In a play, practically the entire story takes place on the shoulders of dialogue. Here, a writer writing in many mediums must keep in mind that a dialogue in a short story or novel tends to be quite different from the story told on stage or screen. Scenario and script dialogue should match the tone and rhythm of the entire play, and should be written so that it is much easier to pronounce compared to dialogue in a story or novel.
First, the dialogue reveals characters. A playwright should have a good idea of who his main protagonists are and who they will become at the end of the play, inside and out. Characters in a play speak through their own vocabulary, accent, and life experiences.
Opens the script for the famous play Nora de Ibsen. See how at the beginning of the play, the husband plays with an advantage and Nora responds meekly. Then notice how, at the end of the play, the dialogue has changed with the evolution of the plot and characters.
As you get your characters to speak, make sure they are using their own words and not coming up with a nice or clever idea that the writer put in their mouths. Even in works written to underline some serious perspective or undertaking, such as protesting against social injustice, a player’s dialogue should not consist of lengthy diatribes with excess of verbiage.
To illustrate this point, let’s look at an example. If you have a farmer, Uncle John, who is about to lose his farm and is only educated in the farm ways, he would not give a great speech with long words that underlie agricultural economics. Uncle John would no say once, “Forming a high-quality, equitable system of government is imperative, because good government must formulate agriculture so that it is profitable for whoever is willing to be trained and eager to exert physical effort. The plight of poor farmers is Obvious or otherwise the population will starve, and this capitalism will not save us from the plight of farmers. ” Uncle John is more likely to say: “Oh my back! I’m shattered. Damn it! Too… it’s all too much. I hope it can be saved… the farm, I mean.”
Along the same lines, too many mocking responses in any character’s speech, just to make people laugh, can destroy the continuity of the story. Gags, even in a comedy script, must be compatible with the character, and humor is usually hidden in the flow of the plot. In Shakespeare’s All’s well That ends well the jokes are uttered by the clown, fitting his character.
When speaking of Shakespeare’s clown, a writer must pay attention to the speech of the supporting characters, because their words are crucial to developing and moving the play forward. Your dialogue, to create drama and move the plot forward, should be short and direct.
Watch the maiden advance George Bernard Shaw’s play in Pygmalion, beginning in Act V.
“THE MAIDEN OF THE ROOM [at the door] Mr. Henry, Mama, is downstairs with Colonel Pickering.
MS. HIGGINS. Well, show them.
THE MAIDEN OF THE ROOM. They’re using the phone, Mom. Call the police, I think.
MS. HIGGINS. That!
THE ROOM MAID [coming further in and lowering her voice] Mr. Henry is in a state, Mom. I thought it would be better if I told you. “
In short, the dialogue must fit seamlessly with the story of the play, it must suit the character’s personality, it must be effortless to pronounce, and it must be easily understood.
