Well-Pitched Battles

A third battle is a battle over territory. These are generally low-stakes battles, though there are notable exceptions (Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms contains some terrific territorial battle scenes.) The stakes are always raised when the territory is a metaphor for something or someone. In Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Barney constantly battles Bobbi Michele for his mother's apartment. He is uncomfortable when she traipses around, looking out windows and picking up pictures. Unfortunately, there is little resolution to these battles in the play, and it suffers as a result.

Another version of the territorial battle is the battle for elevation. There are as many ways to manifest this as there are plays. Battles for elevation can be farcical or subtle, and are difficult to maintain. One of the best examples to be found is in Shakespeare's Richard III, when Richard's descent to speak with Bolingbroke becomes a metaphor for Richard's fall from power.

Though many other things can be battled over, the final example in this article is a battle over time. This can be shown in many ways, as well. Whenever one character needs a deadline extended, as is often the case in melodrama, there is a battle pitched for time. Likewise, David Mamet's characters often jump all over each other's sentences, trying to show their intelligence by anticipating what the other is going to say, or showing their lack thereof by responding to something said ten minutes ago. Oscar Wilde, and many other authors of great wit, uses battles over time to see who can come up with the snappiest remark, the most biting insult, or the quickest jab. These are all battles. Long, dramatic pauses are perhaps the most dramatic of all battles for time. After Cliff's long "trucker monologue" in William Mastrosimone's The Woolgatherer, there is a hellishly long pause as the two battle silently. Finally, Rose caves in, telling Cliff to take the parachute job. He wins.

Anything and everything that can possibly be battled for will be battled for. Often characters aren't even conscious of these battles, but points are chalked up all the same. A playwright wary of this makes the jobs of actors and directors simpler, and a better overall product is created.

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