Thursday 13 March 2008

Not Saying It

A good friend of mine, a successful playwright, had a golden rule of writing plays: "If you have anything to say, don't say it." Which meant that if you have a point of view, want to present an argument, a play is not the medium for it. The platform or soap-box is better.
You "don't say it" also about the story because if you do, you lose suspense. The audience will not be apprehensive about what is going to happen because you've said it, you've told them what is going to happen.
I have come across another phrase that has to do with one of the arts - music. It was said by the modern composer, John Cage. He said: "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it."
I don't know if that is a golden rule of his but if it is, a saying of George Bernard Shaw comes to mind: "The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules."

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