Teaching Dramatic Scene Writing for Students
Exercise for Learners in Drama on How to Write Scenes for Plays
Aug 20, 2009
A scene is a bite-sized portion of a play. Exploring the facets of scenes offers opportunities for students to delve into the realms of writing plays at the shallow end. This is not to diminish the importance of scenes. A play will fall flat without compelling and engaging events to hold it together. With this knowledge in mind, the students are likely to look upon the exercise as learning a vital skill in writing plays.
How to Write a Scene in a Play
Before learning about scene writing, its definition must be made clear. A scene describes a single event that moves the story forward. Indeed, according to Richard Bain et al, in their book Drama – Move Back the Desks [NATE, 1993] a scene is a short play, and indeed, like the main story, must have a beginning, a middle and an end. A scene might be anything from half a page to several pages long. It will consist of any or all of the following:
- An action sequence between one or several characters
- Often dialogue will be exchanged
- Will be focused upon one point of tension within the play
- Will be set at a particular time and/or place
Creating Dramatic Scenes for a Story
To begin with, the teacher might select a play and cut an important scene from it. The students are then requested to rewrite the scene and to transpose it into the play keeping in mind the main story and what follows.
Tension is a key word for the exercise. Putting this word onto the whiteboard might serve as a reminder. Tension does not necessarily mean fighting or shouting, (although it often does) but that something is amiss, there is a difference of interests or that secrets and lies are being told. Tension might even be expressed as comedy. This exercise requires a certain amount of confidence and the teacher must differentiate between abilities, allowing some students to write a longer or a more complex scene than others.
Evaluating the Scene
Writing a scene is an achievement in itself, and opportunities for praise must always be sought. However, whether the scene works well or not, the students must evaluate their work and ask themselves the following questions:
- Is there sufficient tension? Can the situation be made more embarrassing, funny, dramatic, etc?
- Does it reveal character?
- Is the scene contrived in any way, for instance, is the dialogue convincing?
- Is the scene integral to the overall story?
- Is the scene’s resolution repeated elsewhere in the play?
- Does the scene impart vital information for the audience?
- Does the scene present further questions and urge the audience to keep watching?
Improving Writing the Scene
The scene is fundamentally flawed and needs rewriting if:
- All the characters are in agreement.
- It reveals nothing about the characters.
- There is insufficient tension.
- It does not move the story forward.
- It is not relevant to the story.
Writing Dramatic Scenes for Drama Classes
Writing a scene for a play is a good way of easing students into the idea of writing a full-length play. A scene is a bite-sized piece of drama that illustrates one event set in a particular time and place. It might involve one or several characters and contain a mixture of action and dialogue. The scene must serve a purpose in that it moves the story forward with as much tension as possible. Evaluating the scene will help the students reflect upon their work and make possible improvements in order to progress.
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