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grammar and writing tutorial lessons

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Dramatic performance

Research the whole play

Memory

Do the research

Learn other characters lines

Practice with props

Voice

Projection

Control

Positioning

Levels

Accents

Movement

Timing

Talking about the play character or scene

Writing a play script

Experience a play

KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid

Plot

Get right into it straightaway

Characters

Action

Comedy

Typical format

Rewriting scripts

Typical format

All scripts need a title of some sort. Make sure yours does. At the beginning of the script, you need to list the cast, usually in order of appearance, sometimes with a brief description of their character.

Before each scene, you need to write a small introduction describing the setting, the characters involved, and what’s happening. Sometimes there are a few words in brackets at the start of each scene that ‘set the scene’. Often the scene itself will start with a few words from a narrator that set the scene for the audience, or offer some insight into some aspect of the scene or characters.

The dialogue itself is split into a two-column format - the left column has the character names and the right column has what each character says. There’s no need for quotation marks. Actions and sound effects - in fact, any general stage instructions - can be inserted at the appropriate point in the dialogue by using parentheses and italic text. The present tense should be used for these instructions.

Click here to move on to the next topic: Rewriting scripts