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The Intimacy of Theater

© Dave Brandl

Why should a play be a play? Why not a screenplay or a novel? What is it that the theater offers that can be found nowhere else?

Of the hundreds of scripts I have read over the years, the most common challenge playwrights face and sometimes fail in is why they wrote the script as a stage play, rather than in another genre.

One reason I believe is that many budding playwrights get their ideas from movies and television, which is not bad if one wants to write for movies and television. However, I have read scripts that resemble mediocre sitcoms, with fast-paced jumps between scenes, glib dialogue, and shallow characters. I have also read scripts that utilize dozens of locations, many characters with few or no lines, and significant costume changes that would have to occur in a matter of seconds, all of which is much more related to a screenplay. There have also been the scripts that cover so much territory, include dozens of characters and scenes, and include introspective monologues, that would probably work better in a novel.

I believe one reason for these situations is that some playwrights may feel that their script has potential as a screenplay, but believe they may have a better chance of getting it produced as a stage play first, and then look to the movie market. While many plays have become movies over the years, the main point is that they were plays first, and successful as plays, before they were adapted to become movies.

Why then, the theater? One important reason is the intimacy. Being within a few feet of live actors creates an experience like no other. In movies, the characters' heads are 12 feet tall. In television, the characters are only 12 inches tall. In both cases, there is an actual wall (the screen) between the actors and the audience.

Being right there with the action, breaking through that invisible fourth wall, gives the theatrical audience a bit of a voyeuristic experience. We get to see the actors sweat, change nuances from performance to performance, and occasionally blunder. But more importantly, we are there live. We can appreciate what their rehearsals have taken to get them where they are, living and reliving night after night the story as it unfolds. Theater is really based on the audience getting to know the characters, rather than following suspense-filled chases, million-dollar special effects, or quick scene changes.

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