David Ho in a comment to a review of a recent episode of “Homeland” remarked, “In a story the author is free to make up a lot of things, but no matter the time and place, human character and emotion need to ring true.” What wisdom in one sentence!
Ho’s comment extends our recent blogs on writing great plays and should revolutionize our playwriting. Whether we dramatize something around the corner or around the world, we need REAL characters in our plays. Let’s look at what we’ve written recently. Are the characters flat with only one dimension? Are they authentic with layers of emotions? Even bad individuals can have some goodness in them and be happy some of the time—not like the characters in the current production on Broadway of “Therese Raquin” as adapted by Helen Edmonson.
Writing REAL will be writing GREAT.
