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Form and Content
Introduction
When it comes to any work of art, form and content are tightly linked. The same is true for a play. Both form and content will determine not just the story your play tells, but how it tells it. This guide will define form and content and explain how to bring them to life.
Terminology
Content: the basic story and message that is communicated by a play.
Form: the way in which the play’s message and story are communicated.
Realism: a theatre genre with characters that behave and speak realistically.
Non-realism: a theatre genre in which the story is told in an unusual way, with characters who behave or speak outside the norm, unusual story structure, and/or exaggerated or strange lighting, sound, costume, and set design.
Context & Analysis
Preparation
Let’s start by establishing a working definition for form and content.
In a nutshell: content is what your play communicates. Form is how your play communicates it. Let’s illustrate with an example: I want to write a drama about a man looking for a long-lost relative. That’s the content. Now, I need to figure out how to tell that story. I can write a
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Kevan Dunkelberg
Oklahoma-based drama teacher, actor and playwright