HANDOUT #9

I was first taught to be sensitive to the use of rhythm in dramatic writing when I studied screenwriting. Most movies, you will find (if you sit down and watch them with a keen, cool dramatist's eye), are written in a repeating pattern: scenes of confrontation followed by scenes of transition followed by scenes of confrontation again. The hero has a goal going into a scene, the pursuit of it brings her/him into conflict, which leads to some sort of complicating incident. That's a unit of conflict. Then the hero retreats to lick her wounds, ponder what she'll do next, and comes up with a new goal. That's a unit of transition -- leading, notice, directly to a new unit of confrontation.

For example: woman wants to confront husband about drinking problem. Does so -- they argue -- he walks out. That's the unit of confrontation. In reaction, woman goes to commiserate with friend -- they agree husband is a jerk for doing that -- and that they should head out on the town together themselves. That's a unit of transition. I'll leave you to ponder what the next unit of confrontation could be.

Tension, release. Tension, release.

So I'd like to suggest you grab the nearest video of some feature film -- preferably one you've seen before, so you can watch it with some detachment -- and try to discern this pattern in it. Try to feel it -- it may not always break down quite so obviously or neatly as I've described it above, but you should be able to sense a sort of clenching and unclenching in the material as it proceeds. It's generally easier to spot in most movies than most plays. But maybe you'll find, as I did, that once you've developed a keener sense of it from watching movies, you can go back and profitably apply it to your stage writing.

To Toot 10