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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Story or Style

Which factors more into your enjoyment of a production?

8 comments:

Jaime said...

Style. Especially the use of puppets.

Tony Adams said...

Well, I think without story, style doesn't matter.

Freeman said...

Puppet HamletMachine.

That's what I think will do it for me.

There are a fair number of language based plays out there, that have story as a sort of background noise, sometimes.

In fact...when was the last time you saw a play and said "Now that was a great story."

Anonymous said...

Story, story, story! See tony's comment above for further explanation.

Anonymous said...

Hmm.

My not-very-thought-out answer is that, in the case of Theatre? Style. In the case of film or books? story. For both? Laughs. At least some. Hopefully more than some.

Paul Rekk said...

Story's the right answer, but I don't have much time for right answers. I can easily get swept up in certain types of style.

My big concern is that the show knows which of the two (if either) it's pushing. A stylistic show trying to force a story is a total drag.

Malachy Walsh said...

Most stories are reworkings of familiar elements.

Style is the only thing that makes any story different from another to me.

So, style.

But I hate puppets.

Tony Adams said...

I'd say that often story is like lighting design or sound design, often you don't really appreciate it until you see it really poorly done.