Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28

IDLE drama and to make the requi-
site suggestions to the author when
some modification of the dialogue
for instance, make the characters ad-
dress one another by name more fire.
quently-is needed to supply the lack
of vision. Many actors and actresses
who have lost their places on the
stage through losing their youth,
their good looks and their memory
could do admirable work for broad
casting. Queen Victoria had a beau
tiful voice and f1rst-rate delivery at
an age when she could not have played
any part on the stage presentably,
except the nurse in Romeo and
Juliet A we'll selected company TAX
ing advantage of its own invisibility
would soon develop special art of
broadcasting and enable you to do at
least one play a week better for your
purpose than you will ever get 1t
done by sending to the theater for a
performance"
One would like to add that the
B. B. C. has adopted these methods
in attempting to develop broadcast
drama
At last, to cut a long story short,
we managed to prevail on Mr.. Shaw
to read a play for us-'OFlaherty,
". C."-with explanations of the sit
uations and the dialogue in exactly
the same way as he would give them
to a company of actors who were go
ing to undertake the play in pro-
duction.
How He Writes Plays.
The writer was fortunate enough
to spend an hour in a big room over
looking the river talking to Mr.. Shaw
about plays and playwriting-an hour
which he is not likely to forget.
Naturally, the question was asked
How do you write your plays?" and
the answer was:
81 write with kind of dual con-
sciousnesS think of the char
acters in the play as real people, but
at the same time I can see them on
the boards However Interested
become in the development of the
situation, never lose touch with the
necessary limitations and conven-
lions of the theater.
You must never have any pauses
in a play except for dramatic eff
feet. You must remember the posi-
tions your characters are in on the
STAGE so that if one of them has &c
pass the cigarettes to another he ha!
not got to walk five yards to do It
Sees Signs He Is Slipping.
my writing shows signs of senile
decay; I cannot be bothered to write
longhand, SO / scribble down the
dialogue of play In shorthand, JUS
wherever / happen to be, on a bus
in a railway train or in the street
My secretary deciphers the short
hand, and that is how the dialogue
part OF the play is written.
'Then comes the far more laborious
task of fitting it together, arranging
stage directions so that the mos
iunderheaded producer cannot b.
In any doubt as to where the char
acters are on the stage and how
| they move about. You should n svel
have any pre-arranged plot in a play
You must, of course, begin with Mr.
Smith and Mrs Brown: but, aftel
that. let the characters develop
their own plot. If they are rea
characters, they will do 1t without
any help from you. If a man canno
| write a play which will be 80 pei
cent successful at his first attempt
then he might well go and sweep 6
| crossing"
One cannot conclude without refer
ence to Mr.. Shaw's postcards. He mus
carry a supply Of these in his pockets
for he writes them on almost every oc
casion. 1t is recorded that the edito
of a popular weekly paper once wrot
and asked him for an article. Shaw re
piled: 'Yesl I shall want 200 pound
for such an article, and II by any chanc
you feel like paying that, I shall wan
1000 pounds"
When the B. B. c. wrote to Mr. SHAY
the other day and asked him what pub
licity he would Hike given In view Of tn
fact that he was going to broadcast b.
replied. on a postcard:
Don't adopt any unusual form o
publicity without consulting me. but O.
am going to speak to the universe. tn
universe may a. well be preparet
for t."
Copyright, 1924. IN q. 4. and Canada ~ -