2019

Brief 28 – Due 01/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
Pick a number, and based on the wedding gift it corresponds to, write an autobiographical, origin, silent panto, inspired by the sea and referencing TLC and Bjork. Make sure it’s written all in Iambic Pentameter stream-of-consciousness (I mean, isn’t everybody’s stream-of-consciousness in Iambic Pents?).
Give yourself 10 strict rules for the structure (or use the ones I’ve already given you – don’t say I’m being too mean), but do start the play with “Get your filthy hand off me, JJ, the falafel is burning and after what your ferret did to the doctor, I think you have a lot of explaining to do!” and end it with “If I see your red-tailed donkey in the shopping centre one more time, I’ll send the geese to eat your kids.”
Write about digital clothes on a positive body and set it around Chinese New Year, or any of its themes. Make sure there is no logic in the play, perhaps by creating a fake news/history.
Make sure the play is written for the audience of any of the 6 BBC Radio stations (or maybe all of them), and deal with topics such as cultural appropriation and anything the Guerrilla Girls said in their video, I mean, remember it needs to be a morality play after all, so we need to be clear on good and evil.
For dialogue, you can walk around with a pen and notepad (if anybody still remembers what those are) and write down what other people are saying, preferably idioms, which you can use literally. Oh, yeah… don’t forget to write it all backwards.
And here comes the tricky bit. Don’t finish the play! Instead, put it to one side and re-do the task all over again (with a completely new concept). Only when you finish the second version, pick up the half-completed project and complete it.
Of course I am jesting… this joke never gets old! 🙂
No… we started our journey on a ship at sea, so lets end it with some “Land Ahoy!” Write about the destination… the port, the land, the horizon, the future…
Bonus points to anyone who knows how many bonus points they have and incorporates that in their play.

Brief 27 – Due 28/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
How frustrating is it when you have to deliver something to a deadline, only to realise afterwards what you could have done better.
So this is your opportunity to re-do a challenge. Pick any of the previous 26 challenges we’ve done, and write a NEW play following that brief.
I bet you’ve thought of a few better ideas since sending in your first version.
But don’t just re-do the play you did – it has to be a completely different concept!
Bonus point if you re-do the challenge you found most… uhm… challenging!

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Brief 8 – Due 09/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
What’s in your head? Zombies? No… we’ve just done one awesome singer – no need to do another one.
But what is in there? Well, the one thing that makes you special and the one thing that only you have, that internal voice that nobody else but you can hear, and now is the time to let it take over your pen (or more likely, keyboard).
So write stream-of-conciousness, and let the words flow, including all the, uhms… and ooohs… and arghs… and anything else that your brain might… hold on, there’s a arm with the…uhm, who is he pointing at? I mean, can I really even be as a … what’s it called? Uhm… Off! Argh! I forgot what he’s.. uhm… you know, the… oh, never mind. I guess it must be because of the… Sorry. I’m back! I mean, just get busy and let the words flow.
Write a monologue that’s all coming straight from your head without any censorship. Perhaps be brave and write about yourselves, or be less self-indulgent and write about a friend’s story (though keep it all first person).
Maybe even time yourselves! 15 minutes should be long enough. Start the clock, start writing, and don’t stop until the alarm beeps!
Seeing as this task shouldn’t take you long to write, bonus points to anyone who then edits and re-edits and re-re-edits their text to make it perfect. No more ‘sorry, was in a rush, it’s crap!’ emails – send me a piece of writing you’ll be proud of – something you’ll be happy to send to people to read!

Brief 26 – Due 27/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
So, before we write off this whole project, because we’ve not written anything worth writing home about, let’s write our own ticket!
Find an expression, an idiom, a cliche, etc…and use it as a literal impetus for the play.
Perhaps write a play about an apple standing at the gate and fighting a doctor?
Perhaps a monologue by one patch of grass, envyingly looking at another’s greenness?
Perhaps a tree trying desperately to tell a dog barking at it – that he is not the tree he’s looking for?
Two peas discussing the meaning of life… in their pod?
A shop in which customers have to pay with their arms and legs?
The life of a silver lining, having to be attached to a cloud they despise?
An it, who can only tango after taking two paracetamols?
I can go on all day!
Bonus points if you add to it some words you don’t know the meaning to (especially if it means misusing them).

Brief 25 – Due 26/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!
Always me!
but there’s such a lot of world to see…
so get uppa and get on down!
That’s three songs in one sentence… but no! we’re not doing songs! Let’s play a different game instead.
Take a pen and a notepad (does anybody still remember what those are?) and as you go about your day, just make some notes. Observe things. Open your ears, your eyes, your nose and really look at them (yes. Look through your eyes and nose).
It might be people, it might be nature, it might be the elements, it might be something more spiritual or whatever. Particularly a whatever!
If you pass by a stranger saying something – write it down.
If you pass by a bin falling in the wind – write it down.
If you pass by a dog peeing on a tree – write it down.
If you pass by a whatever whatevering – write it down.
Once you have enough info written down – see if you can make a fun play out of them… I mean… don’t see if you can – just do!

Brief 24 – Due 25/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
So the other day we were looking at other people’s stories… their lives… their voices… whether we even have a right to tell their story… and found ourselves in a minefield.
So today, let’s regain that power. Because I’m pretty sure nobody will be upset if we tell our own stories…
So it’s time for an autobiography! Time to tell our stories. Perhaps you believe you have a funny one… or perhaps yours is tragic… or perhaps it’s boring… or perhaps… as my pre-brief suggested … it’s simply pointless!
Either way – put it in a play (I think that can be the next 28 Plays Later slogan)
Our lives… as eventful or boring as the may be… have been going on for a long time. I think this challenge calls for a saga.
I expect many, many scenes… I expect many, many characters – some leads… some walk-ons.
And even if you don’t think the plot is that fascinating – the play should still be – after all your hero is pretty incredible!

Challenge 23 – Due 24/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
Every writer has started working on something and then gave up halfway through. We all have somewhere an incomplete idea or play.
Your challenge for today, should you choose to accept it, is to find one of those ideas and complete them!
If you manage to do that – you will become a god!
It will be like raising the dead!
So go – my little Lazaruses… (Lazarusi? Lazari?) fly like the immortal wind that you… breathed… uhm… life into? I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I know some of the people on this year have never written anything before this project – so your challenge (and maybe those of you who have been doing this for a few years and are running out of incomplete projects) would be to take one of the plays you’ve written for this project and develop it – make it longer, make it bigger, make it better, make it stronger.
As always with weekends – your only bonus points is to be happy with your result!

https://manuscription.crazyaweso.me/2018/02/brave-little-soldier/
https://manuscription.crazyaweso.me/2018/02/full-circle/

Brief 22 – Due 23/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
So maybe it’s time to be a bit controversial (we haven’t had any controversial challenge this year, have we?!)… so for this year’s controv top let’s look at Cultural Appropriation!
A heated and very current topic, but it does raise a few interesting questions – for example, at what point does inspiration become appropriation? And shouldn’t we as artists we be excited to learn about other cultures and from this melt pot that is our brain to create something new, or are we treading on dangerous waters by even subconsciously immersing ourselves in other cultures.
You may have heard about the controversial speech that Lionel Shriver made about cultural appropriation, asking whether writers shouldn’t be allowed to write from other perspectives that are not theirs culturally. And without ruffling any feathers (remember, I’m only asking questions, not giving any answers) where is the boundary? Should a white man be allowed to write from a black woman’s perspective? Should a gay woman be allowed to write from a trans’ perspective? Should a German writer be allowed to write from a Polish perspective? Or should we only write from our own limited experiences in life?
Perhaps the solution to this quandary is something completely different. Is writing truthfully and honestly becoming too crippling now? Maybe the way out of this minefield is by going away from the limited mind, the limited human experience, and taking art into new realms? (but that might be a brief of its own)
I don’t know… over to you!
OK… let’s give some bonus points…
Writing for an audience?! Who cares about an audience!
After all, “if we build it – they will come!” Surely!
The hell with an audience… I want to write for me! And sorry for calling you Shirley.
Which brings me to an interesting question in itself… should we write what an audience wants or what we think they want? And who are we to say what we think they want anyway? Or maybe that’s the whole point? Or is there even a point? Should there be a point? I’m getting lost…
OK, so we said “to hell with the audience” but how do we tohellalise them? That’s what you need to do for the bonus point! Not many of those left, so get ’em while they’re still hot – the more you tohellalise the more bonus points you can claim!

Egon Wellesz – Cello Sonata – Opus 31

Brief 20 – Due 21/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
The British Broadcasting Corporation in association with The Literal Challenge’s 28 Plays Later presents:
WRITING FOR AUDIENCES
(Full disclaimer: The BBC has no awareness of this association nor any intention for this association)
So this week is all about the magnificent BBC Radio, with a particular eye on writing for audiences.
Today you will have a choice between BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 3 – Best known for its classical content, which constitutes about 85% of its scheduling, this station also plays jazz, world music, new music, arts programmes and even has a weekly slot for drama. Most famously worldwide, this station is the home to the Proms and it broadcasts more live music than any other network.
BBC Radio 4 – Dubbed by some as a station for the “middle-class, liberal elite”, this is an all-speech station that discusses and presents topics ranging from current events, art, comedy, entertainment, religion, philosophy and almost anything, really. It is also the home to many playwrights, as it presents a substantial amount of new drama.
For bonus points – and seeing as both stations’ demographics are fairly similar, perhaps try to bridge some gaps. Create a piece of populist theatre that still takes its inspiration from these slightly more “high-brow” stations. Can we create a piece to bring together Radio 4 Listeners and Daily Mail readers? Can we bring together Radio 3 listeners and One Directioners (they’re still a thing, right?)
*** For the sake of clarification, again – yes, this is a challenge about radio – but you still need to write a play for the stage and not for the radio.

Brief 19 – Due 20/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
The British Broadcasting Corporation in association with The Literal Challenge’s 28 Plays Later presents:
WRITING FOR AUDIENCES
(Full disclaimer: The BBC has no awareness of this association nor any intention for this association)
So this week is all about the magnificent BBC Radio, with a particular eye on writing for audiences.
Today you will have a choice between BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 1 – “Where it Beings” – this station is aimed at an audience aged 15-29, playing mainstream music, with a focus on entertainment and music that is “the sound of now”. About 4,000 new songs are played every month. It also includes news, documentaries and advice for young adults.
BBC Radio 2 – “The Home of Great Music” – this station is aimed at an audience aged 35-55, mixing all genres of music, current and oldies, covering things from live concerts to religious output and social action campaigns.
You can also choose Radio 1Xtra – a digital station aimed at an audience aged 15-24, that plays contemporary Hip Hop and RnB with a strong emphasis on new and live music.
Also… it’s a bit old, but if you like your statistics, click here
For bonus points – combine both radio stations by writing in the style of one station for the audience of the other station (i.e. write in the style of BBC Radio1 but aim it to the BBC Radio 2 audience)
*** For the sake of clarification – yes, this is a challenge about radio – but you still need to write a play for the stage and not for the radio.

Brief 18 – Due 19/02 at 09:59:59am GMT
Today I’ll give you the opening line – you just have to do the rest!
And here it is:
“Get your filthy hand off me, JJ, the falafel is burning and after what your ferret did to the doctor, I think you have a lot of explaining to do!”
Make the play as long or as short as you like!
Use as many or as few actors as you like!
In other words, do what you like!
Bonus points if you end the play with the following line:
“If I see your red-tailed donkey in the shopping centre one more time, I’ll send the geese to eat your kids.”