We asked our playwrights to share some of the reasons why they love writing for theatre.

I love being able to respond to the world I live in and to create new worlds from my own imagination. I love finding order out of chaos and moving audiences to laugh, to cry or to gasp. I love telling stories. (Caleb Lewis)

Theatre can tell stories in so many unique ways. Your play can be set anywhere, anytime, no holds barred. 

Read more ...

The first act of Caryl Churchill’s classic play Cloud Nine,  is set in the 19th century in an African country ruled by Britain. In the second act, now set in London, a hundred years later, the characters have aged twenty-five years. Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia is simultaneously set in 1809 and the present time, but located in the one room. Initially characters from each time zone appear in separate scenes but as the play continues the characters begin to meld into each others’ scenes and worlds…

Theatre allows you to set the scene. If you say we’re on the moon, or under the sea or in prison we’ll be prepared to believe you. You can do this using all the props and set dressing you can find or you can plonk a chair on stage and we’ll accept that we’re…well, anywhere really.

Read more ...

At least one well-known writer happily set several scenes in his plays in forests and on beaches, on, in, around and beside various castles, prisons, inns and palaces, in streets, squares, houses, halls, tombs, tents, meadows, cave entrances, fields, gardens, priests’ cell, courts of justice, on a ship, on a moated grange and at least once upon a barren heath for that really spooky, desolate feeling. (You know the guy…don’t make me say it.)

Similarly, your characters can be whoever you want them to be… based on fact or completely fictitious. Nine year old child murderer? Why yes. (Hilary Bell’s Wolf Lullaby) A storytelling queen and her murderously minded king? Certainly. (Donna Abela’s Arabian Nights)

Read more ...

I love that you can do really amazing things on a stage. You can have two or three time frames on stage at once, or the past and the present, interior and exterior landscapes, ancient and contemporary worlds clashing simultaneously. (Donna Abela) Another exciting aspect of the live quality of theatre is that it gives writers the opportunity to experiment and take risks. Caleb Lewis points out the freedom that writers enjoy thanks to a sort of ‘contract of the imagination’ that exists between audiences and theatre makers: … the audience agree to suspend their disbelief from the moment they walk into the space, so be brave, think big, take risks...(Caleb Lewis)

Many playwrights feel that in theatre they can explore not just big issues but contemporary, topical issues. And in theory, these plays can get on stage relatively quickly, unlike a film or television show.

Read more ...

Australian playwright Stephen Sewell’s work sometimes explores political and historical issues such as the award winning Myth, Propaganda & Disaster In Nazi Germany & Contemporary America. Similarly, Noelle Janaczewska’s play This Territory, written for atyp and performed at the Opera House, was a response to the 2005 Cronulla Riots and the issues provoked. …you have a freedom and license to be adventurous and audacious in terms of style and content, and artistically and intellectually ambitious. I like too that theatre offers a place for ideas and perspectives you don’t usually find in more mainstream media.Noelle Janaczewska It’s playing, play means play, but like the play of children it has serious life concerns.Catherine Zimdahl

Theatre is a collaborative form, in the way that, say, writing a novel, is not. This is another aspect that our playwrights often enjoyed about writing for theatre.

Read more ...

This collaborative process begins with you, the writer. Your script will form a blueprint for the director, actors and designers. Each collaborator, including the audience, contributes to the final product: the show. I like that you can spend so much solitary time creating your characters and story, but then you get to handball it to other creative people …and they, hopefully, take the play above and beyond the limitations of your imagination.Their interpretation can add so much that is surprising. (Jane Harrison)  Michael Gow says he likes “…knowing that eventually I’ll get to work with other people, so I won’t be alone forever.” Although Lally Katz adds that this is also “…the same thing I hate about (writing for theatre.)” Some of our playwrights enjoyed the way that a rehearsal process could answer tricky questions about a new play’s structure or plot. Getting a play up “on its feet” makes a big difference to staring at it on your computer screen. Hearing your words spoken by actors in rehearsal will often reveal new aspects of the characters or help to adjust dialogue that may not be quite right on the page.  And, it can be a whole lot of fun! …there is something special about writing for theatre. Working with actors and the rest of the creative team in the rehearsal room is enormous fun. I enjoy changing and improving the play on the run… (Debra Oswald)

Writing a play can be exciting and exhilarating. It can take over your life and occupy your thoughts and dreams. It can be a test of stamina or a journey of discovery or both.

And finally, when you write your play and see it performed, whether at your state theatre company or an independent company, or by you and your friends, it can be a highly addictive mix of terror and delight.