The Dynamic Stage

This is an annual 10-week skills development studio focusing on the basic principles of writing for performance and offering targeted support to new and emerging performance writers. The course is run by John Aitken, a WA playwright and dramaturge highly skilled in the craft of playwrighting, and course participants are encouraged to use the studio to work on a particular writing project.

2006 visiting lecturers were Tom Gutteridge, Artistic Director of Black Swan Theatre Company and Gillian Berry, a producer of radio drama for the ABC

For further information regarding dates and enrolments, contact the Stages Office.

2004: “A good balance of theory and action.” “John has a fantastic depth of knowledge and range of experience.” “Had a ball!”

2005: “Stimulating and encouraging.” “Does what most writing courses fail to do - remind you that writing should be fun.” “…an excellent array of practical writing and theory.”

2006: “What a fantastic way to get feedback and to experience the dramatic process”

Studio Director

John Aitken is a Perth based playwright who has written 31 plays including Some Other Town, Watershed, Daisy Bates and the Dancer (Festival of Perth 1993), Converging Lines, The Song of the Earth and Imperial Façade which played to capacity houses at the Rechabites Hall last year. His new work for radio, The Dollmaker featuring Amanda Muggleton, will be premiered on ABC Radio National during April. John is a staff member of the International School's Theatre Association and regularly visits other countries to work with young writers and performers. He has taught scriptwriting for WAAPA, ECU and the AWG. He also works as a script assessor and dramaturge.

Topics Covered

  1. What is structure?
    Constructing the drama. Using structure to liberate your play, to free you to write the play you must write.
  2. Building character
    People are more complicated than ideas. Creating complex characters that actors will want to bring to life. Exploring the work of Michael Chekhov in ‘Discovering the Centre’ and ‘The Imaginary Body’.
  3. Being part of a team
    Working with the actors, the director and the designer. What does a dramaturge do? Role playing.
  4. Understanding dramatic genres
    Is tragedy really dead? Does melodrama really deserve its bad reputation? Can comedy be farcical? Constructing a thriller.
  5. On your own!
    The one-person play has become increasingly popular in recent years. This segment of the course will explore useful techniques for bringing the solo play alive.
  6. Radio drama
    It has been rightly said that radio drama is “theatre of the mind”. A good radio drama is not a stage play with the lights turned off. In the new millennium, radio drama continues to evolve as a distinctive dramatic form in its own right.
  7. This story of yours
    The journey of the play. How does story differ from plot? The use of sub-plots. What comes first - story or character?
  8. Dialogue
    Making plays ‘come off the page’. Speaking through he character, juggling multiple points of view.
  9. The business end of the business
    Research and marketing the play. Dealing with agents and theatre companies. What can play development organizations offer? The business of funding.
  10. Obeying your impulses
    Dealing with ‘writers’ block’. Using your impulses to find the play you didn’t know you had within you.
  11. Finishing up
    Working towards making a ‘promising’ script great.