Beginner’s Guide to Writing a Theatre Play

If you’ve always wanted to become a playwright, but you're unsure where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we guide you through the key elements of writing a theatre play, helping you to create an engaging story and compelling characters.

Understand What Theatre is All About 

Before you start, it’s important to familiarise yourself with other plays. Think about the best West End theatre productions you’ve seen or the best dramas at your local theatre. What made the writing good? Was it the way the plot unfolded, the dialogue, or the pace of the narrative? 

Unlike short stories or movies, theatre is a live performance. Your audience will experience the play in real time, so you need to think about how the story and the characters will be portrayed. Subtleties you might find in books aren’t easily transferred to the stage without theatrical elements such as soliloquies or actions. 

Create your Plot and Themes 

Every theatre play must have a strong plot and many have numerous themes running through the story to make it more engaging. You could develop your ideas by thinking about personal experiences, historical events, pieces of literature you love reading and more. You could also think about conversations you’ve had with friends or ideas that might be brought to life through the use of intelligent or witty dialogue. You should also decide if you want your theatre play to be a comedy, tragedy, musical, one-man show or something else, as this will heavily impact what you do next. 

Create Your Characters

Every good story needs compelling characters. There should be a strong protagonist whose character experiences development throughout the play. Think about their history, motivations, desires and flaws, and decide how you’d like them to develop along the way. Plays typically also have an antagonist: someone who opposes the protagonist’s goal and puts difficulties in their way. The antagonist doesn’t have to be a villain - it could be a societal problem or an internal conflict - but if you’re writing a certain genre of play it’s worth keeping in mind the genre’s key features. Top tip: The stronger your character development, the easier it will be to write lines for them. 

Come up with a Plot & Structure 

Keep in mind that most plays follow a basic structure with a beginning, middle and end broken down into acts and scenes. Act 1 sets the scene and introduces main characters. Act 2, builds on the story and intensifies any conflict. Characters often face a variety of challenges and there’s plenty of drama. Act 3 is where a climax is reached and the story is resolved. This might be happy or sad depending on the theme of your play.

Write Dialogue 

The primary tool in a play is dialogue. The story is told mainly through the interactions between characters, so your dialogue should reveal information and plot points while remaining engaging and credible. Formulaic dialogue can be boring or sound stilted, so read your scenes aloud with friends to check the script flows smoothly. 

There are many things to think about when it comes to writing a play. One of the best ways to get inspired is to buy West End theatre tickets and watch as many stage productions as you can. See how the experts do it and note down anything of interest that might help with your own writing. Buy West End theatre show tickets from KX Tickets today to begin your journey.