Playwriting: Recent Episodes

National Theatre

In this collection, leading playwrights explain some of the key elements of a well-written play, and discuss how they approach them in their own work. Simon Stephens, David Hare, Katori Hall, Matt Charman, Nell Leyshon, James Graham, Alia Bano, Richard Bean, Anders Lustgarten and Roy Williams talk about writing dialogue, creating characters, structuring a narrative and more. They also offer some top tips for first time writers, and talk about their own writing methods.

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James Graham talks about playwriting, his inspirations and what is political theatre.

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Simon Stephens talks about what inspired him to become a writer, his process when writing and offers advise to anyone interested in playwriting.

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Katori Hall talks about playwriting

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David Hare talks about playwriting

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Leading playwrights offer advice to new writers.

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Leading playwrights discuss their own writing processes.

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The importance of metaphor in dramatic writing

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An introduction to different theatrical styles

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What are the key ingredients for a dramatic scene?

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Dialogue is at the core of dramatic writing

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Advice on structuring and developing the narrative of a play

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How do you create characters in a play?

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Leading playwrights discuss the nature of theatre and its relationship with politics.