Brief 1- Due by 2 Feb at 10:00am UK time
I don’t know if anybody else noticed, but 2021 didn’t quite start with the whole ”goodbye to 2020″ we were promised (shout out to our special friends on the other side of the pond… and those on this side of the pond… oh, and those by the other ponds. Shout it all out!).So, for our first brief, let’s take control of the situation.
Write a play that is all about saying goodbye to the past. Focus only on the yesterdays and yesterday and yesterdays. Nothing about the now, nothing about what’s to come – only what was, and perhaps what could have been.
And for our first brief, I always like to start easy – write in the style that you feel most comfortable in, with the amount of characters you prefer, and in a length that is perfectly Goldilocksed (not too long, not too short, but just right for you for today).
Perhaps write a social realism play about something that happened in 2020 (I think there may have been one or two things to write about)?
Or an absurdist play about something that happened to you on this day last year?
Or a musical about a throuple that is moving out of their old house and reminiscing?
How about a comedy of errors set in a hotel with a door that keeps taking you to the same room in the past (hmm… maybe not too original)?
Perhaps some lyrical magic realism about natsukashii?
What about a tragedy about someone who is incapable of letting go of a childhood trauma?
Or a dramatic monologue about an Italian chef parting from his favourite tortellini dish?
So many possibilities, and after all, parting, as we’ve been told, is such sweet sorrow…Still no ideas whatsoever? Just set it in a pond… with James Bond… in the past… on a plain… with a plane… and a pound… of pound coins…
OK, time for some TLC World-Famous Bonus Points!!!
To get your talented writing hands on nifty bonus points, make sure to make no reference to any present or future, focus the entire play on the past. Maybe even only use past tense – so no ‘verbing’, ‘verbs’ or ‘will verbs’!Lots of newbies this year – so in case you’re wondering about the importance and significance of bonus points, the answer is yes!