Summary

Matura paper 2011
Writing a Murderous Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: An Adaptation for the stage
Summary
1. Wichtige Daten
1.1 Title:
1.2 Institution:
1.3 Author:
1.4 Tutor and co-examiner
1.5 Date:
Writing a Murderous Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time:
An Adaptation for the Stage
Kantonsschule Zofingen
Marina Julia Aegerter
Tom Lütscher and Michael Schwaller
October 2011
2. Grundlagen der Arbeit
2.1 Motivation, Leitfragen und Zielgruppe
I started acting in 2004 and ever since it has fascinated me. My love of the theatre and the
fact that I have never written a play before gave me the idea to write an adaptation of a story
for the stage. I am going to study English after finishing grammar school, so I thought it might
be a good preparation for the future to write the entire project in English. The purpose of this
paper is to address the following two central questions. Firstly, how can one rewrite a story
into a play with monologues, dialogues, settings, characters etc? What are the necessary
steps? Secondly, what are the major difficulties and how can they be overcome? The paper
might be useful to others who would like to do a similar project.
2.2 Hypothesen und theoretische Grundlagen
I read Alan Ayckbourn’s book The Crafty Art of Playmaking and I included personal
experiences of acting to write my Matura paper.
2.3 Arbeitsmethoden
The Crafty Art of Playmaking by Alan Ayckbourn is a book about writing and directing a play.
His book has been really helpful because it is very well written and includes good examples
to understand Ayckbourn’s methods of writing. One can use some of his “Obvious Rules” to
create a play, but it is also possible to include personal experiences of acting to deal with the
different problems one has to think about. I gave my play to various people and reworked my
play with their help again and again to optimise it.
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Matura paper 2011
Writing a Murderous Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: An Adaptation for the stage
3. Verlauf des Projekts
3.1 Etappen der Produktherstellung
During the summer holidays, I wrote the entire adaptation. After that, I started to write my
work report, including Alan Ayckbourn’s “Obvious Rules” about playwriting. Various people
read the play and gave me a feedback about it which I included in the work report. In
October, I organised a special week about radio plays. We recorded my play in the Adonia
Studio in Brittnau.
3.2 Erwähnung der wichtigsten Aussenkontakte
I could not have finished this project without the help of the following people:
Tom Lütscher, my tutor; Markus Rüegger, Fabian Aegerter, Simone Wullschleger, Noémie
Gass, Stefanie Siegrist and Erica Colangelo.
4. Das Produkt
4.1 Beschreibung des Produkts
I wrote an adaptation for the stage in English which can be used by other drama groups to
bring the play on stage. Though the play could still need revision, one can use it for a school
production.
4.2 Bedeutung und Wertung
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to bring the play on stage by myself, but one can use
the play as a basis for a school production and it would be great to see my play on stage one
day.
Others, who would like to do a similar project, could use my work report to have an idea how
to start such a project.
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