Back to: Jss1 Cultural and Creative Art (C.C.A)

Playwriting

Playwriting is the art of composing plays, as the name indicates. It is the act of communicating ideas, feelings, and thoughts with the goal of conveying a message to a particular audience.

Playwrights

Playwrights are imaginative people. The author creates the locations, occurrences, and characters before using them in the play. The three subcategories of playwrights are classical, modern, and contemporary.

Classical

These playwrights created their works during the Classical Era, including the Greek Age. These playwrights include Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus, to name a few.

Modern playwrights

Modern playwrights are those whose plays are now being presented on stages. Playwrights of this kind include Arthur Miller, Bertolt Brecht, Augusto Boal, and Bernard Shaw.

Contemporary

The plays by these authors are created nowadays and date from the late 20th century. These playwrights include Christopher Marlowe, Samuel Beckett, J.P. Clark, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Ahmed Yerima, and others.

The function of a playwright

1. The writer mostly draws inspiration for the theme from his observations of his immediate surroundings or society, from events he has seen or is currently experiencing, or from stories he has heard from others.
2. By putting locations and events in a certain sequence such that one leads to the next, the playwright develops the topic. The tale or narrative emerges from this.
3. The writer creates characters with names, distinguishing mannerisms, statuses, sexes, and ages, as well as dialogue and actions that effectively convey his views.
4. The playwright instructs the director, actors, and other members of the production crew via “Stage Direction” on how the play should be performed. A broad description of how the play should be performed is provided in the stage direction, which is often written in italics.
5. The playwright might be seen as the “Watchdog” of society. This is done so that the playwright may report or comment on social happenings via his work in the form of a play.

Director

By using the skills of other actors and interpreting the play as the author intended, the director is the creative artist who brings the play to life. He comprehends the playwright’s intention and reads the play in line with it.

duties and responsibilities of a director 

1. He interprets the drama, giving it life.

2. He chooses and oversees the work of other artists, including the stage manager, performers, designers, etc.

3. He chooses the actors for the different roles in the plays.

4. He plans the training sessions.

5. He has to be knowledgeable about every aspect of play creation. As a consequence, he will be better able to coordinate all the aspects.

6. He is in charge of ensuring that the audience sees the show.

7. He is the overall director of the performance. He has the last say and is accountable for the play’s success or failure.