Bold Problems (Young Playwrights Programme)
The following blog is from an article I wrote for the Bunbury Banter Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Programme, published on the 18th of March, 2020.
Stories can be impactful, they should be impactful, but it's important to know what kind of impact you're trying to make.
I used to think stories were just fun. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but I when I was a kid reading and watching and listening and seeing, I didn't think they meant anything.
When I wrote stories it would involve a cast of characters from the "bad" side and a cast of characters from the "good" side. When I was asked what they were fighting over, the answer was simple; World Domination. The Villains were evil and they fought to take over the world and hurt the good guys, while the Heroes were virtuous and sought to protect the way things are and to put the bad guys in jail. It ain't much, but it's honest work.
I didn't understand back then that there were real problems to fight over, that there could be nuanced conflicts, that my stories could be used for more than just fun and could actually tell a story that meant something. I quite literally had the black and white morality of a child, it was just the way I thought things were.
In our first workshop, we met with and worked with international award-winning playwright Oliver Emanuel who taught us the concept of "Bold Image plus Big Problem".
The idea is that if you want an interesting premise that'll hook the audience, create a memorable scene, and propel the plot forward, you should find these two things. Find a visual, something unique and noteworthy. A view could include character, setting, props, actions, plot devices, expressions, lighting, blocking, or more to create a striking effect upon the audience. Then, find an issue, a predicament or concern that will be the theme of the story. This is best if it's a problem that you have a personal connection with. The more meaningful the issue is, the more you will care to see it handled with justice.
Once these two have been found, the story can be worked out. With these, the audience will have an interesting memorable show with a important and meaningful story, creating a thought-provoking play altogether. I found this great, I really needed to learn to create more catching and unique images and I love incorporating important and impactful messages. The former is something I need to work on, and the latter is something I've been working on for a while.
As a young teenager I started to realise that life wasn't between good people trying to save what is and the bad trying to destroy everything. Things were far more complicated and the issues were far more specific.
No one in real life is seeking world domination or the death of all humanity, imperialists and nihilists aside. Instead issues involved more philosophical and sociological dilemmas; action versus inaction, deontology (morality of the action) versus consequentialism (the ends justifying the means), collectivism versus individualism, progressivism versus regressivism, optimism versus pessimism, liberalism versus bigotry, nationalism verus globalism, pro-choice versus pro-life, peace versus war, public interests versus corporate interests, being open versus being secretive, being kind versus being mean, socialism versus capitalism versus communism versus anarchy versus other ideals, selfishness versus altruism, and all the specific sociopolitical issues we face today. The world is full of conflicts and most of them are not about pure good and pure evil.
As I grew up and witnessed more discourse and debates on the issues that define the world we live in, I began to develop beliefs and values of my own and I started to understand the power I had as a writer.
When I first started coming up with ideas about a story following a vigilante fighting a terrorist, I didn't have any tangible political or ethical beliefs that I wanted to express. By the time I finished outlining the story over a year later, I had rounded the characters out to represent certain sets of values. The vigilante was a do-gooder stopping crime and upholding the law from outside the law, the terrorist a fanatic who sees corruption and systemic biases as the real crimes and uses extreme force to shift the world to be better. The outline set up both as immoral but in different ways, with the vigilante learning to overcome their moral flaws and become a more nuanced and morally aware character. I would not have been able to do this the year earlier.
Since I have started to understand the power of stories, the impact they could have, the ability to change just one person's opinion on issues, I have worked to ensure that every story I write has an important and meaningful message. Stories, and life itself, is and are made of meaningful conflicts and social issues that should be utilized to engage with the audience and to try and make the world a better place.
Now I am working on being able to create a bold image, but I am happy to know that I am far from short on big problems, there are a lot in our world, and I like to think that I am doing my part to help resolve them. No matter how small a story may seem, they are impactful, they are important, they are powerful. And so am I.
