John Binnie loves the theatre! That became very apparent during the first Guest Speaker evening of our new Programme. A successful playwright and director with over 30 years’ experience, John entertained AWC members new and returning with anecdotes, advice, script readings and writing prompts, the latter being an opportunity for the audience to get their creative juices going.
John cited the communal nature of script-writing as a key reason for his enjoyment – you discover very quickly if your plays are being enjoyed (or not…) by your audience, compared to the longer wait experienced by the author of a novel. Having set up a theatre company with female acting friends at university to promote script-writing and performance opportunities for women and gay men, John’s early shows were delivered in some challenging locations, given social attitudes at the time. However, those experiences defined what he really wanted to do – write and perform theatre that was accessible to all, hence his career writing, directing and touring his own work.
From a creative perspective, John uses monologues as a starting point for his script-writing. He will take a thought or emotion and free-write the short piece from his own perspective, hoping it will generate ideas to feed into his script. Cue the first of our writing exercises. John provided each of us with a separate word, such as “Journey”, “Shout”, “Alone”, or “Taste”, and asked us to spend 5 minutes writing a monologue in the first person, using our word as the prompt. Silence then ensued, apart from the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional thoughtful sigh, as we writers dug into our memory banks for a relevant story.
Alternatively, John will create monologues using news headlines as a prompt, often choosing a subject he knows little about. Rather than writing about the story itself, he considers how a fringe character may be reacting to the events. This was our second writing exercise for the evening. Headlines supplied included recently reunited rock-star siblings (write as their Mum), ex-Presidents (write as their spouse) and the demolition of a local hotel (write as the ghost of the hotel).
Naturally, some members shared their hastily-written monologues with the rest of us during the evening. Some were amusing, others were poignant and thought-provoking, particularly those inspired by the more controversial prompts. Did I come away from the evening inspired to write my first script? Perhaps. Let’s just see where those emotional headlines direct me…
Maggie Morton