Š Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115 September 2005 No portion of this Teacher Curriculum Guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education. Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick, Director of Education Huntington Theatre Company 264 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115
Limelight
teacher literary & curriculum guide
HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY
Nicholas Martin
IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director
Michael Maso Managing Director
Table of Contents STAFF
Table of Contents 3
Synopsis
4
Every Good Playwright Deserves Favor
5
Tom Stoppard on the Art of Theatre
6
Stoppard’s Obsession with Language
6
Stoppard and the Huntington
7
The Storyteller’s Game: Plays Within Plays
8
The Business of Entertainment and Politics
Ilana Brownstein,
9
A Tom Stoppard Chronology
Literary Manager
10 Audience Etiquette
This Teacher Literary and Curriculum Guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by Marissa Jones, Education Consultant
With contributions by Donna Glick, Director of Education
10 Background/Objectives Justin Waldman, Artistic Associate
11 Preparation and Key Issues 13 Mastery Assessment
Melinda Jaz,
14 Open Response and Writing
Education Associate
15 Further Exploration 16 Media Assessment
Amanda Rota, Education Department Manager
17 Questions for After the Performance 18 Lesson Plans
Melissa Wagner-O’Malley,
20 Handout 1: Vocabulary
Layout & Design
21 Handout 2: Playwriting - Getting Started
Exclusive Television Partner:
The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard Directed by Evan Yionoulis B.U. Theatre September 9 - October 9, 2005
SYNOPSIS
The Real Thing M
arriages are unraveling — we see it happen as the first scene of The Real Thing unfolds. It’s not the adultery-tainted relationship in front of us that’s grinding to a halt, but rather the ones playing out behind the scenes. Stoppard’s playwithin-a-play trick of the opening tableau is a set-up, a metaphor for what will shortly follow: the dissolution of unions between Henry and Charlotte, Annie and Max. These relationships, like the one we see play-acted in the first scene, can’t quite live up to being “the real thing.” Henry is an intellectual playwright whose current obsession is his upcoming celebrity guest appearance on “Desert Island Disks,” a radio program where he’ll discuss the eight albums he’d most like to have if stranded on a desert island. Henry prefers frothy pop classics to the highbrow symphonies favored by Charlotte, his actress wife, claiming The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” is truer to life thanks to its lack of pretension. But Henry himself is not true: he’s having an affair with Annie, another actress. Charlotte is co-starring with Annie’s husband Max in Henry’s Noël Coward-esque play, House of Cards, a study of love and betrayal. Charlotte finds Henry’s dramatization of love hollow, and indeed, Henry himself admits the difficulty of writing about love, noting “Loving and being loved is very unliterary.” Henry leaves Charlotte and marries Annie, who has also left Max. Annie, meanwhile, is true to her own cause: the Justice for Brodie Committee, a group supporting the case of a young military private jailed for attacking policemen at a demonstration and defacing a public monument. Public interest in Brodie has fizzled, but Annie clings to him, encouraging Brodie to champion his own cause by writing a play. She enlists a bitterly reluctant Henry to help make Brodie’s atrociously amateur script more believable. As the months pass, betrayals mount, commitments fail, and Henry’s life is further complicated by the appearance of Billy, a dashing young actor appearing with Annie in John Ford’s classic comedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. As was true at the beginning of the play, Henry’s world on stage and the world at home imitate each other, as Henry tries to come to terms with finding and holding onto “the real thing,” the truth of love in life and art. – SH
Sketch of Tom Stoppard; Dr. Miriam Stoppard, 1982
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EVERY GOOD PLAYWRIGHT DESERVES FAVOR
Tom Stoppard’s Life in the Theatre T om Stoppard was born Tomás´` Straussler on July 3, 1937 in Zlin, Czechslovakia, the second son of Dr. Eugene and Martha Straussler. When the future playwright was two, Dr. Straussler led the family to Singapore with other Jewish doctors ahead of the Nazi invasion. Subsequently forced to flee the Japanese in 1942, Mrs. Straussler and the children were evacuated to Darjeeling, India, but Dr. Straussler was reportedly aboard a prison boat sunk by the Japanese. In 1946 Martha Straussler married Kenneth Stoppard, a major in the British army stationed in India, who adopted her children. The family moved from India to the English port city of Bristol, and Tomás´` attended boarding schools in Notthinghamshire and Yorkshire. At seventeen, choosing to bypass higher education, he plunged into local journalism, working first for the Western Daily Press and later at the Bristol Evening World, for which he eventually began to write theatre reviews. In the early 1960s Tom Stoppard moved to London where he pursued criticism,
Tom Stoppard; photo: Dr. Miriam Stoppard
The romance and realism of The Real Thing was a turning point in Stoppard’s career. According to some it also was a turning point in his personal life... wrote over 130 reviews for Scene magazine, and began to write plays. After several years, the results included short stories, radio dramas, and a novel, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon. Stoppard was catapulted to international fame in 1967 by 4
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the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which, after opening in Edinburgh to a rave notice from critic Kenneth Tynan, was produced at London’s Old Vic by the National Theatre and went on to win numerous awards, including a Tony
Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle prize. Since then, Stoppard has written prolifically in several mediums, with over sixty produced works in stage, film, television, and radio. His full-length
plays include Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, and The Coast of Utopia trilogy, which will have its American premiere at the Lincoln Center Theater in late 2006. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Travesties, and The Real Thing all received Tony Awards for Best Play. Shorter dramatic works by Stoppard include The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, and Dirty Linen. The romance and realism of The Real Thing was a turning point in Stoppard’s career. According to some it also was a turning point in his personal life, paralleling his divorce from Miriam Stoppard and his new relationship with The Real Thing star Felicity Kendal. And though Stoppard often refers to himself as an apolitical writer, he has consistently defended human rights and freedom of expression in his work. In the 1970s, he wrote the play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and the television play Professional Foul in response to human rights abuses in the Soviet bloc. Stoppard’s numerous adaptations and translations of classic plays by nonEnglish writers include On the Razzle, based on a play of Johann Nestroy; Undiscovered Country, based on the play by Arthur Schnitzler; and Rough Crossing, a reworking of Play at the Castle by Ferenc Molnar. Stoppard’s screenplays include The Human Factor; Brazil, for which he received an Academy Award nomination along with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown; The Russia House; Billy Bathgate; Empire of the Sun; Shakespeare in Love, for which he won an Academy Award along with co-writer Marc Norman; and Enigma. He regularly serves as a screenwriting consultant for Hollywood directors, including Steven Spielberg. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to English culture, Tom Stoppard was awarded a knighthood in 1997, becoming the first British playwright in a quarter of a century to enjoy such an honor. – SH
Tom Stoppard on the Art of Theatre Tom Stoppard is a man of many words. Scott Horstein, Literary Manager for the Cornerstone Theatre Company, culled the best and most revealing of Stoppard’s comments on playwriting and his view of the theatre. On Theatre and the Process of Writing Theatre is a recreation. It can be much more, but unless it’s recreation, I don’t see the point of it. I write plays from beginning to end, without making stabs at intermediate scenes, so the first thing I write is the first line of the play. By that time I have formed some idea of the set but I don’t write that down. I don’t write down anything which I can keep in my head — stage directions and so on. When I have gotten to the end of the play — which I write with a fountain pen; you can’t scribble with a typewriter — there is almost nothing on the page except what people say. Then I dictate the play, ad-libbing all the stage directions into a tape machine from which my secretary transcribes the first script. When you write a play, it makes a certain kind of noise in your head, and for me rehearsals are largely the process of trying to reproduce that noise. On Wordplay Outshining the Subject Matter I think that [the criticism that my plays are superficially brilliant, witty, full of wonderful repartee, but lacking in emotional depth is] — you know, is a reasonable thing to say about them, except insofar as it doesn’t question the premise, that emotion is better than not emotion. I don’t really understand the premise. You could ask precisely that question of the author of The Importance of Being Earnest [Oscar Wilde]. And he might be quite surprised to be asked it, and you might be quite surprised to find yourself asking it. It’s a work of genius, that play. I’ve written stuff, funny enough, a play called Travesties which cannibalizes part of The Importance of Being Earnest, of which one would say exactly that, you know — it’s too smart for its own good, it’s got no real emotional heart, and I’m quite interested by the premise that that’s not as good as making people weep. And then I think, ‘Well, all right, that’s actually quite an intelligible criticism,’ because that’s what theatre is best at, to just get through to your innermost heart, and just expose it for a moment. …I think that Shakespeare in Love is as successful as it is because it is capable of bringing a tear, more than for its capability of bringing a chuckle. On Fame and Celebrity Oh, I like it. The advantages are psychological, social and material. The first because I don’t have to worry about who I am — I am the man who has written these plays. The social advantages appeal to half of me because there are two of me: the recluse and the fan. And the fan in me is still thrilled to meet people I admire. As for the material side, I like having some money. The best way to gauge wealth is to consider the amount of money which you can spend thoughtlessly — a casual purchase which simply doesn’t register. The really rich can do it in Cartier’s; I’m quite happy if I can do it in a good bookshop or a good restaurant. On Identity This whole Czech thing about me has gotten wildly out of hand. I wasn’t two years old when I left the country and I was back one week in 1977. I went to an English school and was brought up English. So I don’t feel Czech. I like how [Czech playwright and former President Vaclav] Havel writes. When I first came across his work, I though The Memorandum was a play I’d like to have written, and you don’t think that of many plays. And when I met him I loved him as a person. I met other writers there I liked and admired, and I felt their situation keenly. But I could have gotten onto the wrong plane and landed in Poland or Paraguay and felt the same about writers’ situations there. Responses culled from Stoppard’s 1999 lecture “Pragmatic Theatre” at the New York Public Library, interviews on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and with Shusha Guppy in Playwrights at Work, and Thinkexist.com.
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Stoppard’s Obsession with Language T he word “obsession” often refers to love and eroticism. But for Tom Stoppard, obsession with love means obsession with language. Stoppard’s characters wrestle with words that mean profoundly different things to different people in different situations. In The Real Thing, obsession, seduction, love, and language all become equally confusing, as in this excerpt: HENRY: When was I ever moody? ANNIE: Whenever you get seduced from your work. HENRY: You mean the other afternoon? ANNIE: What other afternoon? No, I don’t mean seduced, for God’s sake. Can’t you think about anything else? HENRY: Certainly. Like what? ANNIE: I mean ‘seduced’, like when you’re seduced by someone on the television. HENRY: I’ve never been seduced on the television.
ANNIE: You were seduced by Miranda Jessop on the television. HENRY: Professional duty.
ANNIE: If she hadn’t been in it, you wouldn’t have watched that play if they’d come round and done it for you on the carpet. Stoppard’s wordplay signifies more than writerly noodling. His characters truly cannot agree on what a given word means. One could fault the characters for their misunderstandings, rather than faulting language itself, yet conflict in Stoppard’s comedies always pivots around the failure of words. If not the cause of conflict, language is at least the medium and catalyst of it. The sprightliness of Stoppard’s dialogue has led to comparisons with Oscar Wilde, the great turn-of-the-century Victorian satirist. Wilde turned the doubleentendre into an entire dramatic genre, a portrait of Victorian London rupturing at its linguistic seams. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde destabilizes even the most basic of civilities and social mores:
Stoppard’s wordplay signifies more than writerly noodling. His characters truly cannot agree on what a given word means. LADY BRACKNELL: Good afternoon, dear Algernon, I hope you are behaving very well. ALGERNON: I’m feeling very well, Aunt Augusta. LADY B.: That’s not quite the same thing. In fact the two things rarely go together. (Sees Jack and bows to him with icy coldness.) ALGERNON: (To Gwendolen.) Dear me, you are smart! GWENDOLEN: I am always smart! Am I not, Mr. Worthing? JACK: You’re quite perfect, Miss Fairfax.
Stoppard and the Huntington The Huntington has a long and proud history with Tom Stoppard. The 1982 Boston premiere of Night and Day, Stoppard’s troubling portrait of contemporary British journalism, was the Huntington’s inaugural production. Since that time the Huntington has produced no fewer than five Stoppard plays: On the Razzle 1983-84; Jumpers 1986-87; Travesties 1990-91; Undiscovered Country 1992-93; and Arcadia 1996-97. Trivia buffs will be interested to note that aside from Shakespeare, August Wilson and Tom Stoppard share the distinction of being the most produced playwrights in Huntington history. – IMB
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GWENDOLEN: Oh! I hope I am not that. It would leave no room for developments, and I intend to develop in many directions. Both Wilde and Stoppard dramatize the chaos of language as a source of comedy. It may cause angst, and society is always halfway falling apart, but it’s ultimately the way we live. In the past, some critics accused Stoppard of trifling with words, but he
takes his fun seriously, following a long line of canonized Western writers obsessing over the uselessness of the English language. As industrialized cities have taken over Europe; as the senselessness of mechanized war has shattered artists’ faith in a shared, ruling morality; as the mechanics of daily life have drifted from the lyricism of personal experience, modernist wordsmiths have felt powerless to capture the reality of modern life. Stoppard critic Robert Wilcher singles out T.S. Eliot as a key influence on Stoppard in this regard, and cites the following passage from Eliot’s East Coker: Because one has only learnt to get the better of words For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate With shabby equipment always deteriorating In the general mess of imprecision of feeling, Undisciplined squads of emotion. To the list of writers in the Western canon commonly linked with Stoppard, one could easily add James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Noël Coward, Harold Pinter, Vaclav Havel, Eugene Ionesco, and Vladimir Nabokov. Like them, Stoppard plunders the ruins of the English language, resorting in The Real Thing to such old plays as ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, trying to piece together something that feels real, authentic. So while watching The Real Thing, look for those moments when characters fuss over a word. Look for the ways that words unexpectedly betray you. And look for the drama of talking to someone whose language you no longer share. – SH
Roger Rees and Felicity Kendal in the Strand Theatre production of The Real Thing, 1982
The Storyteller’s Game Plays Within Plays Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing is a curious beast: a play in which people perform a play. The fictional play, aptly titled House of Cards, is about love and betrayal, and about how relationships can tumble down to nothing, just as its title suggests. Even more interestingly, House of Cards is written by Henry — a character who quite resembles Stoppard himself — as he navigates his way into an affair he hopes will prove to be “the real thing” he seeks. The device of a story within which the characters tell a story is as old as stories themselves, from Odysseus recounting his voyage to the Phaeacians in the Odyssey (c.900-750 B.C.E.), to Scheherazade spinning 1001 nights of tales for the murderous King Shahryar (c.850 B.C.E.), to the famously raunchy Miller and his traveling companions regaling each other in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. One of the first instances of this kind of gesture in Western theatre may have occurred in Aristophanes’ The Clouds (423 B.C.E.), where Aristophanes mocks fellow playwright Euripides, calling his audience’s attention to the fact that The Clouds is nothing more than a dramatic construct. The world of the play is an artificial one, constructed to suit the playwright’s purposes. Shakespeare famously explored the transparency of dramatic narrative, and the sense that life feels like a play, in his “Murder of Gonzago” scene in Hamlet (c.1600). At Hamlet’s bidding, a traveling group of players enacts a play that mimics the treachery of Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, driving Claudius to flee the theatre and display his guilty conscience before all. In a more comic vein, Shakespeare portrayed a bumbling troupe of actors, or “mechanicals,” murdering a play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In The Versailles Impromptu (1663), Molière portrayed his company in the act of creating a play. Luigi Pirandello blasted open the modern possibilities of plays-within-plays in his Six Characters In Search of An Author (1921), where the actual embodied characters of a play in rehearsal invade the stage, arguing that they can portray themselves better than the actors employed to play them. This classic theatrical device continues to whet the appetites of modern playwrights, such as Michael Frayn in his behind-the-scenes farce Noises Off (1982), and will probably continue to, as long as life continues to feel like a stage. – SH
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THE BUSINESS OF ENTERTAINMENT
and Politics I
n The Real Thing, Brodie, a no-name enlisted soldier, is arrested at a demonstration against deployment of American missiles on English soil. His crime: burning a wreath at the Cenotaph, the tomb of the unknown soldier at Whitehall in London. His sentence: six years rotting in jail, prompting the creation of a Justice for Brodie Committee to get him out, which in turn leads him to write a play to promote his celebrity and his cause. Meanwhile Henry, a celebrated playwright, regales the English listening public with his picks for “Desert Island Disks,” a list of his favorite pop records. In the juxtaposition of these situations, Stoppard seems to ask us which is more appropriate: a political protestor writing a play to achieve celebrity, or a celebrity playwright as arbiter of pop music? For Henry, all public causes bear the taint of private lives. There is no such thing as a pure political cause. One’s personal life always compromises one’s integrity — trying to please one’s spouse, living in fear of one’s parents, and so forth. Henry therefore (like Tom Stoppard himself) prefers to keep his writing and his life apolitical. Henry’s argument expresses a common objection to celebrities entering political discourse. It’s not just that we question whether celebrities are well enough informed to exercise political influence, it’s that we often fundamentally question whether the role of entertainer, of crowd-pleaser, of professional aesthete, conflicts with the role of political figure. On the one hand, the public draws a hard line between entertainers and politics. On the other hand, society creates royalty and aristocracy out of 8
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...what qualifies a Shakespearean actress, or for that matter, an Austrian action star to lead the state?
The Cenotaph; photo: Sir Edwin Lutyens
entertainers and looks to them for guidance on the most personal of issues. Brodie takes violent political action in order to impress Annie, and gets six years in jail. Jane Fonda goes to Hanoi during a time of war, takes a provocative photograph, and thirty years later gets spat on by a Vietnam veteran. Buxom entertainer Samantha Fox (of “(Touch Me) I Want Your Body” pop infamy) goes with government blessing to Bosnia to “entertain the troops.” Arnold Schwarznegger makes muscle-bound action movies and becomes the most electable Republican in California. Tom Stoppard frequently refers to himself as an aesthetic conservative and an apolitical playwright, but the fact is he lives in a heavily politicized world, where not just public policy, but art and entertainment play a role in how we view our society. Stoppard doesn’t write polite dining room comedies. His plays ask hard questions about the limits of language and intention, and in their own way, represent a politics of language. Stoppard’s England has its own culture of public intellectualism and celebrity activism. The recent release of Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu brought statements from playwright Harold Pinter and actress Julie Christie. The great Royal Shakespeare Company actress Glenda Jackson is now a Minister of Parliament — and these events may lead us to ask, what qualifies a Shakespearean actress or, for that matter, an Austrian action star to lead the state? Politics always comes from a deeply personal need, just as art does. Both express a sense of engagement with not just how one’s personal life should be enjoyed but how we should all lead our lives together. “Public postures have the configuration of private derangement,” says Henry, paraphrasing W.H. Auden. So why throw the posture out with the derangement? – SH
1985
Brazil is released, the film Stoppard wrote with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeon.
1988
Hapgood premieres at the Aldwych Theatre.
1992
Stoppard’s marriage to Miriam Stoppard ends in divorce. He openly courts actress Felicity Kendal, who appeared in several of his previous productions, including The Real Thing. Stoppard writes the first version of the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love with Marc Norman.
1993
The National Theatre production of Arcadia opens.
1995
Indian Ink, a revision of his 1991 radio play, In the Native State, is produced in the UK.
1997
His adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull is performed at the Old Vic, and The National Theatre production of The Invention of Love opens at the Cottesloe Theatre. Stoppard is knighted and becomes Sir Tom Stoppard.
1998
Stoppard ends his relationship with Felicity Kendal. The film Shakespeare in Love opens to acclaim.
1999
Stoppard wins an Academy Award for his screenplay of Shakespeare in Love.
2000
The Broadway revival of The Real Thing, starring Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle, wins Tony Awards for Best Revival and for both its stars.
2002
The National Theatre production of The Coast of Utopia opens at the Olivier Theatre.
2004
Stoppard’s adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s Henry IV opens at the Donmar Warehouse, London.
2005
The Huntington production of The Real Thing opens the season at the B.U. Theatre. – SH
Tom Stoppard at the Windamere Hotel, Darjeeling; photo: Karan Kapoor, 1990
A TOM STOPPARD
Chronology 1937
Tomás´` Straussler is born to Jewish parents in Zlin, Czechoslovakia.
1939
Tomás´` ’ family flees the Nazi invasion, moving to Singapore.
1942
The Strausslers flee Singapore for India before the Japanese invasion, but Tomás´` ’ father is killed in the process.
1945
Martha Straussler marries Kenneth Stoppard, a British Army officer stationed in India.
1946
The Stoppards return to England.
1963
Stoppard’s first play, Walk on the Water, is filmed for television, signaling the beginning of his career as a radio and screenplay writer.
1964
While in Germany, Stoppard writes a one-act play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear.
1965
Stoppard marries Jose Ingle, a nurse.
1966
Stoppard’s radio and television work continues to achieve success. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a revision of the earlier one-act play, is performed in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
1967
The National Theatre production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern opens at the Old Vic, and the U.S. premiere wins the Tony Award for Best Play of the Year.
1972
The National Theatre production of Jumpers opens in London. Stoppard divorces Jose Ingle, and marries Miriam Moore-Robinson.
1974 1975
The Royal Shakespeare Company produces Travesties in London. Travesties wins the Tony Award for Best Play.
1976-7 Stoppard addresses a rally in Trafalgar Square, protesting the treatment of Soviet dissidents, and travels to the U.S.S.R. with Amnesty International. 1979
1984
Stoppard has four plays running simultaneously in London’s West End. The U.S. premiere of The Real Thing, starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close, wins the Tony Award for Best Play.
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BU Theatre by T. Charles Erickson
Audience Etiquette Because many students have not had the opportunity to view live theatre, we are including an audience etiquette section with each literary/curriculum guide. Teachers, please spend time on this subject since it will greatly enhance your students’ experience at the theatre. 1. How does one respond to a live performance of a play, as opposed to when seeing a film at a local cinema? What is the best way to approach viewing a live performance of a play? What things should you look and listen for? 2. What is the audience’s role during a live performance? How do you think audience behavior can affect an actor’s performance? 3. What do you know about the theatrical rehearsal process? Have you ever participated in one as an actor, singer, director, or technical person? 4. How do costumes, set, lights, sound and props enhance a theatre production?
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Glenn Close and Peter Gallagher in the original Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984; photo: Martha Swope
BACKGROUND
& Objectives H
enry, a brilliant and successful playwright, spends much of his time creating complicated romances, on the stage and in real life. But after an affair leads to the end of his first marriage, he struggles to find words for love and to preserve his new relationship from spoiling. His solution is to write for love rather than to write about love, which results in dissatisfaction for all involved. Caught in a complex maze of performances and flawed relationships, Henry must try, along with the audience, to discover “the real thing” in love and life.
Objectives Students will: 1. Identify key issues in The Real Thing including: • love and commitment • the purpose of art in society • life imitating art / art imitating life 2. Relate themes and issues in The Real Thing to their own lives. 3. Analyze the themes and issues within the geographical, historical, and social context of the play. 4. Participate in hands-on activities that enhance understanding of the production. 5. Evaluate the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of The Real Thing.
PREPARATION FOR
The Real Thing
3. The end of his marriage to Miriam Moore-Robinson, and his affair with the leading lady of The Real Thing, Felicity Kendal in 1992 4. Stoppard’s sentiment, “I really dig words more than I can speak them. There are no words to say how much I love [words]” 5. Stoppard’s personal viewpoints on politics and the impact his plays have had beyond art and entertainment Ask students to share their paragraphs with the class. Create a list of themes and main ideas emerging from their work.
Tom Stoppard at San Diego University for his production of Cahoot’s Macbeth, 1981
TOM STOPPARD As an overview, read aloud “Tom Stoppard’s Life in the Theatre” (P. 4) from the literary guide. In groups, ask students to connect what they know about the play with the playwright’s life. How did his professional, educational, and familial background inform The Real Thing? What aspects of the play seem closely tied to his personal experiences and artistic expertise? Speculate as to what questions motivated him to write this play. Ask students
to look over the literary supplement for additional information about the playwright and his writing style. Suggest that students write a well-planned paragraph about the significance of Stoppard’s contribution to Western theatre. Additional research may be required. Suggested points of interest include: 1. The success of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) 2. Stoppard’s television, film and radio work
STOPPARD AND HUMAN RIGHTS Henry’s reluctance to support Annie’s work on the Brodie Committee or write Private Brodie’s play may not accurately reflect or capture Tom Stoppard’s interest in political dissidents. While Stoppard is described as a apolitical playwright, his career included various projects with Amnesty International, and his affiliations with the Committee against Psychiatric Abuse and Index on Censorship inspired him to write articles and letters about human rights violations. Perhaps his most politically charged work, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977), marked him as a playwright with concern for politics. The play, accompanied by an orchestra, tells the story of a political dissident sent to a Soviet mental hospital. Why does Stoppard include Brodie and his story in The Real Thing? What does Henry’s discussion of Brodie’s activities and his writing contribute to the discovery of “the real thing”? Do you think The Real Thing is a political play? Why or why not? Information collected from Tom Stoppard: Biographical Sketch from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
KEY ISSUES Love and Commitment Henry claims that the concept of love is “unliterary,” yet the play is filled with his Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006
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clever attempts to translate it into words. He refers to love at one point as “the sensation that the universe [is] dispensable minus one,” and at another point as “happiness expressed in banality and lust.” These definitions portray love as a fleeting, sexual infatuation that predictably comes and goes. Do you think Henry really believes this? Henry is surprised to learn that his ex-wife Charlotte cheated on him with nine different lovers. His expression of surprise and pain suggest that, according to Henry, love should involve some level of commitment. Charlotte says “there are no commitments, only bargains.” She does not believe that lovers should be expected to bear the weight of neglect, selfishness, and isolation. In Henry’s second marriage, Annie suggests that the very purpose of commitments is to bear that weight: “I have to choose who I hurt and I choose you because I’m yours.” After reading The Real Thing, a play replete with broken commitments, which character’s view seems more persuasive? The play itself does not take a single position on love or commitment; it presents many perspectives and leaves them in tension. Do you think this approach enables love to become “literary”?
The Purpose of Art in Society Henry is a wordsmith and deeply respects the power of language. Annie calls him a snob, an intellectual elite who cherishes wordplay more than the “guts” of the story that needs to be told. She accuses him of writing to be clever, not because he has something important to say. Yet Henry counters with an interesting point: when words are used perfectly they have the potential to “move the world” in ways that clumsy or overtly political language cannot. Do you think Henry believes that art should be used to push for political or social reform, or does he have an “art for art’s sake” mentality? Remember that Henry’s reverence for 12
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Original cast and crew for Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984
should it just keep the audience entertained?
Playbill for original Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984
technical expertise does not extend to all areas of the arts. For example, he prefers pop music to more complex classical and operatic forms. He also dismisses screenwriting as not involving “words” in the way that playwriting does. What is your own view of the purpose of art — should it promote a political agenda, should it reflect on the beauty or ugliness of life, or
Life Imitating Art / Art Imitating Life Stoppard uses the technique of a “play within a play” repeatedly in The Real Thing. At times it seems as if the internal performances are being mirrored in the characters’ real lives, and vice versa. In the opening scene (from House of Cards), the husband confronts his wife about his suspicions that she has been unfaithful. She has not taken her passport for international travel, and therefore, it seems, has lied about taking a trip. Relationships throughout the course of the story erupt with similar accusations — Max finds Henry’s handkerchief in Annie’s car, Charlotte’s new boyfriend wants to know why she has taken her birth control on a trip away from him, and Henry catches Annie in a lie about a train schedule. Interestingly, Stoppard’s own marriage ended with an extra-marital affair. He betrayed his wife by having a relationship with the leading lady of The Real Thing in 1992. For the characters in this play, what seems to be the most accurate statement, “life imitates art” or “art imitates life”? Support your answer.
MASTERY
Assessment SCENE ONE 1. What is Max building when Charlotte comes home? What is the symbolic significance when it collapses?
SCENE 4 11. What gift did Henry promise Annie? Why is he having difficulty finishing it?
2. What does Charlotte do for a living? How does the audience learn this fact?
12. Who is Miranda Jessop? How does Annie feel about her?
3. Why does Max think Charlotte has lied about her trip? How does their fight end?
13. Why is “jealousy” important to Annie?
SCENE TWO 4. In the following scene, Charlotte is with another man, named Henry. Why is Charlotte upset that Henry has invited Max over? (Does your answer to this question change after reading the scene in its entirety?) 5. What does Henry do for a living? What is the significance of the “list” he is trying to finish? 6. Why is Henry embarrassed about his music taste, and why is this problematic for his appearance on Desert Island Discs? 7. Annie is the wife of Max. What is the nature of her relationship with Henry? 8. Annie is on the “Brodie Committee.” Who is Private Brodie? What was the crime he is accused of? 9. How does Henry insult Annie? After Max and Charlotte leave the room, what excuse does he give Annie for his rude behavior?
SCENE 3 10. How does Max discover Annie’s betrayal? Besides admitting to the affair, what does Annie say that leaves no hope for reconciliation?
SCENE FIVE 14. According to the stage directions, how much time has passed since the end of Act One? Why has Stoppard suggested a time lapse between these scenes but not between any of the preceding ones? 15. Private Brodie is working on a play. What is he writing about? Does Henry think its any good? Why doesn’t Henry want to write the play for Brodie?
SCENE SIX 16. Billy finds Annie on the train. How do they know each other? Where is Annie going and for what reason? 17. What are Billy and Annie quoting at the end of the scene? What is the significance?
SCENE SEVEN 18. What is the family crisis troubling Henry? How does Charlotte respond? What does Debbie call her father, and does this bother him? 19. Where is Debbie going? How does Charlotte ensure that Debbie will keep in touch? 20. Describe the conversation between Henry and Debbie. What advice or message is he trying to convey? Debbie interrupts Henry during one of his speeches and says, “Don’t write it, Fa.
Just say it.” What advice is Debbie giving to her father?
SCENE EIGHT 21. During scene eight, Billy and Annie are rehearsing. Why does the author’s note suggest the scene be played twice? SCENE NINE 22. How does Henry figure out Annie is lying to him? Who has Annie been spending her time with? How does this scene mirror the scene from Henry’s play, House of Cards? SCENE TEN 23. Brodie’s play is being produced, but for what medium? Who have been cast as the actors for the production? SCENE ELEVEN 24. Is Annie in love with Billy? How does Henry respond when Annie suggests ending the affair? Who does Annie want to be in a romantic relationship with? SCENE TWELVE 25. Brodie visits Annie and Henry. What is the purpose of their meeting? Why does Brodie think he was released from prison? 26. Why isn’t Brodie appreciative of Annie and Henry’s efforts with regard to the production of his play? 27. What news does Max share in a telephone call with Henry and Annie at the end of the play? Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006
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OPEN RESPONSE
and Writing Instructions for students: Please answer the following as thoroughly as possible. Remember to use topic sentences and examples from the text.
OPEN RESPONSE ASSESSMENT Why do you think Stoppard titled this play The Real Thing? What is “the real thing”? Henry wants to impart something he has learned about love to his daughter, but she has already developed her own feelings and ideas about romantic relationships. While she may be willing to listen to her father, she seems less willing to change what she is about to do. After looking more closely at their conversation, consider the tension created in this scene. Have your parents or other adult figures in your life tried to speak with you about a difficult or sensitive subject? What did you discover during these talks — that your views were closely aligned with theirs, or that your personal experiences led you to different conclusions? Contrast Henry’s struggle to create “high art” with his “embarrassing” enjoyment of pop music. What is “high art”? Is it possible for high art to become part of popular culture? In an attempt to please Annie, Henry writes Private Brodie’s play, even though he considers the story trite and mundane. Brodie is unhappy with the final product, and says that Henry’s motives for writing the piece were impure. Did anything positive come out of the creation of this play? Might its creation have caused more harm than good for Brodie’s message and for Henry’s personal relationship with Annie? Henry is concerned that his 17-year-old daughter is running off with a musician. When he attempts to discuss his “pre14
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cepts” about love and relationships, Debbie responds, “Too late, Fa. Love you.” Do you notice the ambiguity in these parting words? Does she mean it is too late for her father’s opinions and judgments to influence the course of her life? Or does she want her father to know that she is comfortable with her decisions because they already reflect the lessons she has learned from him? Annie betrays Henry by becoming romantically involved with Billy, a young co-actor. Discuss how Henry’s discovery of their relationship is a moment in which “life imitates art.” Do you have any friends or family members whom you know so well that you can finish their sentences? Are they able to find the word that you say is “on the tip of my tongue”? During these conversations, what enables a bridge of communication to form between your two minds? Is there a natural pattern or order to your dialogue with which others can become familiar? Have you ever had the opposite experience in which someone attempted to finish your sentence and you responded, “No, that’s not quite what I meant?” What accounts for the miscommunication? Henry’s mastery of language often frustrates other characters in The Real Thing. How do Charlotte, Max, Annie, and Debbie converse with Henry without becoming tongue-tied? What strategies do they enlist to counteract Henry’s ability to expose the ambiguity in the words they choose to express their feelings? Do you think Henry finds it difficult to separate his own speech from the lines that he writes for actors? Is he constantly using his “real” conversations as fodder for his next play, or is it simply that he wishes
Tom Stoppard after winning the Academy Award for best screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, 1999
real people would speak as cleverly as he writes?
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS Although Private Brodie was disappointed with Henry’s attempt to write his play, it was interesting enough to attract the attention of television producers. Do you think Henry’s play had any artistic merit? How would you define “art”? What qualities or characteristics must a creative work have in order to be classified as art? Use one of the following lines from The Real Thing as a topic for a short essay: CHARLOTTE: Having all the words to come back with just as you need them. That’s the difference between plays and real life — thinking time.
HENRY: Public postures have the configuration of private derangement.
FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION
HENRY: I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you’re dead.
Desert Island Discs was created in 1942 by Roy Plomley, and is one of BBC ‘s (British Broadcasting Corporation) longest-running and most popular shows. Each week a guest is invited onto the show to share the eight albums he/she would take to a desert island. In The Real Thing, Henry struggles to produce a list of albums that he feels will not embarrass him or call into question his credibility as an artist. Imagine that you were stranded on a deserted island, but were only allowed to choose two books, two CDs, two movies, and two videogames. What titles would you choose and why would you choose them? The dramaturg serves as a resource for directors, actors and the company producing a play. The dramaturg provides important background information and other details about the play, which are useful to the artists interpreting the story, be they designers or understudies. If you were assigned to be the dramaturg for a production of The Real Thing, what research and visual stimulation would you provide for the director and actors at the first rehearsal? Would you provide information about other famous plays by Stoppard, or play music by Buddy Holly or Strauss? Henry believes that words are “sacred” and that it is important to use them with care. He suggests that inappropriate use of words leads to prejudice and disaster. Annie questions his intellectual honesty and counters with the idea that “who wrote it, why he wrote it, and where he wrote it” are important characteristics to consider when evaluating a written work. Imagine that you are an editor at one of your favorite magazines and are handed two articles written on the same topic: the devastation due to drought, famine and disease facing Niger, a region in Africa. The first article is written by a free-lance journalist with credentials from Harvard and Yale. Her article is in perfect format and can be immediately published. Her facts are accurate and she brilliantly captures the horror she observed while in Niger. The second article is written by a 17-year old Nigerian boy who has been studying English for the past five years. The text is rough, but his accounts are first-hand and he has been personally affected by the tragedy. His article will need weeks of editing and revisions, and will ultimately lack the professional quality of the first article. Which story do you choose to publish? Do you go with the first article, a first-rate page-turner or do you give voice to a devastated individual living the story?
DEBBIE: Exclusive rights isn’t love, it’s colonization. HENRY: It’s no trick loving somebody at their best. Love is loving them at their worst. Henry insists that he is moved by top thirty songs on the music chart, but has no interest in “real” music. At the same time he believes that “words are sacred,” and that “they deserve respect.” Why is he able to appreciate music that is not labeled “high art,” but has difficulty tolerating Private Brodie’s attempt at playwriting? Shouldn’t the rules for writing be the same for all areas of art, including music? During a train ride, Annie explains to Billy that she doesn’t believe in the “class system.” She thinks people group together because they have something in common, not because the economy and social structure pushes them together. Do you agree with her reasoning? Why or why not? How do you feel at the end of the play? Do you feel that each of the characters “got what they deserved”? Are there victims in this story? Winners? Write an epilogue in which you describe the whereabouts of each character ten years later. Assuming that the following is true, “war is profits, politicians are puppets, Parliament is a farce, justice is a fraud, property is theft,” and that these facts have been the source of countless books, plays and newspaper articles, what possible good might come from continuing to write about these topics? Is it possible to say the same thing in a new way, and in a way that can inspire change?
Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006
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MEDIA
Assessment
British pop band Herman’s Hermits
These questions and hands-on exercises are interactive challenges in Drama, Visual Art, Music, Dance, and Design that inspire further consideration or understanding of the play.
MEDIA ASSESSMENT These questions and hands-on exercises are interactive challenges in Drama, Visual Arts, Dance, Music and Design that inspire further consideration or understanding of the play. Drama Divide the class into four groups, and ask them not to confer with each other during the course of the exercise. Choose a single scene for all four groups to perform. After each group performs in front of the rest of the class, ask them to consider the following questions: 16
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1. Compare the characterizations in each scene. Which group was most successful at portraying the characters’ intentions? Which group captured the underlying subtext of the scene most accurately? Which actors grabbed the audience’s attention with their moving stage presence? 2. For each performance, what were the three key or decisive moments of the scene? Why were these moments particularly important to the progression of the scene? Choose a line important to the theme of the scene or of the play as a whole. How did each actor “read” this line differently? What physicalities, vocalization or intentions made this moment differ from scene to scene?
Visual Art 1. Ask students to create a poster design for the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of The Real Thing using the media with which they feel most comfortable (photography, paints, collage, etc.). Encourage students to consider texture and color when making decisions about how best to represent this play. Suggest to students that this poster will be used to advertise the production in and around the Boston area. How might you catch a prospective audience member’s eye? What images or pictures would be appropriate to use in this advertising campaign, symbols that reflect The Real Thing? After students have completed their design, ask them to share their work with
the class. Compare these designs with the official production poster at the Huntington Theatre. Also consider researching online posters from other productions of The Real Thing. 2. Ask students to choose a character from the play. Create a collage out of paper, drawings, magazine and newspaper clippings that represent the character in his/her actions, relationships, attitudes, personality, etc. Include quotations from the play that reveal something about the character. These can be quotations from the character as well as quotations about the character. Ask students to share their work with the class. By picking out the qualities of each collage, have them guess which character in the play each collage represents.
Music/Dance Students should research Henry’s favorite pop music classics, including songs by The Ronettes, Herman’s Hermits, the Hollies, the Everly Brothers, and the Supremes. After listening to selections that seem to be consistent with Henry’s music tastes, the class should then select the piece of music that they feel best represents the play as a whole. Ask students with previous dance experience to help shape choreography for the class to perform. Allow time for students to talk about the process they used in creating, rehearsing and performing their dance. Design Students should research various types of theatre designs, and determine which space would be best for a production of The Real Thing. How do you accommodate the “play within a play,” creating the allusion of being at the theatre while being in the theatre? Create a design for the ideal theatre space for this production, keeping practical considerations in mind, such as lighting, sound and scenery change needs.
QUESTIONS FOR AFTER
Attending the Performance Note to teachers: After viewing the play, ask the following questions: 1. About the Play and Production A. What was your overall reaction? Were you surprised? Intrigued? Amused? Explain your reactions. How was the play structured? Did it build to a single climax? Was it episodic? Did this structure help or hinder your understanding of the play? Was the dialogue interesting? Appropriate? Poetic? Were you aware of the imagery and symbolism during the course of the play? Would you have been aware of these devices without previous preparation? B. Was the pace and tempo of the production effective and appropriate?
2. About the Characters A. Did the characters touch you personally in any way? Did you care about them? B. Were the characters three-dimensional and believable? C. Were the motivations of the characters clear? D. What qualities were revealed by the action and speech of the characters? E. Did the characters develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the play? F. In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play?
3. About the Set A. Was the set usable and workable?
B. Was the set compatible with the production as a whole? Were there any features of the set that distracted from the action of the play? C. Did the design reflect the themes, type and style of the play? D. Were the artistic qualities of unity, balance, line, texture, mass and color used effectively? E. Did the set provide appropriate environment and atmosphere? F. Was the set used to present any symbolic images or did it simply represent the space in which the action of the play occurred? Did it contain elements of both a “realistic” and a “symbolic” approach?
4. About Lighting and Sound A. What mood or atmosphere did the lighting establish? Was the illumination sufficient? Did the lighting harmonize with, and contribute toward, the unity of the production? B. How did the sound used in the play enhance your overall experience?
5. About Costumes/Makeup/ Hairstyles A. Were all of these elements correct in terms of the period fashion? Were they suitable in terms of character and storytelling for the production? B. Did the color/design of the costumes and make-up serve to illuminate the themes, type, and style of the play? Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006
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Tom Stoppard travelling up to Darjeeling, India, 1990; photo; Karan Kapoor
Lesson Plans Teachers’ note: Choose activities that are appropriate for your classroom period. All assignments are suggestions. Only a teacher knows his or her class well enough to determine the level and depth to which any piece of literature may be examined.
ONE-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the context and major themes of the production. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play 1. Distribute Mastery Assessment (P. 13) for The Real Thing for students to read before, and to review again after attending the performance. 1. Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout and ask students to define each word. A vocabulary test could be administered after viewing the play. 2. Read the “Synopsis” (P. 3) of The Real Thing. Discuss other works students have studied with similar themes and issues. 3. If time allows, discuss further pages from the literary guide, narrating highlights for students. 4. Ask students to begin Handout 2: Playwriting – Getting Started, and finish for homework.
FOUR-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the production and then, after viewing the performance, asks them to think more critically
about what they have seen. Includes time for class discussion and individual assessment. DAY ONE - Introducing the Production Same as Day One above; completed before seeing the production.
DAY TWO - The Production Attend the performance at the Huntington Theatre Company. Homework: Students should answer selected Mastery Assessment questions. 18
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DAY THREE - Follow-up Discussion Discuss Mastery Assessment answers in class. DAY FOUR - Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response Assessment or one question from Writing Assignments (P. 14) for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose one of the For Further Exploration (P. 15) or Media Assessment (P. 16) tasks to complete for extra credit
SEVEN-DAY LESSON PLAN completely integrates The Real Thing into your schedule. Within seven school days, you can introduce the play, assign reading and vocabulary, and assess your students on both a group and individual level. Ideally students will view the play after completing Mastery Assessment questions. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play/Act One Same as Day One, previous page. In class, read scenes 1 through 4. Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout due on Day Four. Homework: Read scenes 5 through 8 in The Real Thing and answer Mastery Assessment questions for scenes 1 through 8. DAY TWO - Act One Discuss scenes 1 through 8 and answers to Mastery Assessment questions. Homework: Read scenes 9 through 12 and answer corresponding Mastery Assessment questions.
DAY THREE - Conclusion Discuss the end of the play and answers to Mastery Assessment questions.
DAY FOUR - Attend Performance Optional: Vocabulary Handout due.
DAY FIVE – Group Work Divide students into groups. Ask them to select one scene from The Real Thing to interpret for the class. They may act out the scene in a traditional way or in an unusual fashion, or create an oral presentation of literary analysis. Tasks should be evenly divided among the members of the group. DAY SIX: Presentations Students will present their piece of original written work to the class. Homework: Students should prepare for the test on the following day.
DAY SEVEN: Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response Assessment or one question from the Writing Assignments for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose to complete one of the For Further Exploration or Media Assessment tasks for extra credit. Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006
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Name:_______________________________________________________
Date:_____________________
Handout 1
VOCABULARY IN THE REAL THING Define the following terms. Viaduct ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Daft __________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Superfluous____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Malarkey______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Bungalow ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Pedagogue ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Gerund ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Panacea ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Abhor ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Lout__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Cliché ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Fastidious ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Amicable______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Anchorite ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Assertive ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Lascivious ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Conciliatory __________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Jodhpurs ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Banal ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Sophistry______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Badinage ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Succumb ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Pretension ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Wanton ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Candor ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Chide ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Furtive________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Voracity ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Inflection ____________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Hapless ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Glower ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Debonair ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Lacuna________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
Name:___________________________________________________________
Date:_____________________
Handout 2
PLAYWRITING — GETTING STARTED Writing a play is not a simple task. In this handout you will be presented with some thoughts about how to begin writing a play and with a structure or format to follow. It may also be helpful to use “The Real Thing” as an example illustrating the points in this exercise. THE STORY: You should begin by deciding what story you want to tell. Will you adapt a fairytale into play form, or share a personal experience through your work? Perhaps you have a completely original piece of science fiction or fantasy in your mind that would be perfect for your friends to perform. Brainstorming and coming up with the idea is often the greatest challenge facing the playwright. In the space below, write 4-5 sentences describing the basic storyline or plot for your play. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Annie believes that while Brodie has something to say, Henry has to “think up something just so [he] can keep on writing.” THE MESSAGE: When your audience finishes reading or viewing your play, what is the message that you hope they take away from your story? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is Tom Stoppard’s message to his audience? What does he believe is “the real thing”? THE CONFLICT: A story is not much of a story without a problem that needs to be resolved. What is the major issue or conflict in your play that propels the action of the play forward? What does your main character want and what is standing in her way? Jot down your ideas for the main conflict in the space below. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Based on your reading of “The Real Thing,” what is the major conflict for the character of Henry? THE RISING ACTION: As the characters in the play work their way through the conflict(s) and struggles in front of them, key moments in the plot unfold, leading to the resolution of the conflict. Write down at least three major plot points that will contribute to the rising action of the play. 1._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE CRISIS: The moment of greatest tension in the play requires the main character to take action – at this point the main character must make a decision about what will happen next, leading directly to the climax of the story. What will be the highest moment of tension or the crisis for the characters in your play? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the greatest moment of tension for Henry? THE CLIMAX: At this point in the play the main characters reach the height of the conflict and are faced with the consequences of their actions. The conflict comes to a head and the main question of the story is answered. What will the moment of climax look like for the characters in your play? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After having read or seen “The Real Thing”, what do you think is the climax of this story? Do you think there are moments of climax in both Act One and Act Two? THE CONCLUSION: The playwright must find a way to end the story for her characters. How will you wrap up the story without the ending being “too neat” or unrealistic (like the sitcom-style television program in which every problem can be solved in 30 minutes or less)? Write down your ideas about the closing moments of your play. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As a reader or audience member, did you feel satisfied at the end of “The Real Thing”? Do you agree with Stoppard’s decision to end the play at that particular moment in time? THE CHARACTERS: Consider the vessels through which you will tell your story. What characteristics of these people help to define and shape their personalities? How will these traits contribute to the conflict and resolution of your story? Be careful not to stereotype or generalize your characters – if you do, they will seem two-dimensional, lacking in depth and believability. In the space below, write brief descriptions of your principal characters. Playwrights often include the name, age, and relationship to other characters before the beginning of their play. Character One:__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Two:__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Three:_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Four:__________________________________________________________________________________________________
You are off to a great start! Having the key components in place will help you to focus your efforts during the first draft of your work. Remember, playwrights spend countless hours editing and revising their pieces – but it all begins with the idea and a story.
Resources for this worksheet include: Korty, Carol. Writing Your Own Plays. Players Press, 2000 (2nd edition).