As I’m moving the chains forward on a play that involves an aspect of politics as well as home-grown attitudes,perspectives and ingrown prejudices, I am constantly wrestling with the way to summon forth what each of my characters believes, and why they believe. It’s important to build in oppositions that feel genuine, because I don’t want to write a play that gives a leg up to the conservatives or the liberals, or what have you. Who wants to be so predictable?
Research is one thing, and it’s plenty easy to read the news for examples of people with firm beliefs about any number of hot-button items. Of course, good plays often work because one or more characters doggedly represent just one view only, which leads them to victory or destruction. I want my characters in the play I’m writing to be a little more conflicted than that. I want to create past experiences for them that inform their views and inner contradictions, and present them with options or choices with which they will become truly uncomfortable. I guess there’s nothing earth-shattering in this, but the question always remains, “Where does one find these conflicts?”
I like what playwright Charles Mee writes about this topic:
“I don’t write “political plays” in the usual sense of the term; but I write out of the belief that we are creatures of our history and culture and gender and politics—that our beings and actions arise from that complex of influences and forces and motivations, that our lives are more rich and complex than can be reduced to a single source of human motivation.”
He goes on, and I recommend you read it and explore his website – it’s a treasure trove of information and plays. But what Mee says at the end, that our lives are more rich and complex than can be reduced to a single source of motivation is really the gold nugget here. But I think what is true is that within each of us is a well of information about our characters, their oppositions, and motivations. Part of the experience of writing is digging away the top layer of self-professed “I believe” statements and unearthing the events and choices that led us to such statements of certainty. Think about anything you’re sure of, and think back to a time when you weren’t so sure. What happened? What are the seminal events in a life that tip the scales? As I read most of my favorite plays, it is these moments that are most significant in the way that we see a character change. It’s less about research and more about introspection.
Use the force, Luke.
