Dialogues, like monologues, and full plays, and short stories, and long stories, and any creative work, for that matter, come in many shapes and styles. They are between coworkers, lovers, cheaters, family members, friends—they are between any two people that could feasibly by talking to one another. Now, these parameters, having two people talking to each other, sound simple enough; however, they are not enough. Dialogues need to advance character development, help the storyline progress, and also be interesting enough to keep an audience engaged. These are no small tasks.
The dialogues we read for today varied from being very raw and clipped, to clever, to heartbreaking, to ironic. Orphans and Death of a Salesman also presented the reader with speech, values, and beliefs from another time, an additional challenge in making the interactions sound authentic and convincing. Though I have no idea what these two plays are about and no context to set the given dialogues in, I think it speaks to the success of the authors that they characters are clearly speaking in a time other than the present.
Contrarily, the dialogue in Henry IV, which I know was written centuries ago, depicts rivalry and competition, aspects of human nature that are timeless. This is a good example of yet another challenge: creating something that can withstand the test of time. This challenge goes back to my comments about truth and honesty from the monologue readings; there are some aspects of human nature that have been and continue to be universally understandable. Such universals seem to be very useful fodder for storytelling, since the ideas are more likely to reach a broader audience. Ideas like the need to sustain oneself, as in Death of a Salesman, or the challenges of relationship, as in Closer and Angels in America.
Something that I noticed when reading the dialogue in Closer is that dialogue in plays comes off differently than in films. When I saw the movie Closer, there was something about the dialogue that was almost strange to me, almost a little off. When reading it in play form, something about it just works a little better. Maybe that is not always the case with plays verses movies, but it intrigued me in regards to my experience of Closer.
Also in Closer, I really like the parallel scenes that overlap; it adds in immense poignancy to the events as they occur simultaneously, as the lovers leave their current lovers.
Overall, reading these dialogues brought to mind the need for the people to sound believable and the discourse between them to sound natural.
Yup, believable and natural. That's the goal (usually). Easier said than done. That difference between film and theater is part of it for sure even as it's really hard to articulate how. There's something about dialogue in plays that really doesn't translate to any other medium even though it seems like it would. Seeing a play is much more intense than seeing a movie. The parallel scenes are one way, but there are lots. (You should give those a shot if you like them.)
ReplyDeleteYour pointing to large and important and universal and timeless themes is an interesting point. That may be your goal. Or it may be too big. You are a college student writing for college students -- perhaps the only time in your writing life when your audience is so narrow and defined and a group of whom you are a part. So embracing that might be the way to go. Too, I wonder whether the small and petty and narrow and defined is in fact (or can be) a metaphor for the big and universal and important. All that said, it's worth spending some time here at the start of the semester thinking about: what are the themes that are important to me? what are the messages I want to preach? what big and significant ideas do I hold near and dear? This will give you places to start from and goals to accomplish and a frame from which to proceed.
"Though I have no idea what these two plays are about and no context to set the given dialogues in, I think it speaks to the success of the authors that they characters are clearly speaking in a time other than the present."
ReplyDeleteI love this. I love that you were able to get so much out of a scene when you haven't read the entirety of the play. I was thinking about that a lot (though I didn't get to it in this blog), because I had read all of those shows, save for one, and was able to reach out and grasp more because I know what happens before and after the small bit we read.
"Contrarily, the dialogue in Henry IV, which I know was written centuries ago, depicts rivalry and competition, aspects of human nature that are timeless. This is a good example of yet another challenge: creating something that can withstand the test of time."
YES! If only we knew the secret formula to this, we would all be the world's best playwrights. ha.