A Word About: Creativity

Whether you consider yourself a playwright, poet, fiction writer, journalist, or simply an artist, there are similar problems that arise when dealing with creating something from nothing.

In groups of 1 or 2, please read the article entitled: Structure: Part Two: Creativity, Scenario, and Writing. As you read, for participation credit, please answer these questions to hand in:

1. What's the difference between "Inspiration" and "Discipline"?
2. What, according to the author, is "Writer's Block"? What can a writer do to make it "go away"?
3. How can we, as artists, "prepare the soil" for our creative seed to prosper?
4. What's the difference between "Technique" and "Creativity"?
5. What are, according to the article, two solutions to deal with criticism and "creative roadblock"?
6. How does failure help a creative person?

Included in the packet is the tv script (not in proper format) for Monty Python's episode 8. After reading, you can check the episode out here:
Part 1
Part 2 (not available - use your reading skills)
part 3
Part 4

Comedy Sketches: Again, you will hopefully note the difference between writing a sketch and writing a play. The two are similar and are often mistaken for each other. The difference is really meaning and commentary about the human condition. Some sketches do this, but overall, this is the realm of the play: to discuss thought-provoking material.

Sketch exercise #2: Coming up in December the Improv Troupe will be doing a show for the holiday and we'd like to include student written sketches. Alone or with a partner, begin working on the following:

Write a series of short monologues or sketches for the Holiday Improv Show (only one is required, but feel free to write more if the fancy strikes you). Material should be PG or PG-13 only, please. Scripts draft due (next class).

1. Ideas for holiday themed sketches (sketch or monologue should be 1-3 pages, play script format):
• Fairy (or star…for those of you not British) on the Christmas tree monologue – scene version: all the decorations talking
• Toys in a toy box
• Reindeer pre-flight
• News Flash – Santa Claus Found Dead
• What really happened when Scrooge arrived at the Cratchits on Christmas Day
• A lineup of children or adults sitting on Santa’s lap – what is it they want?
• Frosty the snowman goes on a date

Brainstorm your own ideas!:

2. Pick a few holiday characters and run with it. Put them in situations. Remember that escalation, sane man/mad man, and lists are funny. Use one of these techniques to help you!

• The thirteenth reindeer
• The spirit of Hanukah versus Santa Claus versus Jesus versus Kwanza Guy versus an ancient druid
• Spotty the elf
• Mr. and Mrs. Claus
• Jack Frost
• Any of the 8 reindeer (Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, etc.)
• Susie Snowflake
• Scrooge
• The Grinch
• Ralphie (from the Christmas Story)
• Tom Turkey
• An overgrown elf (Will Farrell)
Brainstorm your own ideas!:

3. Choose a Christmas carol and rewrite the lyrics

Sketch & The House of Blue Leaves

Short Sketch - Writing Exercise

1) Choose a setting. Avoid common set-ups. Think creatively. Only set the sketch in one location. Adhere to the UNITY OF PLACE.
2) Don't make the sketch too long. 2-3 pages is a good length to start with (of course, in proper script format).
3) If you're trying to sell your material, don't put in anything too expensive like a helicopter. Most TV shows, films, and theatres are on a tight budget.
4) Three characters is more than enough for a short sketch. Don't write for a cast of thousands.
5) Work out loud. Say the lines as you write them. You need to hear what the material sounds like.
6) Think about what is happening visually as well as the words. Describe the physical action in detail where appropriate, but don't get bogged down with description. This is a play script, not a film script. Before you begin, it is often helpful to describe your characters and setting (so you don't have to do that later in the scene where it's awkward). What are the characters wearing? What do they look like. What are their names?

Types of Sketches

To help you get going, here's a few tried and tested comedy formats for sketches.
1) Escalation: Funny idea starts small and gets bigger and bigger, ending in chaos of ridiculous proportions. See Monty Python's Crunchy Frog sketch.
2) Lists: Sketches in which the bulk of the dialogue is a long list of funny items. The best example of this is "Cheese Shop" in Monty Python. (You can find all the Python sketches at www.planetcomedy.force9.co.uk/bookstore.html.) Note this kind of sketch will be a little longer in length, due to the short list form.
3) Mad Man, Sane Man: This format speaks for itself, but don't go for obvious settings. Here's an example Self Defense Class.
Here's one that includes all the three types in one: Monty Python.

At the end of period 1, we will be getting a new play: John Guare's House of Blue Leaves. Please begin reading this play in groups of 3-4. Please complete this play for HOMEWORK and complete the assignment below in writing. Note that we will not have class until Wednesday of next week.

HOMEWORK (to turn in): As you read please try to notice the following techniques used by Guare. For each technique, explain how Guare uses it in the play (and what page you found the supporting information):
--The Time Lock. (pg. 83)
--The Trap. (pg. 84)
--Offstage Action (pg. 84-85)
--Answering a dramatic question with a dramatic question. (85)
--Interruption. (85)
--Foreshadowing. (86)

2. Farce relies on physical comedy, confusion, mistaken identity, and lots of action. Explain how Guare's play may be considered a "farce".

The Comedy of Errors

The Why and Wherefore:

Okay, so reading a Shakespearean comedy can be difficult. Many of the puns (play on words, using double meaning to confuse, or suggest innuendo) are difficult to decipher for a reader. That's often why it is better to SEE Shakespeare performed. Plays, after all, were meant to be SEEN, not read.

Still, we can learn a lot about writing a structured, well-balanced plot from the good ol' Bard himself. Here's a few highlights you should be aware of:

The Event: (a uniquely significant moment in the character's lives) The story that Egeon tells in the opening scene is significant. We need to know that the brothers were separated and that one brother (Antipholus of Syracuse) is LOOKING for his twin. As one of Shakespeare's early comedies, this is not done with the finesse his later comedies have. He's inexperienced at this point. But--he has provided a solid exposition and explained the boundaries from which the conflict will occur and confusion spread.

The inciting incident (point of attack or turning point in the lives of a protagonist--the event that INVOLVES the protagonist and gets the story moving), therefore, would also include Antipholus of Syracuse arriving in Ephesus. Shakespeare complicates the situation a bit by making sure that we know that if a Syracusian is found in Ephesus his money is forfeit (will be taken away), and that he may be put to death. For a merchant--this is a double whammy.

A major decision occurs in Act II when Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse agree to go with Adriana and her sister Luciana home to dinner. The major decision should always affect the plot and cause further complications or problems.

Rising action includes a variety of jokes and punches, misunderstandings, and down-right confusion as to the identity of the two sets of twins at any given moment. Dromio of Ephesus is beaten for having lost 1,000 marks, Antipholus of Ephesus is locked out of his house, Antipholus of Syracuse falls in love with Adriana's sister Luciana...you can see where this is going, I hope... Dromio of Syracuse finds himself married to an obese wife, Nell. Angelo the goldsmith comes to collect his fee, money changes hands for bail, a prostitute or courtesan enters to get her gold chain back, etc. etc. The point is that we increase the stakes at each turn of the plot. These problems are essential in drama. Situation should never stay static!

Our Dark Moment occurs at separate places for separate characters. This is okay. For Egeon, his dark moment occurs in the first scene! For others, like Antipholus of Ephesus: he is arrested and hauled away by the exorcist, Dr. Pinch. During a character's dark moment, he/she is at his/her lowest end. Things look grim with little hope of getting better.

The Enlightenment in this play arrives late in the 5th Act. The Abbess (really Egeon's wife and mother to the Antipholus twins) acts as a deus ex machina (not the best way to solve a problem), but at least we are aware that she and her husband were separated long ago by the shipwreck described in Act 1, Scene 1.

Shakespeare makes use of the time lock. Egeon must die by the end of the day. He provides no exit for Antipholus and Dromio once they make contact with Adriana (the Trap, see pg. 84 in your handout). Effectively, Shakespeare uses the unity of time and action. All events have to happen quickly, which helps create the humor in this farce.

And so what about seeing this play? Click below for links to the BBC production of the play:

Part 6: Act III, Scene 2
Part 7: Act IV
Part 8: Act IV
Part 9: End of Act IV
Part 10: Act V.
Part 11: End of Act V.

Comedy of Errors - Act I & 2

Together, if you'll allow it as a class, we will read Acts 1 & 2 of the Comedy of Errors.

Please read the handout on The Clean House for Tuesday's workshop and the field trip on Thursday. Also, please get the field trip and medical form filled out completely and turned in to me by next class. A student without this information will not be able to attend the field trip to Geva.

Comedy of Errors - Part 1 (Act I, Scene 1)

Take a look at the BBC's production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Compare this to the San Francisco production.

With a neighbor, discuss how productions differ depending on time, space, money, medium (stage or screen), and director.

After 15 minutes, please log off of your computers and gather to begin reading The Comedy of Errors.

Commedia dell'Arte

Much of standard comedy (even contemporary comedy) comes from the stock character base of the Italian comedy called: Commedia dell'Arte. Please read about this form here. On the sidebar, please review the following character types, the use of masks, and costumes:

* Arlecchino was the most famous. He was an acrobat and a wit, childlike and amorous. He wore a cat–like mask and motley colored clothes and carried a bat or wooden sword.
* Brighella, Arlecchino's crony, was more roguish and sophisticated, a cowardly villain who would do anything for money.
* Il Capitano (the captain) was a caricature of the professional soldier—bold, swaggering, and cowardly.
* Il Dottore (the doctor) was a caricature of learning—pompous and fraudulent.
* Pantalone was a caricature of the Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young wife or an adventurous daughter.
* Pedrolino was a white–faced, moon–struck dreamer and the forerunner of today's clown.
* Pulcinella, as seen in the English Punch and Judy shows, was a dwarfish humpback with a crooked nose, the cruel bachelor who chased pretty girls.
* Scarramuccia, dressed in black and carrying a pointed sword, was the Robin Hood of his day.
* The handsome Inamorato (the lover) went by many names. He wore no mask and had to be eloquent in order to speak the love declamations.
* The Inamorata was his female counterpart; Isabella Andreini was the most famous. Her servant, usually called Columbina, was the beloved of Harlequin. Witty, bright, and given to intrigue, she developed into such characters as Harlequine and Pierrette.
* La Ruffiana was an old woman, either the mother or a village gossip, who thwarted the lovers.
* Cantarina and Ballerina often took part in the comedy, but for the most part their job was to sing, dance, or play music.

Shakespeare - Comedy of Errors

Yes, it was bound to happen. Playwrights should be familiar with the playwright who is considered the "cornerstone" of Western Literature. We are going to read The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare in class. It'll be okay.

Likely the most influential writer in all of English literature and certainly the most important playwright of the English Renaissance, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England.

Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part owner of the Globe Theater.

His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603) and James I (ruled 1603-1625). Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to Stratford, and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two.

Shakespeare's works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death, and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established.

The Comedy of Errors is generally assumed to be one of Shakespeare's early plays, (perhaps even his very first) and its emphasis on slapstick over verbal humor (in contrast with later comedies) has led many critics to term it an "apprentice comedy." The exact date of composition is unknown: It was first performed on December 28, 1594, at the Gray's Inn Christmas Revels, to an audience that would have been largely composed of lawyers and law students.

As with many of his plays, Shakespeare drew on classical sources for the plot of The Comedy of Errors. The bare bones of the story are drawn from the Roman comedy Menaechmi, written by the ancient dramatist Plautus (c.254- 184 B.C.); The play also draws on a number of other sources--the lock-out scene, where Antipholus of Ephesus is locked out of his home for dinner, resembles a scene in another Plautine work, Amphitruo, in which a master is kept out of his own house while the God Jupiter impersonates him. The general tone of Comedy is drawn from Italian comedy of the period, the shrewish wife is a characteristic figure in English comedy, and a number of the ideas about marriage are drawn from early humanists like Erasmus of Rotterdam. The play has always been very popular with audiences, if somewhat less so with critics.