Reading playscripts is often a requirement in my line of work. I have to read scripts from students, from other playwrights. There’s an art to reading scripts. You need to be able to visualise, vividly, all the spaces in between. Creating a script is not just telling a story, this is why we are playWRIGHTS and not playWRITES – we are crafting and manufacturing an experience.
The script is the seed. The script needs to contain everything else. As a playwright, reading scripts should be mandatory – learning how to interpret meaning, seeing how the masters succeed. If you are not a playwright, reading scripts should be mandatory: they allow your mind to soar.
Every now and again, I get to read a script for pure pleasure. One such script was Complicite‘s “A Disappearing Number”. I reviewed that script, and sadly the review couldn’t run – and so I place it here:
“Reading a playscript is an art in itself. You become part of the text, creating the landscapes and action in your mind, clocking the entrances and exits, at once player and audience. Complicite’s “A Disappearing Number” is a breathtaking work. It’s about mathematics. And dying. And living. The infinite, and the end. This playscript will show you glimpses of the universe, will take you to India, and will also make you take a look at your own life. Every now and again a text comes along which breathes new life into us: this is that text. Become a part of it.”
A Few Thoughts On Writing. And Theatre. And Stuff. 