How to write dialogue

Running time: 3.19mins

Film maker: Ben Harvey

Some leading playwrights from the National Theatre give advice on how to write great dialogue.

These interviews were conducted as a part of New Views, a playwriting project for young people. To find out more about New Views, visit newviews.tv

Playwriting

In this collection, leading playwrights explain some of the key elements of a well-written play, and discuss how they approach them in their own work. David Hare, Katori Hall, Matt Charman, Nell Leyshon, James Graham, Alia Bano, Richard Bean, Anders Lustgarten and Roy Williams talk about writing dialogue, creating characters, structuring a narrative and more. They also offer some top tips for first time writers, and discuss their own writing methods.

Finding a writing style

Playwrights talk about how important it is for a writer to find their own voice.
Political playwriting

Playwrights discuss the realtionship between theatre and politics.
How to create characters

Leading playwrights discuss the different ways of creating characters for a play.
Building a plot

Playwrights discuss the importance of a play's narrative, and offer some advice on how to plan out a story.
How to write dialogue

Playwrights give advice on how to write great dialogue.
Structuring a scene

Leading playwrights explain key elements to writing a strong scene.
Writing with metaphor

Leading playwrights discuss the use of metaphor and imagery when writing a play.
How do you write?

Leading playwrights discuss where, when, how and why they write.
Top Tips for writers

Playwrights give their top tips for aspiring writers.
Stories of man-made creatures that inspired Frankenstein

Stories of man-made creatures have permeated the history of mankind.
Nick Dear on Frankenstein

An interview with Nick Dear about reinventing Frankenstein for the stage in Danny Boyle's 2011 production.
An interview with David Hare

David Hare offers advice to young writers and an insight into his writing career.
An interview with Katori Hall

Katori Hall talks about how she came to be a playwright.
Re-inventing the script on a multimedia production

Working on a multimedia production changed the way the company used their scripts.
An Introduction to Anton Chekhov

A short introductory film about the life and works of playwright Anton Chekhov.
Danny Boyle and Nick Dear on Frankenstein

Danny Boyle and Nick Dear on Frankenstein.
David Thacker on Broken Glass

Daniel Rosenthal introduces clips from his interview with director David Thacker, about Arthur Miller's Broken Glass, originally titled Gellburg and their working relationship.
Working on the Spectrum: The Making of Curious Incident and the Dog in the Night-Time

The creative team talk about bringing the novel to the stage in this short documentary for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Simon Russell Beale on the wedding scene in Much Ado About Nothing

Simon Russell Beale talks about one of the most impressive and complicated scenes written by Shakespeare.
An interview with James Graham

Playwright James Graham talks about the process of writing plays, and describes why he thinks every play is political.
An interview with Simon Stephens

Simon Stephens talks about playwriting and his process.
People: A Pretend England

This film looks at 'People' by Alan Bennett and the play's depiction of a changing Britain.
John Hodge on dramatising Stalin

How do you create a character from a historical figure?
An introduction to Collaborators

A short introduction to John Hodge's play Collaborators.

How to write dialogue

Playwriting

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