Abbey Theatre - Amharclann na Mainistreach

Facilitator: Bryan Delaney (New Playwrights Programme Manager, Abbey Theatre).

The fourth workshop took place on Monday 5 July and focused on characterisation in playwriting. The participants each spoke about their own work and it was fascinating to hear the different approach each writer took to creating their characters. Some planned meticulously, writing lengthy notes about character before tackling the first draft; others didn’t plan at all but started with a ‘hunch’ or an image and simply followed clues in the language as they wrote the first draft; others still were inspired by specific actors with whom they workshopped their ideas, then wrote with these actors in mind.

But despite these very different approaches, it was generally agreed that truthfulness to life, vividness and psychological complexity were the most important qualities in good dramatic characters. With this in mind, we discussed various tools and techniques for creating character. Among these was the idea of contrast and dissonance between the various traits within the one character. We explored the advantages of giving characters a range of qualities, often clashing and contradictory, that we would never expect to sit side by side in one person. These levels of contrast thwart the audience’s expectations and create surprise, thereby helping the playwright to avoid writing predictable or stereotypical characters.

We also explored the difference between surface characteristics, such as verbal tics, dress, mannerisms, odd habits of speech or behaviour etc. and ‘deep character’ ie. the deep-seated emotional and psychological needs and yearnings that propel the character into action and drive the plot of the play. The best characters have strong needs and take definite and specific actions to achieve their goals. But their surface characteristics are also important because they function as grace notes in music, colouring the characters and adding texture to make them vivid and specific. We explored how to play with the disparity between surface character and deep character to create lifelike human beings of real psychological depth and complexity.

A rich dramatic character is defined most effectively, however, through those actions and behaviour that spring from ‘deep character’ so we then discussed the techniques that playwrights use to orchestrate those actions (and the resistance to them) over the course of the play. In this discussion we touched on the idea of ‘stakes’ – how interesting characters are prepared to do battle for something they care about deeply and how their natures are most effectively revealed when we see their behaviour under pressure. We also explored the importance of avoiding simplistic motivations for their actions and how great dramatic characters often have something ultimately mysterious at their core that goes far beyond tidy or pat psychology.

We then looked at two canonical texts, both excellent examples of character writing – Death of Salesman and Hedda Gabler. We explored each text specifically from the point of view of character and looked at how both playwrights achieved their effects technically. We analysed how Miller and Ibsen shaped the behaviour of their characters in response to a complex array of pressures from other characters, society and most interestingly from aspects of Willy’s and Hedda’s own natures and how this last element – inner conflict – is the key to a great character.

The objective of the workshop, as ever, was not to discuss ‘rules’ but to offer ‘tools’ – to play with possibilities and open our minds to new ways of thinking about how character functions. Overall, it was a very interesting session and one which the playwrights felt had real implications for their own work.

The fifth workshop will take place on Monday 5 July when Paul Mercier will talk about his work as playwright and director and his approach to playwriting.

Read about workshop 1 and 2
Read about workshop 3