© Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115 September 2005 No portion of this Teacher Curriculum Guide may be reproduced without written permis- sion from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education. Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick, Director of Education Huntington Theatre Company 264 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 teacher literary & Limelight curriculum guide

HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY Nicholas Martin IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director

Michael Maso Managing Director

Table of Contents

STAFF Table of Contents 3 Synopsis This Teacher Literary and Curriculum Guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by 4 Every Good Playwright Deserves Favor 5 on the Art of Theatre Marissa Jones, Education Consultant 6 Stoppard’s Obsession with Language 6 Stoppard and the Huntington 7 The Storyteller’s Game: With contributions by Plays Within Plays Donna Glick, 8 The Business of Entertainment Director of Education and Politics

Ilana Brownstein, 9 A Tom Stoppard Chronology Literary Manager 10 Audience Etiquette 10 Background/Objectives Justin Waldman, 11 Preparation and Key Issues Artistic Associate 13 Mastery Assessment Melinda Jaz, 14 Open Response and Writing Education Associate 15 Further Exploration 16 Media Assessment Amanda Rota, 17 Questions for After the Performance Education Department Manager 18 Lesson Plans Melissa Wagner-O’Malley, 20 Handout 1: Vocabulary Layout & Design 21 Handout 2: Playwriting - Getting Started

Exclusive Television Partner: by Tom Stoppard Directed by Evan Yionoulis B.U. Theatre September 9 - October 9, 2005 SYNOPSIS The Real Thing

arriages are unraveling — we see it happen as the first scene of The Real Thing unfolds. It’s not the adultery-taint- Med relationship in front of us that’s grinding to a halt, but rather the ones playing out behind the scenes. Stoppard’s play- within-a-play trick of the opening tableau is a set-up, a metaphor for what will shortly follow: the dissolution of unions between Henry and Charlotte, Annie and Max. These relationships, like the one we see play-acted in the first scene, can’t quite live up to being “the real thing.” Henry is an intellectual playwright whose current obsession is his upcoming celebrity guest appearance on “Desert Island Disks,” a radio program where he’ll discuss the eight albums he’d most like to have if stranded on a desert island. Henry prefers frothy pop classics to the highbrow symphonies favored by Charlotte, his actress wife, claiming The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” is truer to life thanks to its lack of pretension. But Henry himself is not true: he’s having an affair with Annie, another actress. Charlotte is co-starring with Annie’s husband Max in Henry’s Noël Coward-esque play, House of Cards, a study of love and betrayal. Charlotte finds Henry’s dramatization of love hollow, and indeed, Henry himself admits the difficulty of writ- ing about love, noting “Loving and being loved is very unliterary.” Henry leaves Charlotte and marries Annie, who has also left Max. Annie, meanwhile, is true to her own cause: the Justice for Brodie Committee, a group supporting the case of a young mili- tary private jailed for attacking policemen at a demonstration and defacing a public monument. Public interest in Brodie has fiz- zled, but Annie clings to him, encouraging Brodie to champion his own cause by writing a play. She enlists a bitterly reluctant Henry to help make Brodie’s atrociously amateur script more believable. As the months pass, betrayals mount, commitments fail, and Henry’s life is further complicated by the appearance of Billy, a dashing young actor appearing with Annie in John Ford’s classic comedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. As was true at the begin- ning of the play, Henry’s world on stage and the world at home imitate each other, as Henry tries to come to terms with finding and holding onto “the real thing,” the truth of love in life and art. – SH

Sketch of Tom Stoppard; Dr. Miriam Stoppard, 1982

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 3 EVERY GOOD PLAYWRIGHT DESERVES FAVOR Tom Stoppard’s Life in the Theatre

om Stoppard was born Tomás´` Straussler on July 3, 1937 in Zlin, TCzechslovakia, the second son of Dr. Eugene and Martha Straussler. When the future playwright was two, Dr. Straussler led the family to Singapore with other Jewish doctors ahead of the Nazi invasion. Subsequently forced to flee the Japanese in 1942, Mrs. Straussler and the children were evacuated to Darjeeling, India, but Dr. Straussler was reportedly aboard a prison boat sunk by the Japanese. In 1946 Martha Straussler married Kenneth Stoppard, a major in the British army stationed in India, who adopted her children. The family moved from India to the English port city of Bristol, and Tomás´` attended boarding schools in Notthinghamshire and Yorkshire. At sev- enteen, choosing to bypass higher educa- tion, he plunged into local journalism, working first for the Western Daily Press and later at the Bristol Evening World, for which he eventually began to write theatre reviews. In the early 1960s Tom Stoppard moved to London where he pursued criticism, Tom Stoppard; photo: Dr. Miriam Stoppard

The romance and realism of The Real Thing was a turning point in Stoppard’s career. According to some it also was a turning point in his personal life... wrote over 130 reviews for Scene maga- the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Award and the New York Drama Critics zine, and began to write plays. After sev- Dead, which, after opening in Edinburgh Circle prize. eral years, the results included short sto- to a rave notice from critic Kenneth Since then, Stoppard has written pro- ries, radio dramas, and a novel, Lord Tynan, was produced at London’s Old Vic lifically in several mediums, with over Malquist and Mr. Moon. Stoppard was cata- by the National Theatre and went on to sixty produced works in stage, film, pulted to international fame in 1967 by win numerous awards, including a Tony television, and radio. His full-length

4 Huntington Theatre Company plays include , , , The Real Thing, , , Tom Stoppard on the Art of Theatre , , and Tom Stoppard is a man of many words. Scott Horstein, Literary Manager for the Cornerstone trilogy, which will Theatre Company, culled the best and most revealing of Stoppard’s comments on playwriting have its American premiere at the Lincoln and his view of the theatre. Center Theater in late 2006. Rosencrantz On Theatre and the Process of Writing and Guildenstern, Travesties, and The Real Theatre is a recreation. It can be much more, but unless it’s recreation, I don’t see the point of it. Thing all received Tony Awards for Best Play. Shorter dramatic works by Stoppard I write plays from beginning to end, without making stabs at intermediate scenes, so the first thing I write is the first line of the play. By that time I have formed some idea of the set but I include , After don’t write that down. I don’t write down anything which I can keep in my head — stage direc- Magritte, and Dirty Linen. tions and so on. When I have gotten to the end of the play — which I write with a fountain pen; The romance and realism of The Real you can’t scribble with a typewriter — there is almost nothing on the page except what people Thing was a turning point in Stoppard’s say. Then I dictate the play, ad-libbing all the stage directions into a tape machine from which career. According to some it also was a my secretary transcribes the first script. turning point in his personal life, paral- When you write a play, it makes a certain kind of noise in your head, and for me rehearsals are leling his divorce from Miriam Stoppard largely the process of trying to reproduce that noise. and his new relationship with The Real Thing star . On Wordplay Outshining the Subject Matter And though Stoppard often refers to I think that [the criticism that my plays are superficially brilliant, witty, full of wonderful repartee, but himself as an apolitical writer, he has lacking in emotional depth is] — you know, is a reasonable thing to say about them, except insofar as consistently defended human rights and it doesn’t question the premise, that emotion is better than not emotion. I don’t really understand the freedom of expression in his work. In the premise. You could ask precisely that question of the author of The Importance of Being Earnest 1970s, he wrote the play Every Good Boy [Oscar Wilde]. And he might be quite surprised to be asked it, and you might be quite surprised to find yourself asking it. It’s a work of genius, that play. I’ve written stuff, funny enough, a play Deserves Favour and the television play called Travesties which cannibalizes part of The Importance of Being Earnest, of which one would Professional in response to human say exactly that, you know — it’s too smart for its own good, it’s got no real emotional heart, and rights abuses in the Soviet bloc. I’m quite interested by the premise that that’s not as good as making people weep. And then I Stoppard’s numerous adaptations and think, ‘Well, all right, that’s actually quite an intelligible criticism,’ because that’s what theatre is translations of classic plays by non- best at, to just get through to your innermost heart, and just expose it for a moment. …I think English writers include , that is as successful as it is because it is capable of bringing a tear, more based on a play of Johann Nestroy; Undis- than for its capability of bringing a chuckle. covered Country, based on the play by Arthur Schnitzler; and , a On Fame and Celebrity reworking of Play at the Castle by Ferenc Oh, I like it. The advantages are psychological, social and material. The first because I don’t Molnar. Stoppard’s screenplays include have to worry about who I am — I am the man who has written these plays. The social advantages appeal to half of me because there are two of me: the recluse and the fan. And the fan in me is The Human Factor; Brazil, for which he still thrilled to meet people I admire. As for the material side, I like having some money. The received an Academy Award nomination best way to gauge wealth is to consider the amount of money which you can spend thought- along with Terry Gilliam and Charles lessly — a casual purchase which simply doesn’t register. The really rich can do it in Cartier’s; I’m McKeown; The Russia House; Billy Bathgate; quite happy if I can do it in a good bookshop or a good restaurant. Empire of the Sun; Shakespeare in Love, for which he won an Academy Award along On Identity with co-writer Marc Norman; and Enigma. This whole Czech thing about me has gotten wildly out of hand. I wasn’t two years old when I left the He regularly serves as a screenwrit- country and I was back one week in 1977. I went to an English school and was brought up English. So ing consultant for Hollywood directors, I don’t feel Czech. I like how [Czech playwright and former President Vaclav] Havel writes. When I first came across his work, I though The Memorandum was a play I’d like to have written, and you including Steven Spielberg. don’t think that of many plays. And when I met him I loved him as a person. I met other writers there In recognition of his outstanding I liked and admired, and I felt their situation keenly. But I could have gotten onto the wrong plane contributions to English culture, Tom and landed in Poland or Paraguay and felt the same about writers’ situations there. Stoppard was awarded a knighthood in 1997, becoming the first British play- Responses culled from Stoppard’s 1999 lecture “Pragmatic Theatre” at the New York Public Library, interviews on the wright in a quarter of a century to enjoy Newshour with Jim Lehrer and with Shusha Guppy in Playwrights at Work, and Thinkexist.com. such an honor. – SH

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 5 Stoppard’s Stoppard’s Obsession wordplay with Language signifies more than writerly he word “obsession” often refers ANNIE: You were seduced by to love and eroticism. But for Tom Miranda Jessop on the television. noodling. His T Stoppard, obsession with love means HENRY: Professional duty. obsession with language. Stoppard’s char- ANNIE: If she hadn’t been in it, you acters wrestle with words that mean pro- characters truly foundly different things to different peo- wouldn’t have watched that play if ple in different situations. In The Real they’d come round and done it for cannot agree on Thing, obsession, seduction, love, and lan- you on the carpet. guage all become equally confusing, as in what a given Stoppard’s wordplay signifies more this excerpt: than writerly noodling. His characters word means. HENRY: When was I ever moody? truly cannot agree on what a given word means. One could fault the characters ANNIE: Whenever you get seduced for their misunderstandings, rather from your work. LADY BRACKNELL: Good afternoon, than faulting language itself, yet con- dear Algernon, I hope you are HENRY: You mean the other flict in Stoppard’s comedies always piv- behaving very well. afternoon? ots around the failure of words. If not ALGERNON: I’m feeling very well, ANNIE: What other afternoon? the cause of conflict, language is at least Aunt Augusta. No, I don’t mean seduced, for the medium and catalyst of it. God’s sake. Can’t you think about The sprightliness of Stoppard’s dia- LADY B.: That’s not quite the same anything else? logue has led to comparisons with Oscar thing. In fact the two things rarely Wilde, the great turn-of-the-century go together. (Sees Jack and bows to HENRY: Certainly. Like what? Victorian satirist. Wilde turned the double- him with icy coldness.) ANNIE: I mean ‘seduced’, like entendre into an entire dramatic genre, a ALGERNON: (To Gwendolen.) when you’re seduced by someone portrait of Victorian London rupturing at Dear me, you are smart! on the television. its linguistic seams. In The Importance of GWENDOLEN: I am always smart! HENRY: I’ve never been seduced Being Earnest, Wilde destabilizes even the Am I not, Mr. Worthing? on the television. most basic of civilities and social mores: JACK: You’re quite perfect, Miss Fairfax. GWENDOLEN: Oh! I hope I am not that. It would leave no room for devel- opments, and I intend to develop in Stoppard and the Huntington many directions. The Huntington has a long and proud history with Tom Stoppard. The 1982 Boston premiere Both Wilde and Stoppard dramatize the of Night and Day, Stoppard’s troubling portrait of contemporary British journalism, was the Huntington’s inaugural production. Since that time the Huntington has produced no fewer chaos of language as a source of comedy. than five Stoppard plays: On the Razzle 1983-84; Jumpers 1986-87; Travesties 1990-91; It may cause angst, and society is always 1992-93; and Arcadia 1996-97. Trivia buffs will be interested to note halfway falling apart, but it’s ultimately that aside from Shakespeare, August Wilson and Tom Stoppard share the distinction of being the way we live. the most produced playwrights in Huntington history. – IMB In the past, some critics accused Stoppard of trifling with words, but he

6 Huntington Theatre Company takes his fun seriously, following a long line of canonized Western writers obsessing over the uselessness of the English language. As industrialized cities have taken over Europe; as the senselessness of mechanized war has shattered artists’ faith in a shared, ruling morality; as the mechanics of daily life have drifted from the lyricism of person- al experience, modernist wordsmiths have felt powerless to capture the reality of modern life. Stoppard critic Robert Wilcher singles out T.S. Eliot as a key influence on Stoppard in this regard, and cites the following passage from Eliot’s East Coker:

Because one has only learnt to get the Roger Rees and Felicity Kendal in the Strand Theatre production of The Real Thing, 1982 better of words For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which The Storyteller’s Game One is no longer disposed to say it. And so each venture Plays Within Plays Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing is a curious beast: a play in which people perform a play. The Is a new beginning, a raid on the fictional play, aptly titled House of Cards, is about love and betrayal, and about how rela- inarticulate tionships can tumble down to nothing, just as its title suggests. Even more interestingly, With shabby equipment always House of Cards is written by Henry — a character who quite resembles Stoppard himself — as deteriorating he navigates his way into an affair he hopes will prove to be “the real thing” he seeks. The device of a story within which the characters tell a story is as old as stories them- In the general mess of imprecision selves, from Odysseus recounting his voyage to the Phaeacians in the Odyssey (c.900-750 of feeling, B.C.E.), to Scheherazade spinning 1001 nights of tales for the murderous King Shahryar Undisciplined squads of emotion. (c.850 B.C.E.), to the famously raunchy Miller and his traveling companions regaling each other in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. One of the first instances of this kind of gesture in To the list of writers in the Western Western theatre may have occurred in Aristophanes’ The Clouds (423 B.C.E.), where canon commonly linked with Stoppard, Aristophanes mocks fellow playwright Euripides, calling his audience’s attention to the fact one could easily add James Joyce, Samuel that The Clouds is nothing more than a dramatic construct. The world of the play is an artifi- Beckett, Noël Coward, Harold Pinter, cial one, constructed to suit the playwright’s purposes. Shakespeare famously explored the transparency of dramatic narrative, and the sense Vaclav Havel, Eugene Ionesco, and that life feels like a play, in his “Murder of Gonzago” scene in Hamlet (c.1600). At Hamlet’s Vladimir Nabokov. Like them, Stoppard bidding, a traveling group of players enacts a play that mimics the treachery of Hamlet’s plunders the ruins of the English lan- uncle Claudius, driving Claudius to flee the theatre and display his guilty conscience before guage, resorting in The Real Thing to such all. In a more comic vein, Shakespeare portrayed a bumbling troupe of actors, or “mechani- old plays as ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, trying cals,” murdering a play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In The Versailles Impromptu (1663), to piece together something that feels Molière portrayed his company in the act of creating a play. Luigi Pirandello blasted open the real, authentic. So while watching The modern possibilities of plays-within-plays in his Six Characters In Search of An Author Real Thing, look for those moments when (1921), where the actual embodied characters of a play in rehearsal invade the stage, argu- characters fuss over a word. Look for the ing that they can portray themselves better than the actors employed to play them. ways that words unexpectedly betray This classic theatrical device continues to whet the appetites of modern playwrights, such you. And look for the drama of talking to as Michael Frayn in his behind-the-scenes farce Noises Off (1982), and will probably con- someone whose language you no longer tinue to, as long as life continues to feel like a stage. – SH share. – SH

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 7 entertainers and looks to them for guid- THE BUSINESS OF ENTERTAINMENT ance on the most personal of issues. Brodie takes violent political action in order to impress Annie, and gets six and Politics years in jail. Jane Fonda goes to Hanoi during a time of war, takes a provocative n The Real Thing, Brodie, a no-name photograph, and thirty years later gets enlisted soldier, is arrested at a ...what qualifies spat on by a Vietnam veteran. Buxom Idemonstration against deployment entertainer Samantha Fox (of “(Touch of American missiles on English soil. a Shakespearean Me) I Want Your Body” pop infamy) His crime: burning a wreath at the goes with government blessing to Cenotaph, the tomb of the unknown actress, or for Bosnia to “entertain the troops.” Arnold soldier at Whitehall in London. His sen- Schwarznegger makes muscle-bound tence: six years rotting in jail, prompt- action movies and becomes the most ing the creation of a Justice for Brodie that matter, an electable Republican in California. Committee to get him out, which in Tom Stoppard frequently refers to him- turn leads him to write a play to pro- Austrian action self as an aesthetic conservative and an mote his celebrity and his cause. apolitical playwright, but the fact is Meanwhile Henry, a celebrated play- star to lead he lives in a heavily politicized world, wright, regales the English listening where not just public policy, but art and public with his picks for “Desert Island the state? entertainment play a role in how we Disks,” a list of his favorite pop records. view our society. Stoppard doesn’t write In the juxtaposition of these situations, polite dining room comedies. His plays Stoppard seems to ask us which is more ask hard questions about the limits of appropriate: a political protestor writing a language and intention, and in their own play to achieve celebrity, or a celebrity way, represent a politics of language. playwright as arbiter of pop music? Stoppard’s England has its own culture For Henry, all public causes bear the of public intellectualism and celebrity taint of private lives. There is no such activism. The recent release of Israeli thing as a pure political cause. One’s nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu personal life always compromises one’s brought statements from playwright integrity — trying to please one’s Harold Pinter and actress Julie Christie. spouse, living in fear of one’s parents, and so forth. Henry therefore (like Tom The great Royal Shakespeare Company Stoppard himself) prefers to keep his actress is now a Minister writing and his life apolitical. of Parliament — and these events Henry’s argument expresses a com- may lead us to ask, what qualifies a mon objection to celebrities entering Shakespearean actress or, for that matter, political discourse. It’s not just that we an Austrian action star to lead the state? question whether celebrities are well Politics always comes from a deeply enough informed to exercise political personal need, just as art does. Both influence, it’s that we often fundamen- express a sense of engagement with not tally question whether the role of enter- just how one’s personal life should be tainer, of crowd-pleaser, of professional enjoyed but how we should all lead our aesthete, conflicts with the role of polit- lives together. “Public postures have the ical figure. On the one hand, the public configuration of private derangement,” draws a hard line between entertainers says Henry, paraphrasing W.H. Auden. and politics. On the other hand, society So why throw the posture out with the creates royalty and aristocracy out of The Cenotaph; photo: Sir Edwin Lutyens derangement? – SH

8Huntington Theatre Company 1985 Brazil is released, the film Stoppard wrote with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeon. 1988 Hapgood premieres at the Aldwych Theatre. 1992 Stoppard’s marriage to Miriam Stoppard ends in divorce. He openly courts actress Felicity Kendal, who appeared in several of his previous productions, including The Real Thing. Stoppard Tom Stoppard at the Windamere Hotel, Darjeeling; photo: Karan Kapoor, 1990 writes the first version of the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love with Marc Norman. A TOM STOPPARD 1993 The National Theatre production of Arcadia opens. Chronology 1995 Indian Ink, a revision of his 1991 radio play, , is produced in the UK. 1937 Tomás´` Straussler is born to Jewish 1967 The National Theatre production 1997 His adaptation of Chekhov’s The parents in Zlin, . of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Seagull is performed at the Old Vic, and The National Theatre produc- 1939 Tomás´` ’ family flees the Nazi opens at the Old Vic, and the U.S. tion of The Invention of Love opens invasion, moving to Singapore. premiere wins the Tony Award for at the Cottesloe Theatre. Stoppard Best Play of the Year. 1942 The Strausslers flee Singapore for is knighted and becomes Sir Tom India before the Japanese inva- 1972 The National Theatre production Stoppard. sion, but Tomás´` ’ father is killed of Jumpers opens in London. 1998 Stoppard ends his relationship in the process. Stoppard divorces Jose Ingle, and with Felicity Kendal. The film 1945 Martha Straussler marries marries Miriam Moore-Robinson. Shakespeare in Love opens to Kenneth Stoppard, a British 1974 The Royal Shakespeare Company acclaim. Army officer stationed in India. produces Travesties in London. 1999 Stoppard wins an Academy Award 1946 The Stoppards return to England. 1975 Travesties wins the Tony Award for for his screenplay of Shakespeare in Love 1963 Stoppard’s first play, Walk on the Best Play. . Water, is filmed for television, sig- 2000 The Broadway revival of The Real 1976-7 Stoppard addresses a rally in naling the beginning of his career Thing, starring Stephen Dillane and Trafalgar Square, protesting the as a radio and screenplay writer. Jennifer Ehle, wins Tony Awards for treatment of Soviet dissidents, 1964 While in Germany, Stoppard Best Revival and for both its stars. and travels to the U.S.S.R. with writes a one-act play, Rosencrantz 2002 The National Theatre production Amnesty International. and Guildenstern Meet King Lear. of The Coast of Utopia opens at the 1979 Stoppard has four plays running 1965 Stoppard marries Jose Ingle, a nurse. Olivier Theatre. simultaneously in London’s 1966 Stoppard’s radio and television 2004 Stoppard’s adaptation of Luigi West End. work continues to achieve suc- Pirandello’s Henry IV opens at the cess. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 1984 The U.S. premiere of The Real Donmar Warehouse, London. Are Dead, a revision of the earlier Thing, starring Jeremy Irons and 2005 The Huntington production of one-act play, is performed in the Glenn Close, wins the Tony Award The Real Thing opens the season Edinburgh Festival Fringe. for Best Play. at the B.U. Theatre. – SH

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 9 BU Theatre by T. Charles Erickson Audience Etiquette

Because many students have not had the opportunity to view live

theatre, we are including an audi- Glenn Close and Peter Gallagher in the original Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984; photo: Martha Swope ence etiquette section with each lit- erary/curriculum guide. Teachers, please spend time on this subject BACKGROUND since it will greatly enhance your students’ experience at the theatre. & Objectives 1. How does one respond to a live performance of a play, as enry, a brilliant and successful playwright, spends much of his time creating com- opposed to when seeing a film plicated romances, on the stage and in real life. But after an affair leads to the end at a local cinema? What is the Hof his first marriage, he struggles to find words for love and to preserve his new rela- best way to approach viewing a tionship from spoiling. His solution is to write for love rather than to write about love, live performance of a play? which results in dissatisfaction for all involved. Caught in a complex maze of perform- What things should you look and ances and flawed relationships, Henry must try, along with the audience, to discover “the listen for? real thing” in love and life. 2. What is the audience’s role dur- ing a live performance? How do Objectives Students will: you think audience behavior can affect an actor’s performance? 1. Identify key issues in The Real Thing including: 3. What do you know about the • love and commitment theatrical rehearsal process? • the purpose of art in society Have you ever participated in • life imitating art / art imitating life one as an actor, singer, director, 2. Relate themes and issues in The Real Thing to their own lives. or technical person? 3. Analyze the themes and issues within the geographical, historical, and social 4. How do costumes, set, lights, context of the play. sound and props enhance a 4. Participate in hands-on activities that enhance understanding of the production. theatre production? 5. Evaluate the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of The Real Thing.

10 Huntington Theatre Company 3. The end of his marriage to Miriam PREPARATION FOR Moore-Robinson, and his affair with the leading lady of The Real Thing, Felicity Kendal in 1992 The Real Thing 4. Stoppard’s sentiment, “I really dig words more than I can speak them. There are no words to say how much I love [words]” 5. Stoppard’s personal viewpoints on politics and the impact his plays have had beyond art and entertainment Ask students to share their paragraphs with the class. Create a list of themes and main ideas emerging from their work. STOPPARD AND HUMAN RIGHTS Henry’s reluctance to support Annie’s work on the Brodie Committee or write Private Brodie’s play may not accurately reflect or capture Tom Stoppard’s interest in political dissidents. While Stoppard is described as a apolitical playwright, his career included various projects with Amnesty International, and his affilia- tions with the Committee against Psychi- atric Abuse and Index on Censorship inspired him to write articles and letters about human rights violations. Perhaps his most politically charged work, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977), marked him as a playwright with concern for pol- itics. The play, accompanied by an orches- tra, tells the story of a political dissident Tom Stoppard at San Diego University for his production of Cahoot’s Macbeth, 1981 sent to a Soviet mental hospital. Why does Stoppard include Brodie and his story in The Real Thing? What does Henry’s discus- TOM STOPPARD to look over the literary supplement for sion of Brodie’s activities and his writing As an overview, read aloud “Tom additional information about the play- contribute to the discovery of “the real Stoppard’s Life in the Theatre” (P. 4) from wright and his writing style. Suggest that thing”? Do you think The Real Thing is a the literary guide. In groups, ask students students write a well-planned paragraph political play? Why or why not? to connect what they know about the about the significance of Stoppard’s con- Information collected from Tom Stoppard: play with the playwright’s life. How did tribution to Western theatre. Additional Biographical Sketch from the Harry Ransom research may be required. Suggested Humanities Research Center at the University of his professional, educational, and familial points of interest include: Texas at Austin. background inform The Real Thing? What aspects of the play seem closely tied to his 1. The success of Rosencrantz and KEY ISSUES personal experiences and artistic expert- Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) Love and Commitment ise? Speculate as to what questions moti- 2. Stoppard’s television, film and Henry claims that the concept of love is vated him to write this play. Ask students radio work “unliterary,” yet the play is filled with his

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 11 clever attempts to translate it into words. He refers to love at one point as “the sen- sation that the universe [is] dispensable minus one,” and at another point as “hap- piness expressed in banality and lust.” These definitions portray love as a fleet- ing, sexual infatuation that predictably comes and goes. Do you think Henry real- ly believes this? Henry is surprised to learn that his ex-wife Charlotte cheated on him with nine different lovers. His expression of surprise and pain suggest that, according to Henry, love should involve some level of commitment. Charlotte says “there are no commit- ments, only bargains.” She does not believe that lovers should be expected to Original cast and crew for Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984 bear the weight of neglect, selfishness, and isolation. should it just keep the audience enter- In Henry’s second marriage, Annie sug- gests that the very purpose of commit- tained? ments is to bear that weight: “I have to Life Imitating Art / Art Imitating Life choose who I hurt and I choose you Stoppard uses the technique of a “play because I’m yours.” After reading The Real within a play” repeatedly in The Real Thing, a play replete with broken com- Thing. At times it seems as if the internal mitments, which character’s view seems performances are being mirrored in the more persuasive? The play itself does not characters’ real lives, and vice versa. In take a single position on love or commit- the opening scene (from House of Cards), ment; it presents many perspectives and the husband confronts his wife about his leaves them in tension. Do you think suspicions that she has been unfaithful. this approach enables love to become She has not taken her passport for inter- “literary”? national travel, and therefore, it seems, The Purpose of Art in Society has lied about taking a trip. Relationships Henry is a wordsmith and deeply throughout the course of the story erupt respects the power of language. Annie with similar accusations — Max finds calls him a snob, an intellectual elite who Henry’s handkerchief in Annie’s car, cherishes wordplay more than the “guts” Charlotte’s new boyfriend wants to know of the story that needs to be told. She Playbill for original Broadway production of The Real Thing, 1984 why she has taken her birth control on a accuses him of writing to be clever, not trip away from him, and Henry catches because he has something important to Annie in a lie about a train schedule. say. Yet Henry counters with an interest- technical expertise does not extend to all ing point: when words are used perfectly areas of the arts. For example, he prefers Interestingly, Stoppard’s own marriage they have the potential to “move the pop music to more complex classical and ended with an extra-marital affair. He world” in ways that clumsy or overtly operatic forms. He also dismisses screen- betrayed his wife by having a relation- political language cannot. Do you think writing as not involving “words” in the ship with the leading lady of The Real Henry believes that art should be used to way that playwriting does. What is your Thing in 1992. For the characters in this push for political or social reform, or does own view of the purpose of art — should play, what seems to be the most accurate he have an “art for art’s sake” mentality? it promote a political agenda, should it statement, “life imitates art” or “art imi- Remember that Henry’s reverence for reflect on the beauty or ugliness of life, or tates life”? Support your answer.

12 Huntington Theatre Company MASTERY Assessment

SCENE ONE SCENE 4 1. What is Max building when Charlotte 11. What gift did Henry promise Annie? comes home? What is the symbolic Why is he having difficulty finishing significance when it collapses? it? Just say it.” What advice is Debbie giv- 2. What does Charlotte do for a living? 12. Who is Miranda Jessop? How does ing to her father? How does the audience learn this fact? Annie feel about her? SCENE EIGHT 3. Why does Max think Charlotte has 13. Why is “jealousy” important to Annie? 21. During scene eight, Billy and Annie are lied about her trip? How does their rehearsing. Why does the author’s fight end? SCENE FIVE 14. According to the stage directions, how note suggest the scene be played SCENE TWO much time has passed since the end of twice? 4. In the following scene, Charlotte is Act One? Why has Stoppard suggested SCENE NINE with another man, named Henry. Why a time lapse between these scenes but 22. How does Henry figure out Annie is is Charlotte upset that Henry has invit- not between any of the preceding ones? lying to him? Who has Annie been ed Max over? (Does your answer to this 15. Private Brodie is working on a play. spending her time with? How does question change after reading the What is he writing about? Does Henry this scene mirror the scene from scene in its entirety?) think its any good? Why doesn’t Henry Henry’s play, House of Cards? 5. What does Henry do for a living? want to write the play for Brodie? What is the significance of the “list” he SCENE TEN is trying to finish? SCENE SIX 23. Brodie’s play is being produced, but for 16. Billy finds Annie on the train. How do what medium? Who have been cast as 6. Why is Henry embarrassed about his they know each other? Where is the actors for the production? music taste, and why is this problem- Annie going and for what reason? atic for his appearance on Desert Island SCENE ELEVEN 17. What are Billy and Annie quoting at Discs? 24. Is Annie in love with Billy? How does the end of the scene? What is the Henry respond when Annie suggests 7. Annie is the wife of Max. What is the significance? ending the affair? Who does Annie nature of her relationship with Henry? want to be in a romantic relationship SCENE SEVEN 8. Annie is on the “Brodie Committee.” with? 18. What is the family crisis troubling Who is Private Brodie? What was the Henry? How does Charlotte respond? crime he is accused of? SCENE TWELVE What does Debbie call her father, and 25. Brodie visits Annie and Henry. What is 9. How does Henry insult Annie? After does this bother him? the purpose of their meeting? Why Max and Charlotte leave the room, 19. Where is Debbie going? How does does Brodie think he was released from what excuse does he give Annie for his Charlotte ensure that Debbie will keep prison? rude behavior? in touch? 26. Why isn’t Brodie appreciative of Annie and Henry’s efforts with regard to the SCENE 3 20. Describe the conversation between production of his play? 10. How does Max discover Annie’s Henry and Debbie. What advice or betrayal? Besides admitting to the message is he trying to convey? Debbie 27. What news does Max share in a tele- affair, what does Annie say that leaves interrupts Henry during one of his phone call with Henry and Annie at no hope for reconciliation? speeches and says, “Don’t write it, Fa. the end of the play?

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 13 OPEN RESPONSE and Writing

Instructions for students: Please answer the cepts” about love and relationships, following as thoroughly as possible. Remem- Debbie responds, “Too late, Fa. Love you.” ber to use topic sentences and examples from Do you notice the ambiguity in these the text. parting words? Does she mean it is too OPEN RESPONSE ASSESSMENT late for her father’s opinions and judg- Why do you think Stoppard titled this ments to influence the course of her life? play The Real Thing? What is “the real Or does she want her father to know that thing”? she is comfortable with her decisions Henry wants to impart something he because they already reflect the lessons has learned about love to his daughter, she has learned from him? but she has already developed her own Annie betrays Henry by becoming feelings and ideas about romantic rela- romantically involved with Billy, a young tionships. While she may be willing to lis- co-actor. Discuss how Henry’s discovery ten to her father, she seems less willing to of their relationship is a moment in change what she is about to do. After which “life imitates art.” looking more closely at their conversa- Do you have any friends or family tion, consider the tension created in this members whom you know so well that scene. Have your parents or other adult you can finish their sentences? Are they figures in your life tried to speak with you able to find the word that you say is “on about a difficult or sensitive subject? the tip of my tongue”? During these con- versations, what enables a bridge of com- What did you discover during these talks Tom Stoppard after winning the Academy Award — that your views were closely aligned munication to form between your two for best screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, 1999 with theirs, or that your personal experi- minds? Is there a natural pattern or order ences led you to different conclusions? to your dialogue with which others can real people would speak as cleverly as he Contrast Henry’s struggle to create become familiar? Have you ever had the writes? “high art” with his “embarrassing” enjoy- opposite experience in which someone ment of pop music. What is “high art”? Is attempted to finish your sentence and WRITING ASSIGNMENTS it possible for high art to become part of you responded, “No, that’s not quite what Although Private Brodie was disap- popular culture? I meant?” What accounts for the miscom- pointed with Henry’s attempt to write In an attempt to please Annie, Henry munication? his play, it was interesting enough to writes Private Brodie’s play, even though Henry’s mastery of language often frus- attract the attention of television pro- he considers the story trite and mundane. trates other characters in The Real Thing. ducers. Do you think Henry’s play had Brodie is unhappy with the final product, How do Charlotte, Max, Annie, and any artistic merit? How would you and says that Henry’s motives for writing Debbie converse with Henry without define “art”? What qualities or charac- the piece were impure. Did anything pos- becoming tongue-tied? What strategies teristics must a creative work have in itive come out of the creation of this play? do they enlist to counteract Henry’s abili- order to be classified as art? Might its creation have caused more ty to expose the ambiguity in the words Use one of the following lines from The harm than good for Brodie’s message and they choose to express their feelings? Do Real Thing as a topic for a short essay: for Henry’s personal relationship with you think Henry finds it difficult to sepa- Annie? rate his own speech from the lines that he CHARLOTTE: Having all the words Henry is concerned that his 17-year-old writes for actors? Is he constantly using to come back with just as you need daughter is running off with a musician. his “real” conversations as fodder for his them. That’s the difference between When he attempts to discuss his “pre- next play, or is it simply that he wishes plays and real life — thinking time.

14 Huntington Theatre Company HENRY: Public postures have the con- figuration of private derangement. FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION

HENRY: I don’t think writers are Desert Island Discs was created in 1942 by Roy Plomley, and is one of BBC ‘s (British sacred, but words are. They deserve Broadcasting Corporation) longest-running and most popular shows. Each week a respect. If you get the right ones in guest is invited onto the show to share the eight albums he/she would take to a the right order, you can nudge the desert island. In The Real Thing, Henry struggles to produce a list of albums that he world a little or make a poem which feels will not embarrass him or call into question his credibility as an artist. Imagine children will speak for you when that you were stranded on a deserted island, but were only allowed to choose two you’re dead. books, two CDs, two movies, and two videogames. What titles would you choose and DEBBIE: Exclusive rights isn’t love, why would you choose them? it’s colonization. The dramaturg serves as a resource for directors, actors and the company pro- HENRY: It’s no trick loving somebody ducing a play. The dramaturg provides important background information and other at their best. Love is loving them at details about the play, which are useful to the artists interpreting the story, be they their worst. designers or understudies. If you were assigned to be the dramaturg for a produc- Henry insists that he is moved by top tion of The Real Thing, what research and visual stimulation would you provide for thirty songs on the music chart, but has the director and actors at the first rehearsal? Would you provide information about no interest in “real” music. At the same other famous plays by Stoppard, or play music by Buddy Holly or Strauss? time he believes that “words are sacred,” Henry believes that words are “sacred” and that it is important to use them with and that “they deserve respect.” Why is he care. He suggests that inappropriate use of words leads to prejudice and disaster. able to appreciate music that is not Annie questions his intellectual honesty and counters with the idea that “who wrote labeled “high art,” but has difficulty toler- it, why he wrote it, and where he wrote it” are important characteristics to consider ating Private Brodie’s attempt at playwrit- when evaluating a written work. Imagine that you are an editor at one of your ing? Shouldn’t the rules for writing be the favorite magazines and are handed two articles written on the same topic: the dev- same for all areas of art, including music? During a train ride, Annie explains to astation due to drought, famine and disease facing Niger, a region in Africa. The Billy that she doesn’t believe in the “class first article is written by a free-lance journalist with credentials from Harvard and system.” She thinks people group togeth- Yale. Her article is in perfect format and can be immediately published. Her facts are er because they have something in com- accurate and she brilliantly captures the horror she observed while in Niger. The mon, not because the economy and social second article is written by a 17-year old Nigerian boy who has been studying structure pushes them together. Do you English for the past five years. The text is rough, but his accounts are first-hand and agree with her reasoning? Why or why he has been personally affected by the tragedy. His article will need weeks of not? editing and revisions, and will ultimately lack the professional quality of the How do you feel at the end of the play? first article. Which story do you choose to publish? Do you go with the first article, Do you feel that each of the characters a first-rate page-turner or do you give voice to a devastated individual living “got what they deserved”? Are there vic- tims in this story? Winners? Write an epi- the story? logue in which you describe the where- abouts of each character ten years later. Assuming that the following is true, “war is profits, politicians are puppets, Parliament is a farce, justice is a fraud, property is theft,” and that these facts have been the source of countless books, plays and newspaper articles, what possi- ble good might come from continuing to write about these topics? Is it possible to say the same thing in a new way, and in a way that can inspire change?

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 15 MEDIA Assessment

British pop band Herman’s Hermits

These questions and hands-on exercises are 1. Compare the characterizations in Visual Art interactive challenges in Drama, Visual each scene. Which group was most 1. Ask students to create a poster design Art, Music, Dance, and Design that inspire successful at portraying the charac- for the Huntington Theatre Com- further consideration or understanding of ters’ intentions? Which group cap- pany’s production of The Real Thing the play. tured the underlying subtext of the using the media with which they feel MEDIA ASSESSMENT scene most accurately? Which actors most comfortable (photography, paints, collage, etc.). Encourage stu- These questions and hands-on exercises grabbed the audience’s attention dents to consider texture and color are interactive challenges in Drama, with their moving stage presence? when making decisions about how Visual Arts, Dance, Music and Design that 2. For each performance, what were the best to represent this play. Suggest to inspire further consideration or under- three key or decisive moments of the students that this poster will be used standing of the play. scene? Why were these moments to advertise the production in and particularly important to the pro- Drama around the Boston area. How might gression of the scene? Divide the class into four groups, and ask you catch a prospective audience them not to confer with each other dur- Choose a line important to the theme member’s eye? What images or pic- ing the course of the exercise. Choose a of the scene or of the play as a whole. How tures would be appropriate to use in single scene for all four groups to per- did each actor “read” this line differently? this advertising campaign, symbols form. After each group performs in front What physicalities, vocalization or inten- that reflect The Real Thing? After stu- of the rest of the class, ask them to consid- tions made this moment differ from scene dents have completed their design, er the following questions: to scene? ask them to share their work with

16 Huntington Theatre Company the class. Compare these designs with the official production poster at QUESTIONS FOR AFTER the Huntington Theatre. Also consid- er researching online posters from other productions of The Real Thing. Attending the 2. Ask students to choose a character from the play. Create a collage out of paper, drawings, magazine and news- Performance paper clippings that represent the character in his/her actions, relation- Note to teachers: After viewing the play, B. Was the set compatible with the ships, attitudes, personality, etc. ask the following questions: production as a whole? Were there Include quotations from the play any features of the set that distract- 1. About the Play and Production that reveal something about the ed from the action of the play? character. These can be quotations A. What was your overall reaction? from the character as well as quota- Were you surprised? Intrigued? C. Did the design reflect the themes, tions about the character. Ask stu- Amused? Explain your reactions. type and style of the play? How was the play structured? Did it dents to share their work with the D. Were the artistic qualities of unity, build to a single climax? Was it class. By picking out the qualities of balance, line, texture, mass and each collage, have them guess which episodic? Did this structure help or color used effectively? character in the play each collage hinder your understanding of the represents. play? Was the dialogue interesting? E. Did the set provide appropriate Appropriate? Poetic? Were you environment and atmosphere? Music/Dance aware of the imagery and symbolism Students should research Henry’s favorite during the course of the play? Would F. Was the set used to present any pop music classics, including songs by you have been aware of these devices symbolic images or did it simply The Ronettes, Herman’s Hermits, the without previous preparation? represent the space in which the Hollies, the Everly Brothers, and the action of the play occurred? Did it B. Was the pace and tempo of the pro- Supremes. After listening to selections contain elements of both a “realis- duction effective and appropriate? that seem to be consistent with Henry’s tic” and a “symbolic” approach? music tastes, the class should then select 2. About the Characters the piece of music that they feel best rep- 4. About Lighting and Sound A. Did the characters touch you per- resents the play as a whole. Ask students sonally in any way? Did you care A. What mood or atmosphere did the with previous dance experience to help about them? lighting establish? Was the illumi- shape choreography for the class to per- nation sufficient? Did the lighting form. Allow time for students to talk B. Were the characters three-dimen- harmonize with, and contribute sional and believable? about the process they used in creating, toward, the unity of the production? rehearsing and performing their dance. C. Were the motivations of the charac- B. How did the sound used in the play Design ters clear? enhance your overall experience? Students should research various types of D. What qualities were revealed by the theatre designs, and determine which action and speech of the characters? 5. About Costumes/Makeup/ Hairstyles space would be best for a production of A. Were all of these elements correct in E. Did the characters develop or under- The Real Thing. How do you accommodate terms of the period fashion? Were the “play within a play,” creating the allu- go a transformation during the they suitable in terms of character sion of being at the theatre while being in course of the play? and storytelling for the production? the theatre? Create a design for the ideal F. In what ways did the characters theatre space for this production, keeping reveal the themes of the play? B. Did the color/design of the cos- practical considerations in mind, such as tumes and make-up serve to illumi- lighting, sound and scenery change 3. About the Set nate the themes, type, and style of needs. A. Was the set usable and workable? the play?

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 17 Tom Stoppard travelling up to Darjeeling, India, 1990; photo; Karan Kapoor Lesson Plans Teachers’ note: Choose activities that are appropriate for your classroom period. All assignments are suggestions. Only a teacher knows his or her class well enough to determine the level and depth to which any piece of literature may be examined.

ONE-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the context and major themes of the production. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play 1. Distribute Mastery Assessment (P. 13) for The Real Thing for students to read before, and to review again after attending the performance. 1. Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout and ask students to define each word. A vocabulary test could be administered after viewing the play. 2. Read the “Synopsis” (P. 3) of The Real Thing. Discuss other works students have studied with similar themes and issues. 3. If time allows, discuss further pages from the literary guide, narrating highlights for students. 4. Ask students to begin Handout 2: Playwriting – Getting Started, and finish for homework.

FOUR-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the production and then, after viewing the performance, asks them to think more critically about what they have seen. Includes time for class discussion and individual assessment. DAY ONE - Introducing the Production Same as Day One above; completed before seeing the production.

DAY TWO - The Production Attend the performance at the Huntington Theatre Company. Homework: Students should answer selected Mastery Assessment questions.

18Huntington Theatre Company DAY THREE - Follow-up Discussion Discuss Mastery Assessment answers in class. DAY FOUR - Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response Assessment or one question from Writing Assignments (P. 14) for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose one of the For Further Exploration (P. 15) or Media Assessment (P. 16) tasks to complete for extra credit

SEVEN-DAY LESSON PLAN completely integrates The Real Thing into your schedule. Within seven school days, you can introduce the play, assign reading and vocabulary, and assess your students on both a group and individual level. Ideally students will view the play after completing Mastery Assessment questions. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play/Act One Same as Day One, previous page. In class, read scenes 1 through 4. Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout due on Day Four. Homework: Read scenes 5 through 8 in The Real Thing and answer Mastery Assessment questions for scenes 1 through 8.

DAY TWO - Act One Discuss scenes 1 through 8 and answers to Mastery Assessment questions. Homework: Read scenes 9 through 12 and answer corresponding Mastery Assessment questions.

DAY THREE - Conclusion Discuss the end of the play and answers to Mastery Assessment questions.

DAY FOUR - Attend Performance Optional: Vocabulary Handout due.

DAY FIVE – Group Work Divide students into groups. Ask them to select one scene from The Real Thing to interpret for the class. They may act out the scene in a traditional way or in an unusual fashion, or create an oral presentation of literary analysis. Tasks should be evenly divided among the members of the group.

DAY SIX: Presentations Students will present their piece of original written work to the class. Homework: Students should prepare for the test on the following day.

DAY SEVEN: Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response Assessment or one question from the Writing Assignments for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose to complete one of the For Further Exploration or Media Assessment tasks for extra credit.

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2005-2006 19 Name:______Date:______

Handout 1 VOCABULARY IN THE REAL THING Define the following terms.

Viaduct ______Daft ______

Superfluous______Malarkey______

Bungalow ______Pedagogue ______

Gerund ______Panacea ______

Abhor ______Lout______

Cliché ______Fastidious ______

Amicable______Anchorite ______

Assertive ______Lascivious ______

Conciliatory ______Jodhpurs ______

Banal ______Sophistry______

Badinage ______Succumb ______

Pretension ______Wanton ______

Candor ______Chide ______

Furtive______Voracity ______

Inflection ______Hapless ______

Glower ______Debonair ______

Lacuna______Name:______Date:______

Handout 2 PLAYWRITING — GETTING STARTED

Writing a play is not a simple task. In this handout you will be presented with some thoughts about how to begin writing a play and with a structure or format to follow. It may also be helpful to use “The Real Thing” as an example illustrating the points in this exercise.

THE STORY: You should begin by deciding what story you want to tell. Will you adapt a fairytale into play form, or share a personal expe- rience through your work? Perhaps you have a completely original piece of science fiction or fantasy in your mind that would be per- fect for your friends to perform. Brainstorming and coming up with the idea is often the greatest challenge facing the playwright. In the space below, write 4-5 sentences describing the basic storyline or plot for your play. ______

Annie believes that while Brodie has something to say, Henry has to “think up something just so [he] can keep on writing.”

THE MESSAGE: When your audience finishes reading or viewing your play, what is the message that you hope they take away from your story? ______

What is Tom Stoppard’s message to his audience? What does he believe is “the real thing”?

THE CONFLICT: A story is not much of a story without a problem that needs to be resolved. What is the major issue or conflict in your play that propels the action of the play forward? What does your main character want and what is standing in her way? Jot down your ideas for the main conflict in the space below. ______

Based on your reading of “The Real Thing,” what is the major conflict for the character of Henry?

THE RISING ACTION: As the characters in the play work their way through the conflict(s) and struggles in front of them, key moments in the plot unfold, leading to the resolution of the conflict. Write down at least three major plot points that will contribute to the rising action of the play. 1.______2.______3.______THE CRISIS: The moment of greatest tension in the play requires the main character to take action – at this point the main character must make a decision about what will happen next, leading directly to the climax of the story. What will be the highest moment of tension or the crisis for the characters in your play? ______

What is the greatest moment of tension for Henry?

THE CLIMAX: At this point in the play the main characters reach the height of the conflict and are faced with the consequences of their actions. The conflict comes to a head and the main question of the story is answered. What will the moment of climax look like for the characters in your play? ______

After having read or seen “The Real Thing”, what do you think is the climax of this story? Do you think there are moments of climax in both Act One and Act Two?

THE CONCLUSION: The playwright must find a way to end the story for her characters. How will you wrap up the story without the end- ing being “too neat” or unrealistic (like the sitcom-style television program in which every problem can be solved in 30 minutes or less)? Write down your ideas about the closing moments of your play. ______

As a reader or audience member, did you feel satisfied at the end of “The Real Thing”? Do you agree with Stoppard’s decision to end the play at that particular moment in time?

THE CHARACTERS: Consider the vessels through which you will tell your story. What characteristics of these people help to define and shape their personalities? How will these traits contribute to the conflict and resolution of your story? Be careful not to stereotype or generalize your characters – if you do, they will seem two-dimensional, lacking in depth and believability. In the space below, write brief descriptions of your principal characters. Playwrights often include the name, age, and relationship to other characters before the beginning of their play. Character One:______Character Two:______Character Three:______Character Four:______

You are off to a great start! Having the key components in place will help you to focus your efforts during the first draft of your work. Remember, playwrights spend countless hours editing and revising their pieces – but it all begins with the idea and a story.

Resources for this worksheet include: Korty, Carol. Writing Your Own Plays. Players Press, 2000 (2nd edition).