But during those apparent silences the characters are speaking volumes. A novelist would fill pages of italicized inner thoughts. Primarily, theatrical action is a way of showing people in life, seeking to achieve objectives, facing obstacles and problems and handling them in a unique manner, winning or losing. Too, some stories simply are best when focused on only that one character. Staying only with that one character can give the playwright more freedom to dig deeply into the secret soul.
Some playwrights enjoy the wide variety of forms, too.
They can be comic or dramatic, and there even are some musical one-person plays. Characters in multi-character plays also wear masks in front of other characters. Hamlet when he contemplates death. Removing the mask is what the solo play can do, far, far better than its multi-character relative. For the playwright, it is a journey into the character s soul.