Creating characters in plays Play Writing & Directing 2016-2017

Common problems with characters Characters are not unique They do no have an individual way of speaking Every characters sounds the same Uses the same slang, dialect, etc Normally the characters’ voices are identical to the playwright’s manner of speaking

Common problems with characters Believability The characters do or say unbelievable things Behave contrary to their nature with causation (a grumpy man suddenly buying presents for the neighborhood children)

Common problems with characters Too many characters There are characters present who are unnecessary to the story being old. A surplus of characters can confuse or muddle the story and burden the playwright as well.

Common problems with characters Characters not fully developed Characters are incomplete or not “whole” Prevents people from connecting with them and caring what happens to them.

Questions?

Questions for a playwright to ask about their characters: Who is this character? Are all of these characters necessary? What else might this character do? Where is the focus of the scene? What might this character say? How does the character’s background affect what he says? Why does the character do/say what he does? What is his relation to the other characters? Does your character have a secret? Do you care about this character? Why? What kind of mood is he in now? Who is the story about?