Dramaturging for TheatreWorks Singapore: Isaac

Hello Isaac!

First of all, I was very much surprised that you submitted a completely different play. This is not the manuscript that I read and discussed with you the last time I was in Singapore. It is, however, a very well-crafted, sensitive, and moving play, and I enjoyed reading it. It is certainly more serious than the first play (which you should keep and develop in the future, although, while it was so much fun to read, I realize that it is harder to sell to a producer). Moreover, the new play that you submitted is quite a nasty vehicle and will prove extremely challenging to its prospective actors and director. For some reason I felt that it was written for Lyon, who was one of your co-participants in the workshop I conducted.

My comments:

This play is best staged without blackouts and scene breaks. The music videos are completely superfluous and will only end up like mini-episodes from The Voice. The technical breaks are cruel to your performers, who will have to pick up their focus and concentration each time a new scene begins. Note that, in the beginning of each scene, you yourself as a playwright are picking up by means of warm-up dialogue. One long, uninterrupted play, like August Strindberg's Miss Julie, will be more emotionally fulfilling for your actors.

Such breaks also shatter the audience's suspension of disbelief.

It takes too long for the audience to learn why the son has come back and must stay. The audience will be able to take only so much suspense, after which it will decide to get bored. Your final exposition is dished out in the end as a twist, and remember that every twist is a betrayal. This prolongation thus makes the father more real and the son two-dimensional, so that the story comes across as being told from the point of view of the FATHER.

Indeed, it seems that the father is well-rounded all throughout the play, but that the son is not a character--he is AN IDEA. The dialogue therefore comes out as dialogue between a person and an idea. As a writer, did you feel defensive and that you had to be over-rational in building up the son?

Avoid interrogations, such as the son asking questions and the father answering them, like interviewer-interviewee repartee. If your characters don't NEED to say anything, then keep them silent. As I have said elsewhere, silence is a line.

Over-all, you have written a beautiful play. A reading should clarify exactly where you need to balance your elements.

There IS one drawback to this play: you need extraordinary performers to pull it off. Yes, I believe that Lyon is one of them.