PLAYWRITING. Structure, Character, How and What to Write

Playwriting reveals the various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it deconstructs playwriting into its constituent parts, and offers illuminating insights into:

• Structure – an in-depth exploration of the fundamental elements of drama, enabling you to choose instinctively the most effective structure for your play
• Character – advice on how to generate and write credible characters by exploring their three essential dimensions: story, breadth and depth
• How to Write – techniques for writing great dialogue, dynamic scenes and compelling subtext, including how to improve your writing by approaching it from unfamiliar directions
• What to Write – how to adopt different approaches to finding your material, how to explore the fundamental 'Nine Stories', and how to evaluate the potential of your ideasWritten by a true master of the craft, this authoritative guide will provide playwrights at every level of experience with a rich array of tools to apply to their own work.

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'What Stephen Jeffreys doesn't know about playwriting isn't worth knowing'
Stephen Daldry

'Stephen Jeffreys is as important a teacher as he is brilliant a writer… Without him, I wouldn't have been able to write the plays that I have written'
Simon Stephens

'An incredibly useful writing helpmeet. As witty and humane as its author'
Emma Thompson

'What Stephen taught me has shaped my mind and I have shared this with countless writers'
Kwame Kwei-Armah

'Stephen was a true mentor… I still draw upon much of what he taught me today'
Abi Morgan

'Like a bird in the air, Stephen was utterly in his element as a teacher. We sat spellbound'
Phyllida Lloyd

'I had the great pleasure of working with Stephen on his play The Libertine. Would that all playwrights had his openness, his talent, his hard-headedness, his experience, his enthusiasm, his audacity, his complexity, and perhaps best of all his talent and interest in eliciting the best in others' 
John Malkovich