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21 February 2023

Four mannequins of the apocalypse

This Tuesday's session of Writing for Stage began with looking at four pictures (see below) of things Lydia had spotted around London, which we were tasked with turning into characters. What traits come to mind looking at the wavy red bench, or the colourful multi-sided orb – overworked, sociable, unpredictable?

We wrote for 7 minutes, creating a character monologue from their perspective. (see Amelia’s response below)

We then looked at another strange picture – of four mannequins dining in the middle of a river – and, after having an initial 3 minute freewrite inspired by it, answered the following questions:

  • What is going on in this photo?
  • Who put the mannequins there and why?
  • What do the mannequins represent?
  • Who took the photo?
  • Is the person taking the picture for or against the mannequins?
  • What is happening outside the frame?
  • What happened five minutes ago?
  • What’s going to happen five minutes from now?

Our responses ranged from interpreting the mannequins as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, witches, and aliens, to a support group of cold water swimmers.

Based on these first impressions, we then wrote a monologue from the perspective of someone in the scene. What do they want? What do they think of the situation they’re in?

Writing for Stage returns next week.

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