Playing ON Words… an intern’s perspective!
Anya joined us on work experience throughout the weekly sessions for our brand new writers’ group and shared her experience with us.
Hello! My name is Anya and I’m 16 years old. Playing ON started running a workshop for aspiring playwrights this year. The course consists of 6 biweekly sessions, each tackling an aspect of writing for theatre. I was invited by Jim to sit in on these sessions and observe - I have always loved stories and writing, and so taking part in these workshops has been such an exciting opportunity for me.
Each week Lin would read our homework and give us advice - in the form of both literary critique and from a playwriting point of view; one of my main takeaways from the course was the stylistic difference between the theatre and the screen. For instance, I fell down the path of many new writers and tended to write very short scenes, emulating what I had seen on TV. However, Lin explained to me and other members of our group how to manipulate silence and make use of the live actors on stage in order to develop conflicts within scenes, therefore allowing us to create more developed, nuanced characters.
The first session focused on character building - for my homework I began to write about a life under the domes of Saint Petersburg, and the themes of my play started to emerge. The next session was about conflict - I began to develop psyches for my characters and to come up with the immovably significant obstacles which could push the story forward; subtext - I began to create the little details of their worlds, which when uncovered, revealed a twisted map/root system of psychology beneath the drab surface of their lives; and dialogue - I learned how to incorporate silence into the environment of my characters’ flat, or let actions do the talking’
In September we will attend a reading of excerpts from the 5 plays, allowing the writers to get an idea of how their play will look actually performed on stage, as well as giving them the thrill that comes with seeing your imagination brought to life. Taking part in these workshops has been really transformative for me, and through the momentum of homework, the insight of the other brilliant members of the group and Lin’s invaluable feedback has allowed me to take action and begin writing a complex, longer piece of writing – something that seemed like a gargantuan feat before! I am so grateful to Jim, Rhian and Lin as well as all the writers and I really hope I can work with Playing On in the future.