Description: "Drawing heavily on contemporary practice--where the conventional rules of playmaking are regularly turned inside-out--the book considers moments from a range of plays, with a focus on those from the National Theatre's 50-year repertoire. Crucially, it embraces the range of different dramaturgical structures and styles popular today and reflects the current openness of dramatic form. It celebrates the increasingly blurred boundaries between playwriting and devised work, focusing not just on individual dramaturgical choices, but also on collective collaborative processes. Therefore, much of the book's lessons about dramatic form are valuable for a devising company as much as for the solo author"--
Brief description: Dan Rebellato is an experienced, internationally performed playwright for theatre and radio. He has taught playwriting for 25 years for various universities, writers' groups, Arvon and elsewhere. He has also written widely and influentially on contemporary British theatre, with a focus on the theory and practice of new writing. He is Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Review Quotes:
"It's hard to think of a scholar and theatre maker more knowledgeable about new work and how it's made or a more perspicacious critic of the contemporary UK theatre scene than Dan Rebellato." --David Eldridge, Dramatist and Screenwriter
"Written in an informal style, it's an inspiring and entertaining resource, providing tools, suggestions, exercises and tricks." --Writers' Forus "Rebellato offers up concrete examples to demystify the process of writing ... He shares examples of his own playwriting practice, quotidian events that could be turned into drama, and the practices of great playwrights from history. The book is packed full of references to other contemporary and classic plays, which is helpful to see and note down real-world examples of the process in action." --Drama & Theatre