Big Ideas in little places

Watching Terra Nova, really changed the way I will write in the future. I began thinking about what people write plays about and it made my head hurt. There are plays on almost every topic from the seemingly inane to the incredibly gut-wrenching. Terra Nova showed me that there aren’t plays about inane things because the play proves why a thing isn’t insignificant. Everything, no matter how small, has a story and affects people. The magic of playwriting is to find that significance in the subject and make it compelling. I would never have dreamed that someone could write an entire full-length play about the south pole, but as I sat I became more and more aware of the drama that the expedition experienced.

In Terra Nova there were lots of moments that harbored hugely emotional pieces. The one that I can remember most clearly was Matt reading in his journal about the three surviving men. It must have been one of the only times in history that a group of three people have known that they were going to die, but couldn’t admit it to each other. It resonated with everyone in the audience because they have all been in situations where everyone involved knew it was hopeless but no one would be the first to give up. With a few lines of dialogue, Terra Nova was somehow able to marry such a specific and rare feeling with a fairly common one and bring the audience further into a play that they couldn’t be more geographically or chronologically removed from.

This play was harbored an interesting lesson in characters. I really loved the expedition portion of the play, but some of my female friends did not. I realized that even though I may really connect to a group of characters, many other people would not. It was additionally one of the first times that I have felt such a strong connection with a group of people instead of just one character. They banded together for the whole play, and allowed nature to act at the antagonist. It is nice for an audience member to not have someone to hate because it frees him or her from the burden of judgment. Joey’s character was probably one of the most interesting characters that I have even seen in a play. I think he was perfect for the role, but also he had wonderfully dynamic and spectacular writing. He was neither an antagonist nor a friend to Matt, but his presence was always eerie and interesting.

I guess I touched on this before, but a play like Terra Nova is easy for an audience to connect to because they are inherently bound to the actors. In a play whose conflict and villain are rolled up into the harsh environment, everyone watching the play is able to side with the actors completely. There isn’t really anyone to hate in this play, so subsequently the characters become very loved. Each may have a flaw, but the audience is able to blame the harsh weather for their faults and root for the underdog humans until the villainous Antarctic kills them. I want to try writing a play with no antagonist.