Playwriting - Part 6F - The Working Process, Keeping the Audience Engaged

When it comes to writing plays, you want to keep the audience engaged. You don't want them to become bored and stop watching the play. You also don't want them to jump to the conclusion of the end of a play.

The idea of keeping a play moving has been compared to that of "carrot dangling." It is as if a driver of a cart full of vegetables is dangling a carrot in front of a horse's nose in order to get the horse to pull the wagon full of vegetables.

The driver is the playwright. The driver controls all of the action just like the playwright controls all of the action in the play. The carrot is the play in performance. It is what is being seen at that very moment. The view changes over time, but it is what is being seen. The horse is the audience. The horse sees the carrot in front of its eyes just like the audience sees the play. The wagon of vegetables is the play's content and ideas.

If the carrot is removed, the horse stops moving. This would be like the play suddenly ending with no reason for it to end. If the horse reaches the carrot, then it eats the carrot. This is like the entire audience figuring out how the play goes and the meaning in it. The horse has to follow the carrot until it gets to the final destination. By then, it will be allowed to eat all of the vegetables. This is akin to the audience seeing the entire play and then being able to think about it and process their ideas and feelings.

The question is how to keep an audience engaged. In order to do that, you have to keep them wondering what comes next. There are a few different ways to do this. You can build conflict or create expectation. You can evoke emotion that requires some type of closure. There are other ways, too. If you aren't sure about your play, read it and think of the image of the carrot, horse, driver, and wagon full of vegetables. Try to put the elements of your play to the image where you need it and figure out what is missing at a moment that your play doesn't feel correct.

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