What Makes a Good Play
My wife and I like live theater.
We have subscriptions currently to two local theaters. We went to one of them
today. It was a one actor play about a man who wrote and played music but was
also a schizophrenic and eventually killed himself. In my opinion, the actor did
a superb job with the acting and music; however, I didn’t like the play.
Thinking about my not liking the play brought some questions to my mind about
good and bad plays.
1.
Why didn’t I like this
play?
The simple answer
to that question is I really didn’t like the character. I have a rule of thumb,
if I’m going to like a play, there must be someone in the play I like. It
doesn't have to be the main character, but I have to like someone enough to care
about what’s happening to them.
In this case, I
couldn’t relate to the main/only character. That may say more about me than the
writing. I don’t know much about schizophrenia. According to my wife, the actor
portrayed the pain the character was going through beautifully and I believe the
actor did show great pain, but it just didn’t move me to care. Perhaps it was
merely my lack of feeling not allowing me to empathize with the character and,
thus, like him.
2.
Can poor acting ruin a
good play?
I suppose
this is a ridiculous question. I can picture sitting watching actors forget
their lines and my becoming very frustrated. I suppose I can also picture actors
reciting their lines like they’re reading a phone book (That’s a comparison for
my age group. For a younger generation make it reading computer code.). That
would ruin a play. I’m sure there are other things actors could do that would
make a good play look bad; however, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced any.
I’ve always been impressed with the effort the actors have put into their
performances.
I suppose
there have been some grammar school plays I’ve gone to where the kids blew lines
and did their lines in a monotone, but those plays are about the kids not the
plays. I cannot say I’ve been to a play, even at the adult amateur level, where
I would say the play was ruined by bad acting. It strikes me as the people who
get involved in such productions are so dedicated it just wouldn’t happen.
3.
Can poor directing ruin
a good play?
I’m sure a
play could be ruined by poor directing; however, I must confess I don’t think
about the impact of the director when watching a play. For me, it’s the actors
and the play; but the effect of the director makes sense to me, if a director
tells the actors to show less emotion when the scene requires more emotion, I
can see where the director would be the problem. That being said, I’d most
likely blame the actors.
4.
Can great acting and
directing save a bad play?
When
I came up with this question, my answer was a simple and an emphatic, “no!” To
me, the story is the major factor in a play. If the story isn’t there, the play
is bad. With my current fascination with AI, it isn’t surprising I asked this
question to Microsoft’s Copilot. Proving AI is not always right, it disagreed
with me. However, it did hedge it’s bet, by staying it could “in some cases.” It
gave a lengthy explanation of its logic addressing many things I usually don’t
think about when watching a play. However, in retrospect, I can see where those
are important. But I can’t see their efforts making a bad play good to me.
5.
What makes a good or
bad play?
The crux of
this whole effort centers on something, I really hadn’t given much thought to -
what makes a good play?
Again, I
asked Copilot, as usual it came up with a couple of pages of stuff I tired of
reading about halfway through. So, I asked for a short version and it came up
with: A good play combines compelling
characters, meaningful conflict, and emotional truth—brought to life through
sharp dialogue and purposeful structure.
I can’t argue
with that but since it didn’t include a likeable character, I knew it wasn’t a
description of what would make a good play to me. That also made me think about
the number of times the “expert” reviewers have reported how great a play or
movie was, and we hated it. Conversely, some of our favorite movies, in
particular, have been panned by the experts.
So, what
makes a good play. I believe it depends on you. It’s what you like! Let’s face
it, the really bad ones don’t get produced. The hits usually have enough reviews
that you can get an idea if it fits into an area you’ll like. For the new
endeavors, like we like, give it a try. If you find you really don’t like it,
hope for an intermission to make an early exit!