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Comment by Kaite O'Reilly on December 8, 2011 at 9:37

Carmen - briefly, dialogue is just one aspect of the whole, just as Greg and Phil have said before me. It's important, of course, but just AN element of the whole, not THE and doesn't necessarily define the writer. Content, sensibility, intention, aesthetic, dramaturgy, etc, defines the individual playwright far more than how they get their characters to speak to each other (if indeed, they DO speak... Ota Shogo famously wrote plays with no dialogue that was spoken - he said it was there, you just couldn't hear it - he was more interested in the interactions between these figures on stage, not what they SAID).

Comment by Tim Price on December 8, 2011 at 9:32

Yes it's been negotiated by the Scottish Writers' Union.

Comment by meredydd barker on December 8, 2011 at 9:26

Sorry Tim. The going rate is twelve grand?

Comment by Tim Price on December 8, 2011 at 9:22

A playwriting commission from a Scottish theatre in £12,000.

Thoughts anyone?

Comment by Phil John on December 8, 2011 at 9:06

Hi Carmen I can empathise with situation you describe in terms of your writing. I agree with what Greg says; if you have a reason to write and a story to tell, and care about the story all the rest of it can come. Its in the re-writing and re-writing that you can fanny about with the niceties of the craft. "If the story works" is the main thing, the characters find voice from their situation more often than not and if not quite right, re-writing and re-writing! Its a bugger to get right/write though and like I say I totally understand where you are coming from.

Comment by Greg Cullen on December 8, 2011 at 6:20

Carmen, what defines you as a writer is what you write about and why you write about it. Dialogue is a stylistic concern which should enhance, embody and amplify the philosophical reason, or impulse to write. I suggest its better to be defined by substance than by style although being a stylish SOB myself I do like it.

Comment by Kevin Johnson on December 8, 2011 at 2:51

Good to see that The Passion got a mention in the Guardian's Best Of 2011 list, I'd say it was a highlight but as it didn't take place in London....

Comment by National Theatre Wales on December 7, 2011 at 22:26

Have just opened a debate thread on the home page:  What is Political Theatre Now?  Would be great to hear your views.

Comment by meredydd barker on December 7, 2011 at 4:34

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/dec/04/best-theatre-2011-mic...

Worth following.

Comment by Kevin Johnson on November 25, 2011 at 6:25

I agree with Meredydd, you need to hear your words. I'd cast one role as a middle-aged man, but in one rehearsal a young girl read the part so well I changed it for her.

And surely you want the character to have their own voice anyway? Writing is like scientific research, it's never wasted. Save your gems for another time.   

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