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A sample, if you like

by Gregory Peters, Plagiarist, writer and project facilitator

What have we been doing this week? I’m calling it “exploding scenes.” We get into small groups, define the scene a little, and then try to think of everything that might go into the scene - where the characters are at in their journey, what their motivations, relationships and opinions might be, what the historical context is, why the scene seems important to the play as a whole, what information & themes might be covered, and all the iterations of structure we can think of. Then we present to the group as a whole and get even more ideas, critiques, and questions. The result is a clear guide, everything you might need to write a scene. Here’s an example:

Survivors Awarded Legion of Honor

Scene: In 1831, the survivors of the raft were awarded the Legion of Honor. After the ceremony some of the survivors gather and talk at a public house.

Characters:

-Correard: Freshly returned from England, has gotten into trains but is still politically active. Is he unhinged & obsessed still? Or has he calmed down? Has he returned because Charles X is dead and the Bourbons are out of power, because of the medal, or both? Or neither?
-De Savigny: embittered, ill, no longer mayor of Soubise.
-Du Bellay: A mystery. Quits Schmaltz and Senegal and then vanishes from our records. Is he still apologizing? Does he feel worthy? Guilty? Has he become a revolutionary? Does he have a Judas/Simon peter problem? What is his relationship to the government & society as a whole?

Scene Details:

Do they enter one at a time or in a group or in groups? Is someone already there? Did they all anticipate meeting there or does one of them crash the conversation? Are they intoxicated? Is Du Bellay’s level of drunkenness/obnoxiousness at odds with the others? 

Do Correard and De Sevigny catch up and then Du Bellay joins them? Who buys the rounds? Do they argue about the book or profits from it? Are they reticent or eager to share? Do they have different attitudes? How does the scene end – rupture, retreat or fade out? Who leaves first and why? Is it De Sevigny? Is there a physical resemblance to drunkenness and being at sea on the raft?

Central Ideas:

1. How do they feel about being given an award by the government? How do they feel about the current government?
2. The “old veteran” reunion - where they are in their lives long after the raft, who’s alive, who’s dead
3. The raft experience never actually ends (could be related to never leaving the raft) except in death, and they are reaching out for that shared experience, the desire to know they’re not alone.
4. Saying goodbye to each other
5. How do we avoid exposition and make the scene driven by action?

Points to be made

-It’s been ten years since these guys were all together
-They finally have recognition from their country for their suffering
-The government has changed , Louis Phillippe is of the throne, a constitutional monarch
-The award comes with money
-Coudein still in the navy, was in another shipwreck (Gloriole in 1823)
-Specific chronic health problems
-They feel lost, unmoored in their lives, even though they try to hide it.  “We don’t need you to come here and talk about our problems, we’ve been faking normalcy very well, thank you.”

Questions

-Is this like a gold watch rather than a medal of valor?
-What would each man do with it?
-How do they feel about each other & the others who received it?
-They sought reparations for a long time, how does it feel to get them so late?
-Is this framework for flashbacks?
-Is this where Correard gets the idea to run for office?
-Are there echoes of the raft physically and mentally (in jokes, games, etc.)?