sex
Age
Height and weight
Colour of hair,
eyes, skin
Posture
Appearance: good

1.
2.

3.

4.

looking, over or
underweight, clean, neat,
pleasant, untidy. Shape of
head, face, limbs.
Defects: deformities,
abnormalities,
birthmarks. Diseases.

5.

Heredity

8.

6.
7.

Class: lover, middle, upper.

Occupation: type of work, hours of
work, income, condition of work,
union or non-union, attitude toward
organization, suitability for work.
Education: amount, kind of
schools, marks, favourite subjects,
aptitudes.
Home life: parents living, earning
power, orphan, parents separated or
divorced, parents habits, parents
mental development, parents vices,
neglect. Characters marital status.

Religion
Race, nationality.
Place in community: leader
among friends, clubs, sports.

9.

Political affiliations.
Amusements, hobbies: books,
newspapers, magazines he reads.

PSYCHOLOGY
1.
2.
3.
4.

Sex life moral standards

Personal premise,
ambition
Frustrations, chief
disappointments
Temperament: choleric,
easygoing, pessimistic,
optimistic.

5.

Attitude toward life:

6.

resigned, militant, defeatist

Complexes: obsessions,
inhibitions, superstitions,
phobias.

7.
8.

Extrovert, introvert,
ambivert
Abilities: languages,
talents.

9.

Qualities: imagination,
judgement, taste, poise.

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

Character

CHANGE

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

Character

DIALECTAL APPROACH
? (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.

Character

Growth
change

A character stand revealed

through conflicts
Conflict begin with a decision
The decision is made because
of the premise of your play
This sets in motion another
decision, from his adversary

Es. Nora (A Dolls House) starts as

singing birds and end up as a
mature woman
Noras evolution:
From: submissive, happy-go-lucky, nave,
trusting
To: cynical, independent, adult, bitter,
disillusioned

Well discuss conflict later on this session

Character

Growth

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

Character

WILLS

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
subsidiary to action

The situations are

inherent in the
character

Error

Character creates plot,

not vice versa.
The only thing that comes first before
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.

Character

PIVOTAL

The one who takes the lead

The one who creates conflict
The one who has an high vital
value at stake

Es. Krogstad in A Dolls House

Oedipus in Oedipus Rex
Jago in Othello
Orgon in Tartuffe

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

Character

ANTAGONIST

He is as strong as the pivotal

character

Es. Helmer in A Dolls House

Othello in Othello
Claudio in Hamlet

Character

ORCHESTRATION

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

tolerance

intolerance
indifference

hate

annoyance

The character must be commensurate to the movement of the play

Conflict

Action

large conflict
small conflict

static

jumping

= transiction

slowly rising foreshadowing

Each conflict causes the one after it. Each is more intense than the one before

Conflict

Frugal
Moral
Dirty
Optimistic
Gentle
Clever
Calm

Action

attack counterattack

Spendthrift
Immoral
Immaculate
Pessimistic
Ruthless
Stupid
Violent

We see real rising conflict when the antagonists are evenly matched
Conflict is always relative to someone or something

Conflict

STATIC

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

Conflict

JUMPING

Es. Dolls House

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

Conflict

RISING Ok!

Es. Dolls House

Rising conflict is the result of a clear-cut premise and wellorchestrated, three-dimensional characters,
among whom unity is strongly established

Drama is not the image of life, but the essence. We must condense.

Conflict

FORESHADOWING

Es. Dolls House

Conflict must be foreshadowed

Thus we create tension even if there isnt a real conflict ate
the very moment: we are promising conflict

Conflict

POINT OF ATTACK Es. Romeo and Juliet

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

Conflict

TRANSITIONS

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.

Conflict
1

rising conflict

Es. Cherry Orchard

STRUCTURE

crisis

climax

a state of things
in which a
decisive change
one way or
another is
impending

the no-return
point. The
highest in the
scene

resolution
3
2

3
2

4
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)