Introduction

Dramatic literature, or plays, consists of two types of writing. The first type of writing for plays is dialogue, which refers to the words that the characters speak. The second type of writing for plays is stage directions.

Plays primarily consist of dialogue. Dialogue is what the characters say and this speech reveals who they are and what they want. It can also reveal other information about where the characters are and the conditions in which they exist.

Plays follow specific conventions for dialogue when they appear in print. The name of the character that is speaking appears at the beginning of the line and is offset from the line itself in some way. Usually the character name appears in bold or all caps and is followed by a colon. And every time the speaker changes, a new line begins.

In plays, dialogue reveals relationships between characters, as well as what motivates individual characters. Dialogue also develops and expresses conflicts that move the plot.

Good dialogue reveals what motivates the character and makes clear what they want. Conflict develops between characters when one character prevents another from getting what they want. Characters will also develop a specific cadence, or way of speaking throughout a play. However, sometimes they will break from their normal speech pattern, and moments when this happens is worth paying extra attention to.

Conventions of Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the few ways that a playwright has to communicate important things to the audience through his/her characters. Unlike novelists, who can tell us what their characters are like, tell us about their circumstances, describe their inner states etc, playwrights must do it other ways, such as through good dialogue.
Dialogue is not simply conversation between characters. It has the semblance of conversation but functions in a very “engineered”, purposeful, multidimensional, structural way. Below are some of the features/functions of dialogue in a play.

• Firstly, it may be used to convey information, as a device for exposition. Of course it is important that dialogue used for this function flows naturally from the character and the character’s situation at the appropriate point of the play. Otherwise it seems awkward and jarring.
• Dialogue reveals character. A character’s words tell us much about the character’s social/cultural background, education and emotional/psychological state. In revealing a character through dialogue, a playwright must make important artistic decisions to do with how a character speaks. For example, is dialect important to the way a character speaks? And what vocabulary range will the character display? Will the character use slang?
• Regarding slang, a writer might wish to use slang to give the play a strong contemporary feel. Ironically, slang can also date a play extremely quickly as certain slang expressions disappear quite swiftly, thus lessening the “shelf life” of a play. A heavy use of regional dialects and local references, which might give authentic flavour to the piece, might also alienate audiences outside the region, who feel “left out”. If your play is intended for a broad audience, this is an important artistic consideration. There are really no hard and fast rules. What might be effective in one play, might prove ineffective in another. It often comes down to the intended audience and how far and how long you want your play to travel. It’s a judgement call, specific to the piece.
• Dialogue usually contains “provocation” towards action. It is part of the action/reaction flow between characters. One character says something, the other reacts, moving the drama along in the direction of the spine. Thus, dialogue should relate to the spine, to the character’s role and purpose in the overall structure and theme of the play. Put another way, what a character says at any point in the play, should not be extraneous, but relate to what the whole play is about. If some dialogue is not working in your play, it may be because it has lost connection with the character or play’s dramatic direction.
• Generally, dialogue should show us what a character is feeling, rather than tell us. We should experience through the character’s dialogue something of the situation they are going through. In their interactions with others, dialogue reveals the nature of those relationships and what they want from others. Dialogue therefore contains motivation and character objectives. Discovering a character’s motivation and objective gives the actor the necessary insight to play the character.
• Dialogue, depending on the style of the play, may contain poetry and metaphor. The poetic component of dialogue often reflects the play’s themes and, because of this, gives the dialogue great dimension and power. Even very realistic dialogue, in its thematic context, can have poetic qualities because it relates to a greater whole.

As an example, here is a longer passage from the scene in Top Girls:

JOYCE’s backyard. The house with backdoor is upstage. Downstage a shelter made of junk, made by children. Two girls, ANGIE and KIT, are in it, squashed together. ANGIE is 16, KIT is 12. They cannot be seen from the house. JOYCE calls from the house.

JOYCE – Angie. Angie are you out there?
Silence. They keep still and wait. When nothing else happens they relax.
ANGIE – Wish she was dead.
KIT – Wanna watch The Exterminator?
ANGIE – You’re sitting on my leg.
KIT – There’s nothing on telly. We can have an ice cream. Angie?
ANGIE – Shall I tell you something?
KIT – Do you wanna watch The Exterminator?
ANGIE – It’s X, innit.
KIT – I can get into Xs.
ANGIE – Shall I tell you something?
KIT – We’ll go to something else. We’ll go to Ipswich. What’s on the Odeon?
ANGIE – She won’t let me, will she?
KIT – Don’t tell her.
ANGIE – I’ve no money.
KIT – I’ll pay.
ANGIE – She’ll moan though, won’t she?
KIT – I’ll ask her for you if you like.
ANGIE – I’ve no money, I don’t want you to pay.
KIT – I’ll ask her.
ANGIE – She don’t like you.
KIT – I still got three pounds birthday money. Did she say she don’t like me? I’ll go by myself then.
ANGIE – Your mum don’t let you. I got to take you.
KIT – She won’t know.
ANGIE – You’d be scared who’d sit next to you.
KIT – No I wouldn’t. She does like me anyway. Tell me then.

ANGIE – Tell you what?
KIT – It’s you she doesn’t like.
ANGIE – Well I don’t like her so tough shit.
JOYCE (off) – Angie. Angie. Angie. I know you’re out there. I’m not coming out after you. You come in here.
Silence. Nothing happens.

In contrast to the dense blank verse of Henry’s speech, most of the dialogue in Extract 1 is in alternating one-line speeches. The technical term for this is stichomythia, from the Greek ‘line talk’. It was frequently used in classical drama, to convey a kind of verbal parrying, accompanied by antithesis (opposites, contrasting ideas) and repetitive patterns, and is an effective way of creating tension and conflict. Although it has been used less since the classical period, Shakespeare and other dramatists have employed stichomythia, and it is not uncommon in plays of the twentieth century.
The language is not poetical in the usual sense and it employs the idioms of colloquial speech (‘Wanna’, ‘innit’, ‘tough shit’), but although we might say that this is naturalistic dialogue, it is still constructed; it does not resemble a transcript of real speech.
Drama has been defined as a process of conflict and resolution. In this scene we have concentrated so far on the tension that builds up between the two girls, and that tension, which is a matter of rivalry and of closeness, is reflected in the use of space. The girls are placed in close physical contact in the makeshift hut, and the indication in the stage directions that they are ‘squashed together’ is emphasized in a speech: ‘You’re sitting on my leg’. Later in the scene Kit says: ‘You’re sitting on me’. So, despite the sparse stage directions a director would know how the girls should be placed onstage. Even within the confined space of the hut, the reversal of positions shows that movement is taking place and it is through movement that the audience can be made aware of the fluctuations in the relationship between the two girls. A further dimension of tension is created by the part that Joyce plays in the scene. The girls’ refusal to answer her call unites them against her, the adult; she represents the outside world within which their hut is a juvenile retreat, and a place of secrets. The rest of the scene is punctuated not only by the silences but by Joyce’s calls to the two girls.

Approaching Plays. Licensed under CC BY SA 4.0 http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/literature-and-creative-writing/literature/approaching-plays/content-section-2

“Dialogue” by John Summons. Licensed under CC BY SA 4.0 https://writingfortheatre.wordpress.com/writing-for-theatre/dialogue/

Summary

Paying attention to the dialogue that appears on the page can help you to learn a lot about the environment that the playwright is creating and the kinds of people who exist in that setting. What motivates them? What (or who) stands in their way? How do they behave when pushed to their breaking point? How do they feel about their circumstances?

Dialogue also provides important clues to readers and directors to help them visualize the play. Where are they? How close are the two characters speaking to each other? What else is on stage with the characters.

Understanding how to read dialogue effectively will also help you to understand how playwrights develop characters as well as the environment without the use of prose, and often without narration. Knowing how to approach dialogue will also help you to better visualize the printed text as a performance, as you notice the nuance of space and place revealed through dialogue.