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    Re: No, it wasn't all a dream Archived Message

    Posted by scrabb on December 10, 2019, 9:37 pm, in reply to "No, it wasn't all a dream"

    I understood all that, Sue. Yes, I got the flashbacks to her sister being murdered and buried. That wasn't the point I was making. In order not to cheat the reader/viewer you must play fair and give them sufficient information. Nowhere in the play were we told that Maudie had been informed that Elizabeth was in hospital and had simply forgotten or become confused. It should have been hinted at or implied so that a doubt was placed in our mind, but it never was.

    And no, I didn't think it was "all a dream". I used the "dream" analogy because this is a plot device many novice writers employ. They write an improbable story with many fantastic twists and turns and then instead of explaining all this at the end they lazily say, "and then she woke up" -- obviating the need for an explanation and cheating the reader. This play did the same using the device of dementia. The writer should have suggested at some point that perhaps an alternative version of events (other than Maudie's) was possible. This wasn't done, and to my mind it undermined the integrity and credibility of the drama.

    Another example: murder mystery where the culprit is revealed at the end to be someone who appeared in the first five minutes and had three lines. You have to play fair with your audience even while deceiving them -- that's what good drama is.

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