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| About the Author |
Writing For The Stage
by Bill Johnson
The following reviews are written to set out how these plays are structured to create compelling theatre. The goal is that playwrights can use this understanding in their plays to set a story and plot into motion with a play's opening scenes.
The Passion and Power of Love & Hate -- A Review of Romeo and Juliet.
A review of Shakespeare's play about tragic love. A scene by scene breakdown of Act One that conveys how the story
and plot are set in motion.
The Iceman Cometh.
A review of Eugene O'Neill's play about pipe dreams.
'night, Mother.
Marsha Norman's brilliant play about a mother, a daughter, a suicide.
The Heidi Chronicles
A review of the play by Wendy Wasserstein that demonstrates how to write a play of ideas.
Death of a Salesman
A review of the play by Arthur Miller. A powerful story that revolves around the idea that one's
life can be shaped by the power of one's beliefs.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
A review of the play by Edward Albee. This review explores how the ambiguity of the story happens within the context of some
very concrete plot questions that allow viewers to track the course and outcome of the story.
The Narrative Tension of Hamlet
An exploration of how this play by Shakespeare generates narrative tension for its main character. Should
he act on what he knows, or not?
Full copies of my reviews of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Iceman Cometh, and the Heidi Chronicles can now be downloaded from Smashwords for .99,
Mastering Story Structure, A guide for writing unforgettable plays.
This workbook is available for Kindle, as an HTML file, and a PDF.
