Abbey Theatre - Amharclann na Mainistreach

After more years than I care to reveal living on this planet, I have only come to realise that what people say, and what they do, are often two entirely different things. Who knows what anyone is really thinking. Do people even know themselves? I express my latest new found observation to the rest of the group at the Language and Dialogue workshop lead by Bryan Delaney.

There is general agreement and instances of socially acceptable exchanges are cited as examples. When buying something in a shop, why do you thank the person behind the counter? Do you mean it? When paying a compliment to someone does it actually mean anything? Is just a habit? Or do you want something? Are we all in fact ‘acting’, playing a role in our daily lives, and if so, why? It is these everyday subtle exchanges that catch my attention and both intrigue and bewilder me as a writer. As Bryan puts it, there is a universal fascination in the dis-connect between what is being said, and what is being done.

I want to capture these everyday mini dramas and put them in a play. I have tried and it is harder than I have previously thought. I sometimes worry that my characters start to sound the same, and while they are at it, they are not really saying anything at all. I begin to realise, as we read from a variety of plays, that this will not happen if I know my characters inside out, and hear their voices clearly.

We read from The Field by John B Keane, Face to the Wall, Martin Crimp, and David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, among other plays. We observe what is said and not said in the dialogue. We see how different types of language work, and from other sources such as political speeches, how it doesn’t.

Dialogue is one of the main tools we have to convey character, and can propel the plot onwards. What is the motive behind the words? Is what being said in opposition to the actions of that character? Getting the right words and rhythm are essential, otherwise as was observed in an earlier workshop, it is not really a play, it is just good typing.

It is when Bryan quotes short story writer Robert Olen Butler as saying that good writing comes from the body that I start to relax. Writers are sensuous not necessarily intellectual he claims. I relax even more. I have a fear of the intellectual but a familiarity with the sensual. Writing from a feeling is usually my initial starting point, it inspires and excites me. Now armed with a new knowledge on dialogue and language I hope that my characters will focus themselves once again, and tell an even better story.