Brief 4 – Due by 5 Feb at 10:00am UK time
It’s Groundho… no!No more groundhogs – but rather elephants… or maybe just the one!
Time to face the covid-shaped elephant in the room. From all forms of writing, playwriting is currently suffering the most, as theatre venues have been forced to be innovative and find new, exciting and interesting ways to offer a theatrical experience to an audience that is socially isolated.
One of the first solutions theatre companies have found was filming plays at home, via means of phones, computers, social media, etc, into the emergence of what is now known as Zoom theatre.
So today’s brief is to write a play that can be produced in isolation.
But it should be a play that makes the most out of the situation, rather than feels restricted by it, a play that is still theatrical (i.e. not a short film, but something that can be performed live, in front of an audience who share the experience… or whatever way you want to define ‘theatrical’ – remember – definitions are your own).
Now… a few important notes… don’t write a play with a ‘stage’ in mind – but rather consider the actual medium in which it is set. Then again, don’t write a play about two people meeting on Skype or going on a date on Zoom – I think we’ve seen enough of those this year and we can try to be a bit more adventurous. OK… what does that leave you with? I… don’t know. I leave you with it!
For bonus points, don’t make this play a monologue. Have several actors interacting with each other. You get 5 bonus points for each character. How do they interact if they’re distant? That’s up to you.
And don’t forget to collect your points and place them nicely in a jar, because points mean prizes! What do points mean?