Hamlet Playwright Essay

Playwright and playwriting-

Conversation and dialogue ---Each character must have a present objective and long term objective

Dramatic Question-after the climax comes the resolution

Backstory/exposition- used as a tool in dialogue to prove something, information about the character that occurs before the play starts and may be used as a tool in a monologue to achieve an objective. Can be used as a flashback depending on convention of the story

Convention-style used to tell a story

Reflective character- character used to bring facts from their past/information

Reflective object- things such as mirrors, skull, or something that reflects something maybe to tell a story or information about a character

Indirect dialogue-“I
see you have a lot of papers there, did you hand them all out?” basically saying did you do your job. Based on the content of your story the audience will get it. Sort of sarcasm.

Direct dialogue- Direct, no underlying meaning.

Beats- change in objective, character;
Dialogue Beats-character beat—character’s personality(absolutely hating chocolate), Action Beat-- , Thematic beat—Theme, what is the play about?
(revenge, love, death, happiness, etc.)

Two Languages- spoken and written

Character Direction-Before the line that is going to be said
(Stage Direction-present tense)-Only what you see, frightened or cold or walks in upset, emotions

FORMAT
Character name is always capitalized except for within text
Spacing—single spaced everything
NO space between character name and dialogue
Use punctuation always!

Early POA- Hamlet’s dad died, mom marries father’s brother. Instantly.
Lynette at 3am….Early POA(Lynette can’t sleep) Dramatic question(will Lynette get some sleep)
POA- Event that has occurred prior to the play starting that reflects into why this story has to be told. Something that happened before the play starts. (Hamlet’s dad pops out as a ghost and tells Hamlet that his brother killed him and revenge is needed.)

Denouement(resolution/elixir)- directly after climax

Out the window(Monday)

Confession (Wednesday)
5-6 page short play based on something that you know. Due on Monday.

HARD COPY TO PROFESSOR ON MONDAY----3 to 5 pages of DIALOGUE(rough draft send asap)
Monologue
2 character dialogue and introduce by page 3 a third character

Action beat –get bobby to wake up
Bookending-set something up at the top of the play and it plays off later on in your story.
Nothing is wasted in playwriting.
Character arc-character starts somewhere and ends up somewhere different; Starts off can’t sleep then ends up awake.
Way for audience to know about character-dialogue of other characters(Estaban and Lynette speak about Bobby)

FOUR ACT STRUCTURE
ACT 1-Introduce conflict
Orinary World- hes sleeping shes not
Call to adventure- gun shots
Referral of call-
Meeting with mentor-
Crossing the threshold- gets bobby to finally wake up

ACT 2 – explore act make it personal
Friends, enemies, places
Inmost Cave- she discovers that bobby isn’t interested; she is alone

ACT 3-attempt to resolve conflict which fails
Supreme ordeal- big push to answer dramatic question
Reward-failure, turning point, reversal (does not answer DQ)—Dreams of Estaban
ACT 4- take all that new knowledge to the home base and resolve it
Road Home- Lynette losing her fantasy because estaban turns into bobby; Loss of estaban leads to resurrection
Resurrection- answer to DQ; Lynette wakes up
Elixir-last action of the play; the lesson learned; what the character learned from that experience; Lynette learns why estaban was in her dream and why she couldn’t
sleep

Dramatic Question- Will Lynette get some sleep?
Thematic-Needing Love