Writing the storm in the teacup: the process of writing the character driven play, Unidentified Item in the Bagging Area, focusing upon the seemingly unremarkable life of Victoria Burnham

摘要

This thesis essay will explore the process of writing the character driven play, Unidentified Item in the Bagging Area (2013), looking specifically at the main acts of playwriting that I utilised while crafting the play. I chose to craft a play out of a seemingly unremarkable character – Victoria Burnham, a middle aged post menopausal woman – and story; the play follows Victoria as she makes life changing decisions in pursuit of her own happiness. Through crafting the play, I discovered that many other contemporary playwrights choose to tell character driven stories as opposed to plot driven stories – the work of David Mamet and Patrick Marber in particular demonstrate this in their respective works. There is also a variety of critical theory surrounding the idea of character driven plays, most notably David Edgar’s How Plays Work (2009) and David Mamet’s The Three Uses of the Knife (2002). The result of my choosing to craft the character driven play and manipulating the theatrical convention of format to create meaning, is a play that I believe stands firm in its assertion as a ‘storm in a teacup play’, making the seemingly unremarkable story of Victoria Burnham worthy of the stage.