Dark Plays, anyone interested? Lucy Avery, 26 January 2014 Lucy Avery @LucyAveryWrites convenor Alex Lehman, Chloe Mushiter, Marianne Powell, Julia Yevnine and Sophie Besse attended. We started by discussing writers who write dark plays, for example Sarah Kane and Artaud and we decided that there is an audience for this kind of work. I explained that so far the plays I've written have included a play on sex abuse and paedophilia, a woman killing her family by accident in a tsunami and religion and exploitation and that all those are interesting subjects but are subjects that I find hard to sell to producers, venue and audiences which is why I called the session. One action would be for me to research venues who have worked on similar subject matter in the last year and look at how they sold their shows and who the producers were. It maybe better to take the shows to a festival first rather than starting with a 3 week run as audiences are more prepared to be challenged as they can see a variety of work and are more prepared to take a risk. 'Mucky Kid' about a child killer was a recent show at 503 and they had q and a nights with experts that also pulled in a different kind of audience. I explained that my work tends to be quite magic realist in style, and we decided that this is what would make my plays a distinct experience which is an important way to sell the shows. For example at the end of the 1st performance at the Royal Court of ‘4:48 Psychosis’ a curtain opened at the back of the stage to reveal a window onto a scene outside the theatre. This emphasised the human connection of the bleak subject matter and gave the audience a light at the end of the work to be able to focus on. 'Unscorched' is a recent play at the Finborough which was about sex abuse which won the Papa Tango award. It had a distinct style which helped to sell the piece, as did ‘Foxfinder’ another recent play. We decided it would be a good idea to focus on the questions behind the work as a way of selling it, for example I started ‘The Birdcatcher’ by thinking ‘How does someone become a paedophile?’ and this is actually an interesting question that audiences would also be interested in. Dark plays can also be very funny and a way of purging emotion, for example, everyone has had a fantasy about killing your boss… what would happen if you actually did it? This is also a sell. We also discussed how sometimes the genre can also sell the show, not just the subject matter and audiences look at both these things when choosing a play to see. They are looking for something that can give them a different kind of experience. The company who produced ‘Unscorched’ (Percurious) tend to work on more humourous work and this was a play they really had to produce, because of the way the story was told. Finding the right producer is key. As is the story, the way it's told and the timeliness of the subject. It maybe more helpful to talk about writing Drama rather than Dark plays, and to focus on the human aspect of the story you're telling. Sophie has written a play about women in prison called ‘The Woman Inside’, and rather than pitching it as a prison drama, she pitched as ‘A Touching Story of Two Women’. Dark plays can really connect with an audience in a deeper way than other kinds of work. Sarah Kane is successful because she's original and provoking not because she is dark. It's important to mention when pitching or selling a show that ‘I’m not here to shock you, I'm here to explore this subject with you'. For my work ‘magic realism’ maybe the golden word and may be a way for me to find my brand, for example Sophie's work is ‘Touching in a poetic way’. By empahsising the human story within the work rather than the subject matter, this will make the plays sound more accessible. Tags: Writing, writing, plays, dark, selling a show, Plays Comments: 1 Lucy Avery, 9 September 2014 Since #DandD9 I've actually created a website to help promote my work, using some of the suggestions I was given from this session. Take a look here: http://lucyaverywrites.com/