Monday, May 07, 2012

"Give us another update on your play re-write, Eleanor"

So I check into Facebook as is my habit, and I notice that the BBC has added a blurb that entries are already rolling in for the BBC International Playwriting Competition. They're very excited but I, on the other hand, am verklempt. Rough translation: pffffft. Then again and thinking further, perhaps those early-bird playwrights already had a 60 min. play and all they had to do was submit it. Or, perhaps, their muse paid them a visit (lucky them!). Meanwhile, I'm still working on an ending. You would think that an ending should be easy, You know the story-line, you know the characters and logically, one should know the ending. When does logic enter in the pictures, anyway? In reading playwriting blogs and pieces by seasoned playwrights, they are of the opinion that one should know the ending before embarking on writing the play. What worries me is that all my completed plays were written with ease from beginning to end. In "Neighbors", I'm already experincing problems.

I've reached the 28 page stage, which would be just over a 20-minute short play. It was written initially as a 20 minute short play and then re-written as a full play in the making, and now adapted to a sixty minute play. Maybe it was a good idea at the time but...

I'm already getting jumpy about having it ready for the deadline - but this is an old story.

"So what is the problem, girl?".

One character, Rob Portman, has a love interest, which is interesting but I'm not sure if I'm going off on a tangent moving in this direction. She is the only female character in the play and I'm not sure whether she's really ncessary.

Questions I'm asking myself:

- why have I included her
- what does she add to the story, if anything

She would reveal a tender side of Rob and elicit sympathy to his character, but then does he need sympathy?

Lots of questions and a lot of searching for answers, for sure.

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