THE PLAYWRIGHT

Many years ago in a used bookstore I found Writing for the Theatre, by Ronald Jeans, one of the originators of The Liverpool Repertory Theatre, and founder and director of the London Mask Theater, he has read hundreds of plays submitted by aspiring playwrights. 

In his introduction he says:

“The man in the prime of life, in possession of all his facilities, and in all other respects a normal and useful member of society, seems capable, once he sets down to write a play.

It is very hard to convince these people that it is not enough to be able to write. Their English may be faultless—their a literary ability in other fields, their intelligent grasp of subject, beyond question—they may have great imaginative power, and yet they just can’t write a play.

The truth is that the writing of plays, unlike any other form of writing, demands a very special quality of mind—a ‘flair’ for the theater—an instinctive knowledge of what can be and what cannot be theatrically effective. This is what we call ‘a sense of the theater’ and I’m afraid the truth is that you either have it, or have it not. 

Unfortunately it seems to be comparatively rare. That, I believe, is the real reason so few new dramatist emerge from the countless thousands who are pounding away at typewriters. More unfortunately still, the vast majority of aspiring dramatists seem to be unaware of its existence, and even if they were aware of it would find it very difficult to decide if they themselves possessed it. 

At the outset I want to make it clear that I believe this essential sense to be God-given, and it would therefore be presumptuous on my part to pretend to be able to show how to acquire it. It cannot be acquired. All I am concerned to do is to show how important it is, so that those who have it may cultivate it; so that those who have it not me realize that whatever other gifts they may have, they are wasting their time trying to write for the theater.”

Ahaaa— do I have it—or—have it not? That is the question! The feel, the stage sense, the dramatic intuition and respect for the audience to be a Dramatist.