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07 October 2024

Posted by Tabby Hayward

Dreams in Plays

8 attending

This week, we were focusing on script-writing. We began by sharing shows (theatre/TV/film) where we had been interested in a character, and why - from Nora in A Dolls House, to Divine G in the film Sing Sing. 

Next, we did a free write beginning with the line 'And it was a all a dream BUT...' - is the character still actually in the dream? Does the dream impact on their waking life/tell them something? Are they changed by the dream? Is the dream not really a dream?

After sharing these snapshots, we looked at four extracts from plays in which one character tells (or tries to tell) another about their dream - Ballyturk by Enda Walsh, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, and Romeo and Juliet (we watched a clip from the recent National Theatre version). We explored the different ways characters tried to tell their dream and how the other character reacted - questioning/jumping ahead, dismissive/shutting it down, not wanting to know, fearful, joking, etc.

Inspired by this, the writers returned to the two characters they had written in their previous script - one has had a dream and is trying to tell the other. How does the other character react?

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