PLAYWRIGHT AT WORK

From his 25 years of writing and directing, van Driten explores his knowledge and beliefs of the art of playwriting for the benefit of would-be fellow craftsmen. It is no textbook he offers here nor is it a blueprint to success but it is a reminiscent, conversational account of his trials and errors, analysis of other plays, and a contemplation of currently new trends (the play of mood) in theater. He discusses plotting, ideas, construction, scenery, characters, dialog, audience interest, etc., all their mechanisms and the carpentry of the play; he follows the development of ideas and character and the means of making them believable and, at the same time, of dramatic integrity; he criticizes or commends points under discussion in Young Woodley, Bell Book and Candle, The Voice of the Turtle I Remember Mama and other of his own plays. It is interesting as well as informative reading for the student as well as the assiduous theater-goer.