Dramatic Writings

Sinclair; The Sisters; Swallows; The Rockingham Shoot; The Power of DarknessJohn McGahern, the leading Irish novelist of his generation, wrote a substantial number of compelling scripts for radio and television. This volume brings together five of his produced works, at the heart of which sits the previously unpublished The Rockingham Shoot, a dark and powerful play for television that concerns a Nationalist teacher whose attempt to prevent his pupils beating at a pheasant shoot held in honour of the British Ambassador leads to a shockingly violent incident. Collectively, these dramatic works offer an evocative and often stark account of a deeply troubled and divided nation.

First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Dreamwork for Dramatic Writing: Dreamwrighting for Stage and Screen teaches you how to use your dreams, content, form, and structure, to write surprisingly unique new drama for film and stage. It is an exciting departure from traditional linear, dramatic technique, and addresses both playwriting and screenwriting, as the profession is increasingly populated by writers who work in both stage and screen. Developed through 25 years of teaching award-winning playwrights in the University of Missouri’s Writing for Performance Program, and based upon the phenomenological research of renowned performance theorist Bert O. States, this book offers a foundational, step-by-step organic guide to non-traditional, non-linear technique that will help writers beat clichéd, tired dramatic writing and provides stimulating new exercises to transform their work.

The Art of Writing Drama is an indispensable textbook for wherever writing for the stage is taught, but also serves as a foundational book for any student taking courses in performance media - radio, television and film. Coupling theory with practice, the book opens with a survey of the current methodologies of teaching playwriting and of textual analysis. The theories of Bakhtin, Foucault and Derrida are examined as are the agendas of play reviewers from the national press. In the second section of the book, a wealth of guidance with practical exercises on the skills of writing for the stage is provided. Throughout the text, Wandor draws on her extensive experience as both playwright and teacher of creative writing to provide a guide that is both a scholarly and an immensely practical guide to writing for the theatre.

Offering unique insights into the writing and production of television drama series such as The Killing and Borgen, produced by DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Novrup Redvall explores the creative collaborations in writers' rooms and 'production hotels' through detailed case studies of Denmark's public service production culture.

A Masterclass in Dramatic Writing addresses all three genres of dramatic writing - for theatre, film and TV - in a comprehensive, one-semester, 14-week masterclass for the dramatic writer. This book is tightly focused on the practical outcome of completing a first draft and first rewrite of a dramatic work, drawing on Professor Janet Neipris’ many years of experience as the head of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch. The fourteen chapters, organized like a semester, take the reader week-by-week and step-by-step through writing a first draft of an original play, screenplay, or TV pilot, while also teaching the core principles of dramatic writing. Chapters include Beginnings, Creating Complex Characters, Dialogue, Escalating Conflicts, Endings, Checkpoints, Comedy, and Adaptation, and there are Weekly Exercises and progressive Assignments. This book is perfect for professional writers, teachers, and students of dramatic writing, as well as anyone who wants to complete their first dramatic work. An award-winning playwright and Professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU, Janet Neipris has written for Screen and Television. She has also taught dramatic writers at UCLA and in China, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa, Italy, and in the UK at Oxford, CSSD, University of Birmingham, and the University of East Anglia. Previous publications include To Be A Playwright (Routledge 2006). Janet Neipris’s plays and letters are in the Theatre Collection of Harvard University’s Houghton Library. For more, see www.janetneipris.com.