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The Crafty Art of Playmaking, by Alan Ayckbourn
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For the first time, Alan Ayckbourn shares all of his tricks of the playwright's trade. From helpful hints on writing to tips on directing, the book provides a complete primer for the newcomer and a refresher for the more experienced. Written in Ayckbourn's signature style that combines humor, seriousness, and heady air of theatrical sophistication that Noel Coward would envy, The Crafty Art of Playmaking is a must-have for aspiring playwrights and students of drama.
- Sales Rank: #622658 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-04-28
- Released on: 2015-04-28
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
The author of 64 plays, Ayckbourn has garnered international acclaim as a writer-director and remains one of the most widely performed living playwrights. Now he throws a spotlight on his stagecraft secrets and insights in this slim but valuable handbook on how to write and direct plays. It's designed to chronologically carry readers from a play's inspiration and creation to auditions, read-throughs, rehearsals, previews and press night. Ayckbourn covers "obvious rules" such as "Never start a play without an idea" and "The best comedy springs from the utterly serious" and explicates his dicta with brief, occasionally humorous essays. For instance, his rule that "People in general are reluctant to reveal themselves" cues a three-page explanation: "We are most of us by nature secretive creatures... In making characters reveal themselves they must be given a cause, a motive. The classic, slight corny one is to get them drunk. Otherwise, they probably open up through desperation, or anger, or deliberately to hurt each other." The pages on directors and directing cover such areas as casting, lighting, costume and sound design, choreographers, tech rehearsals and dealing with producers and stars. In addition to inserting amusing anecdotes, Ayckbourn also shares relevant passages from his own plays, including Relatively Speaking, Just Between Ourselves, Taking Steps and Season's Greetings. Rather than taking an academic approach, Ayckbourn's stylish writing conveys a feeling that readers have been invited into a near-empty auditorium to witness a private rehearsal. This book, a polished gem of theater lore, concludes with an appendix listing Ayckbourn's plays.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“...a practical and disciplined look...After 44 years at his profession, Ayckbourn knows what he's talking about.” ―Lloyd Rose, Washington Post Book World
“...amusing, thought-provoking, and helpful in turn...his experiences are well worth the price of the book.” ―Susan L. Peters, Library Journal
“...an entrancing read-no matter what part you play in playmaking.” ―Dany Margolies, Back Stage
“...a polished gem of theater lore...” ―Publishers Weekly Annex
“The New York Times on Alan Ayckbourn's recent House and Garden: As ingeniously constructed a work as the contemporary theater has to offer... House and Garden does justice not only to Mr. Ayckbourn's miraculous engineering but to his lightly astringent, not quite farcical humor as well. ” ―The New York Times
About the Author
Alan Ayckbourn is one of England's most prolific and widely performed living playwrights with over sixty plays in his catalogue. In 1997, he received a knighthood for his services to the theater. He was represented in New York this year with simultaneous productions of his plays "House" and "Garden" at the Manhattan Theater Club's two stages. He lives in England.
Most helpful customer reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Perhaps the best book ever about playwriting and directing
By krebsman
There are dozens of books out there on playwriting and about half that number on directing. Unfortunately for us, neither Shakespeare, Chekhov nor Ibsen wrote books on how to write a play. As a result, virtually all the authors of books about playwriting are academics who have never written a commercially produced play. One has to question the value of such people's advice when dealing with the practical realities of the professional theatre. Sir Alan Ayckbourn has changed all that. He is the author/director of (at this writing) a whopping 69 plays, a substantial portion of which have been critical and/or commercial successes on London's West End and New York's Broadway as well as being translated into numerous languages and produced throughout the world. The first part of the book is about the craft of playwriting. Ayckbourn gives his advice in a straightforward series of "obvious rules." First he states the "obvious rule" and then illustrates it with an example, usually drawn from his own work. Some of my favorites were, "Obvious Rule No. 2: Never start a play without an idea." "Obvious Rule of No. 16: Never include a character with no real function." "Obvious Rule Number 14: At least 50 percent of your play is going to be visual." "Obvious Rule No. 22: You can never know too much about your characters before you start." Ayckbourn says that he takes about a year of thinking and planning before he actually writes a word of dialogue. I found this section of the book extremely valuable. Any playwright or would-be playwright would profit from reading it.
To my surprise, I found the second part of the book, which deals with direction, even more valuable than the first part. Aside from Harold Clurman's ON DIRECTING, I cannot think of another book about directing that has been written by a successful director. Clurman's book is very good about reading a script and analyzing it and giving an overall view of how rehearsals are conducted. Most books on directing provide this information. But what sets Ayckbourn's book apart is that he talks mostly about dealing with actors. To the best of my knowledge, no one has written about this aspect. He tells how to handle fragile egos, how to deal with rivalries, how to state your criticism and the appropriate times to deal with certain issues. He also gives good advice on conducting auditions and what personality traits to look for when casting. Advice like this has long been needed.
The book provides valuable information, but what makes it truly brilliant is the charming way it is written. I found it delightful from start to finish, not to mention inspirational. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to any theatre professional, not just writers and directors, but actors, designers and technicians as well. Five stars plus.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
More Than Just Playmaking
By DodgyUSA
Alan Ayckbourn's book on the art of the theater covers far more than just "playmaking" His years of experience as both author and director are evident as he gives "obvious rules" for writing, directing, establishing characters, and everthing in between.
Not only does he devote a substantial amount of space to the play writing process, but he also talks about casting, lighting, chosing a costume designer, working with your tech staff, and dealing with your actors during the various stages of the production.
All this is given, not as a dissertation, but with a genuine sense of love for his craft.
I found the examples of dialogue-taken from his own plays to illustrate the various points of writing-extremely helpful.
I will refer to this book again in my own writing endeavors.
Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Must Own for Playwrights and a create companion book
By Bexlyn Wright
Sir Alan Ayckbourn has written and produced over seventy plays, more than 40 which have been performed in the West End and ten on Broadway. This gives the British writer of Relatively Speaking and The Norman Conquests an edge over all of the other playwriting books, not only because he is so prolific, but because he approaches this book as a writer who spends more than half of his time directing and has vast production experience with his plays and others. Ayckbourn wrote his first play at the age of ten and has lived around theatre since he was seventeen, giving him a lifetime of hands-on knowledge that is valuable and makes for a fun and informative reading experience.
With his vast knowledge of theatre, Ayckbourn's approach in The Crafty Art of Playwriting isn't just for the writer; he explains everything by dividing half of the book into writing advice, the other half into everything else involving a play, from directing, casting and design to the rehearsal process and how to deal with producers. The result is that this book isn't just about playwriting but about the entire process from creating a play to previews and press night during a production. Throughout the book, which is written with a slightly humorous style, Ayckbourn gives advice though what he calls his "obvious rules" such as: "Obvious Rule No. 2: Never start a play without an idea," "Obvious Rule # 16: Never include a character with no real function," and, "Obvious Rule # 46: Never cast a celebrity." Ayckbourn also stresses in "Obvious Rule # 22: You can never know too much about your characters before you start," which he follows by mentioning that he takes about a year of thinking and planning before he writes a word of dialogue (this is a bit long for me, but every writer is different).
The organization and style is very clear, practical and to the point, and after a brief discussion on comedy versus drama, he gets to the point: "Obvious Rule # 3: If you don't have the initial inspiration, put down the pen, put the pencil back into the jar, switch off the computer and go dig the garden instead." Guiding a writer that does have an idea, Ayckbourn covers the essentials but does so with very handy tips and practical advice rather than spending time creating charts and lists of the elements of a play; there are in-depth discussions about plot or rising action, simply advice on what you should consider for character and why you need to do this. He appeals to common sense rather than requirements, knowing that if all that he discusses are applied, the requirements will fall into place.
While this is not a great "How-to" book for beginners, those that have read the standard guides will find this a VERY handy companion book in a playwriting class or for their collection.
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