Here’s an admissions for you: 15 years as a member of AWC and last Wednesday’s was the first drama workshop I have attended and as I left I told myself it wouldn’t be the last. Helena Sheridan, with her lovely assistant, Lesley the Bling, presented an informative, encouraging, fun and lively session.
The best workshops are the ones where you leave having learned something and that was assuredly how I was feeling on my way back to the car.
So, what did I learn (aside from the fact that at AWC we have an alarming number of closet thespians?)
# Character is all.
This of course, fits with all kinds of writing and should never fail to be repeated.
“Homework” was handed out by email before the session and everyone was told to come along with a list of character attributes, which would then be used to inform your writing as you developed your piece.
Then everyone was paired off with “light” and “dark” being the suggested combination – which was of course where the drama would come from. We were all then given 15 minutes or so to come up with a short scene where our characters would be given the chance to spark off each other.
It never fails to amaze me how these sessions bring up a huge variety of work, from the quietly moving to the downright hilarious.
One in particular that has stuck with me all these days later was the piece by Alison and Karen. This was a quiet work that demonstrated the power of silence in drama. Most beginning writers think that in drama a facility with dialogue is the key, but this small sketch let the audience see that the real power can often come from what is not said.
Great stuff!
Michael Malone