The 37 Plays Podcast

In episode six of the Plays Podcast, Mark Ravenhill is joined by playwright, screenwriter, and director Chinonyerem Odimba. Chino is also the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of tiata fahodzi. From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, Chino chose: #12: There’s something cruel about constructing a play, putting characters in situations that are everything from awkward to very painful. Don’t shy from this cruelty but use it responsibly, explore all its ramifications and don’t use it cynically or for effect. Chino’s own tip is: “One of the things I tend to do when I’m writing a character is that I have a conversation with them…Each and every one of my characters if I can. And that conversation consists of me telling them a secret and them telling me a secret…” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.

In this episode of the 37 Plays Podcast, Mark Ravenhill is joined by Winsome Pinnock, a writer for stage, radio, film and television. From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, Winsome chose:  #31: ‘Show don’t tell’ – a red herring? From the Greek plays messenger speech on, plenty of great plays have had a lot of ‘tell’. As long as the ‘tell’ changes the characters on stage and realigns the action of the play. Alternating show and tell works well. Winsome’s own tip is: “In order to get to know your characters, get them to write you letters. I often have my characters write to me, and they might write about me actually…they write about my process, the discoveries I am making during the process. They’ll question me and throw me challenges.” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.

In the fourth 37 Plays podcast episode, Mark Ravenhill is joined by James Graham, a playwright and film and television writer. From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, James chose: #4 Try writing a draft zero/dirty draft. Let the characters say all the exposition, themes, everything they think and feel. Don’t show this to anyone – even yourself! – and then write the first draft. Sarah Kane told me she did this for Blasted. James’ own tip is: The theory of bits. “Once you’ve written the first draft, you start to consciously or unconsciously be looking for the central moment in the character’s journey or the story moment or the theme where it will emerge, and an audience will know that that’s the bit.” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.

In the third 37 Plays podcast episode, Mark Ravenhill is joined by actress, writer and jazz singer, Danusia Samal. From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, Danusia chose: #55: The stage is a place of questioning, realignment, transformation. Choose as your starting point nagging doubt, the question that won’t leave you alone. Let the play embody, amplify your question. An acceptance of living with the irresolvable is still an ending Danusia’s own tip is: “Give yourself distance from what you’ve written. If you get in a muddle with it, or you’re constantly editing or changing or going back, you have to give yourself space from it. A few days or a week ideally. Suddenly, you’ll come back with clear eyes and be able to see the play.” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.

Mark Ravenhill is joined by playwright and screenwriter Hannah Khalil.  From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, Hannah chose: #5 For a theatre play, an hour of playing time is 9,000 to 10,000 words. Basic but no one tells you this! Think in minutes – after a thousand words, the audience are six minutes into the play. And so on. Writing a play is ‘sculpting in time’. Hannah’s own tip is: “Before you start writing your play, convince yourself it will never be produced…. To tell myself that this is just for me, I can write whatever I want, and no one is going to judge me for it, allows me to be a bit freer and not worry too much about how it will be received.” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.

In the first 37 Plays podcast episode, Mark Ravenhill is joined by actress and writer Lolita Chakrabarti, OBE. From Mark’s 101 Playwriting Tips, Lolita choses: #71: A very good playwright told me she always has the last line/image of the play first. Jealous! a play does often drive toward that last moment. Everything else is a set up for that pay off. But it takes me many drafts to get there. Lolita’s own tip is: “Keep your own counsel with the first draft. Don’t listen to anybody before you have processed and felt the story, imagined it, and written that first painful, painful draft. Nobody can be a voice in your head, other than your own voice.” The music for this podcast was composed by Sarah Llewellyn.