Themes&TheMeaningsof

Plays
THEPLAYWRITINGSEMINARS>CONTENT>THEME>
'Idon'tbelieveinamessage.Ithinkitwouldbedisastrousifyoucouldsaywhatthe
messageofHAMLETwas.Evenwithaminorplay,everyoneisgoingtocomeawaywith
somethingdifferentdependingonifthey'vejustlefttheirloversorifthey'vejusthada
childorifthey'vejustbeenfired.'
BethHenley

Plays nearly always tend to be about something that

matters. Screenplays have the luxury assuming you
want that of only needing to be about whathappens-next (for more on this issue see Part Six on
Screenwriting). But plays need this something of
consequence. Being about something that matters
guarantees that a play comes with a theme.
Themes develop from a playwrights personal values
(moral, social, or political) expressed through a play's
plot and characters. In a sense, the theme is your
moral or ethical position about the story you're telling.
Integrating Your Personal Values
Playwrights don't often think consciously about their
themes as they write. Their personal values tend to be
so integrated into how they see the world that their
themes flow into each play as the dialogue goes on the
page. That's why the same theme often shows up in a
writer's work from one play to the next. If you're new
to dramatic writing, spend some time thinking about
what matters to you socially, politically, and ethically

as you look at the world and the people around you.

Write about this in your journal as a way of clarifying
your thinking.
Best Practice: What matters deeply to you will
matter to your audience.
Some Intriguing Themes
A sampling from plays currently in the seasons of
regional theatres, ranging from an American classic to
recent premieres.
1. David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly. Believing
in racial stereotypes will blind you to reality.
2. Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles.
A heavy price was paid by women who were the
professional career path-makers and breakers of the
1970's.
3. Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart. It's a
crime not to follow your heart's desires.
4. Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Overly sensitive people are crippled by the lies of the
world we live in.
5. Michael Hollingers Opus. Staying together
emotionally is even harder than playing together
harmoniously.
6. Tracy Letts August: Osage County. Parents
who cant release their children create havoc in their
lives.
Most playwrights express their themes with
considerable subtlety. That's the difference between
having a theme and a message. If your primary goal is
get across a message, there are probably more

effective ways of doing that than writing a play,

though one of the attractions of docudramas is that
they can carry a significant message with ease.
Cautions on Writing from a Theme
Nearly all contemporary playwrights would say its a
fools errand to try writing a play driven consciously
by a predetermined theme or message. But it can be
tempting to try. Doing this seems especially intriguing
since it can be argued that Shakespeare did it with his
political tragedies (Hamlet and Macbeth among
them) and his history plays, probably to help support
the monarchy that allowed his theatre company to
operate. If the Bard could make this work, why not
try?
The poster-boy for why this practically never works
is the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, one of the
major dramatists of the 20th century. He tried writing
from a theme in most of his great plays including his
masterpieces, Mother Courage and Her Children and
Galileo. One of the liabilities he had in attempting this
was the misfortune to create such compelling
characters that they obscured his intended messages,
but those characters were only part of the problem.
The main obstacle for Brecht (and contemporary
playwrights) is that a playwrights real themes those
deeply held and integrated personal values always
end up being infused into the play whether they want
them there or not. As those values enter the play, they
overwhelm and finally bury any consciously intended
themes. Brechts overriding personal values the way
he lived his entire life centered on a belief that wily

survival skills were essential in the world. Its no

surprise that his major plays have title characters
incorporating that same belief toward living and
survival. In Mother Courage, he wanted us to take
away the message that the title character was a stupid
(his word) woman who never learned that the loss of
her children and her own near ruin was being caused
by her pursuit of capitalist ideas. That intended theme
was overwhelmed for audiences by Brechts
internalized theme: They always saw Mother Courage
as a wily survivor fighting to make it against nearly
impossible odds. Instead of seeing her as stupid,
audiences always saw her as worthy of admiration.
Despite reworking the ending of Mother Courage in
subsequent years to make his intended theme clearer
for audiences, he could never get it to break through
his internalized theme.
Best Practice: For messages to work in plays, they
need to coincide with your deeply held values.
A second danger in writing from a theme is that it can
lead to unconsciously manipulating characters and
plots to make the point rather than allowing the
conflict between the characters to logically drive the
play. The artificiality that nearly always results from
this risks turning off audiences, primarily because the
logic of the plays climax and resolution wont make
sense to them. The best approach with themes is to
allow them to flow naturally into the play as you write.
Since it is nearly impossible to prevent your personal
values from flowing into a play (if you take your
characters seriously) it makes sense to just let this

process happen.
1.
ManStrugglesAgainstNature:Manisalwaysatbattlewithhumannature,whe
therthe drives described are sexual, material or against the aging
process itself.
2.
ManStrugglesAgainstSocietalPressure:Mankindisalwaysstrugglingtodete
rmineif
societal pressure is best for living. Check out books like Revolut
ionaryRoad or Mrs. Dallowayfor examples of characterswhoknow how
society says theyshould live, but feel
society's dictation is contrary to what makes them happy.
3.
ManStrugglestoUnderstandDivinity:Mankindtriestounderstandandmake
peace with God, but satisfaction is elusive and difficult.
4.
CrimeDoesNotPay:Apopularthemeplayedoutinbooksthroughouttimeisth
e concept that honesty is honored and criminals will eventually be
caught. Crime and Punishment and "The Telltale Heart" are two stories
written on this theme.
5.
OvercomingAdversity:Manybookslaudcharacterswhoacceptatoughsituat
ion and turn it into triumph. Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind
exemplifies a shrewd
person who finds a way to come out on top despite failed relationships
and an economic depression aftertheCivilWar.
6.
FriendshipisDependantonSacrifice:Thisistheideathatyoucan'thavefriend
sifyou don't act like a friend.
7.
TheImportanceofFamily:Sacrificesforfamilyarehonoredandexplored,asar
ethe
family bonds that surviveadversity.

8.
YinandYang:Justwhenyouthinklifeisfinallygoingtobeeasy,somethingbad
happens to balance it all out.
9. Love is the Worthiest of Pursuits: Many writers assert the idea that
love conquers all, appealing t o t he romant ic side of us.
10. Death is Part of the Life Cycle: Literary works with this theme show
how death and life and intricatelyconnected.
11.Sacrifices Bring Reward: Sacrifices and hard work pay off in the end,
despite the challenges along theway.
12.Human Beings All Have the Same Needs: From Montagues to
Capulets in Romeo and
Juliet or the characters in S.E. Hinton's The Out siders, book after book
asserts that rich or poor, educated or dumb, all human beings need
love and other basic needs met.

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The theme of a book is a universal idea or message

that stretches through an entire story. A theme may
show up in a pattern (such as reoccurring examples
of beauty in simplicity) or a theme may come
through as the result of a buildup (tragedy of war). It
is often a lesson that we learn about life or people.
The following list contains examples of subjects and
motifs that appear in popular literature. If you find
that one of the subjects below relates to your book,
ask yourself what message the author is sending
about that subject. This message is a theme. If you
have trouble understanding themes or discerning the
theme of a book you are reading, you may find it
useful to consider the following ideas. Is the author
saying something about the topics below?
Beauty of simplicity
Capitalism effect on the individual
Change of power - necessity

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Change versus tradition

Chaos and order
Character destruction, building up
Circle of life
Coming of age
Communication verbal and nonverbal

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Companionship as salvation
Convention and rebellion
Dangers of ignorance
Darkness and light
Death inevitable or tragedy
Desire to escape
Destruction of beauty
Disillusionment and dreams
Displacement
Empowerment
Emptiness of attaining false dream
Everlasting love
Evils of racism
Facing darkness
Facing reality
Fading beauty
Faith versus doubt
Family blessing or curse
Fate and free will
Fear of failure
Female roles
Fulfillment
Good versus bad
Greed as downfall
Growing up pain or pleasure
Hazards of passing judgment

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Heartbreak of betrayal
Heroism real and perceived
Hierarchy in nature
Identity crisis
Illusion of power
Immortality

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Individual versus society

Inner versus outer strength
Injustice
Isolation
Isolationism - hazards
Knowledge versus ignorance
Loneliness as destructive force
Losing hope
Loss of innocence
Lost honor
Lost love
Love and sacrifice
Man against nature
Manipulation
Materialism as downfall
Motherhood
Names power and significance
Nationalism complications
Nature as beauty
Necessity of work
Oppression of women
Optimism power or folly
Overcoming fear, weakness, vice
Patriotism positive side or complications
Power and corruption
Power of silence
Power of tradition

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Power of wealth
Power of words
Pride and downfall
Progress real or illusion
Quest for discovery
Quest for power
Rebirth
Reunion
Role of men
Role of Religion virtue or hypocrisy
Role of women
Self inner and outer
Self-awareness
Self-preservation
Self-reliance
Social mobility
Technology in society good or bad
Temporary nature of physical beauty
Temptation and destruction
Totalitarianism
Vanity as downfall
Vulnerability of the meek
Vulnerability of the strong
War glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
Will to survive
Wisdom of experience
Working class struggles
Youth and beauty