Walking on Fire: The Shaping Force of Emotion in Writing Drama

Index

125 Index Page numbers in italics denote illustrations. “about” question, 106–7 action, 37–38, 91 Aeschylus, 104 Agave (Bacchae), 24, 25 Albee, Edward, 89–90, 99 American Savoyards, 4 Angels in America (Kushner), 111–14, 118; core of, 114–17 anxiety, 37, 38, 42, 47, 66 Apollo, 115 Aristotle, 16, 20, 87–88, 92 atom smashing, 67, 79 audience, 19–21; catharsis and, 87–91; connection to emotional form, 78–80, 110–11; death of, in text, 64, 66; difficulty in speaking, 85–86; eating metaphor and, 89; emotional connection of, 83–84; as essential, 91, 99; inner experience, 84–85; modernism and, 81–82; narrative and, 107–8; personal narratives of, 9–10; players as, 79; reinvention of, 82–83; speech and, 59; as unseen collaborator, 90–91 awareness, 22, 92 Bacchae (Euripides), 23–25 backstory, 35–36 barriers to ending, 16, 46 Barthes, Roland, 64 Beckett, Samuel, 61, 67 beginnings, 15–16 Berkeley, 6, 22 Bernays, Jakob, 87 betrayal, 113–14 Birthday Party, The (Pinter), 19, 68–79 Blasted (Kane), 90 Blau, Herbert, 83 body, 14–15, 41, 112–13; language and, 22, 23, 51 Bond, Edward, 90 Bread and Puppet Theatre, 21 breath metaphor, 69, 79 Brecht, Bertolt, 6–7, 91–98, 110, 114 Brenner, Charles, 41, 43–44, 45 Breuer, Lee, 84 Brooks, Peter, 60, 63, 64, 66, 109 Brownstein, Oscar Lee, 83 Bullough, Edward, 84–85 Cambodia, invasion of, 6 Cartwright, Rosalind, 12–13 catastrophe, 104–5, 117 catharsis, 21, 87–91, 103–4; audience as unseen collaborator, 90–91 change, 45, 109, 110–11, 114–17; conflict and, 53–54; creation of knowledge, 28; as death, 73; endings and, 76–78; as marker of emotional form, 31–34; structure of emotional, 29; weak and strong forces, 67 character: asking questions of, 64–65; central, 19, 68, 92; compromise and, 45–46; conflict and, 15, 39, 41–48; defenses, 47–48; dominant conflict, 46–47; heinous acts translated to tragic acts, 88–90; as imagined life, 26; pariah behavior and, 21; secondary, 19; threat and desire, tension between, 17–19 childhood, calamities of, 41 choice, 40–41 Cixous, Hélène, 66–67 class issues, 93–98 cognitive science, 11 collaboration, 90–91 comedy, 93 communism, 95 [ 126 ] Index compromise, 15, 45–46 conflict, 29; binding, 59, 67–68, 78– 79; change and, 53–54; character and, 15, 39, 41–48; content of, 51, 78; continuation of past relationships , 44–45; continuum of, 36; desire and, 42–43, 59; destructive core of, 32; dialogue and, 44; dominant, 46–47; emotional form and change, 31–34; endings, possible , 55–58; as essence of mental activity, 45–46; fantasy and, 57–58; loss and, 39–40; model of, 37, 38, 42, 42, 47, 47–50; performance of, 43; psychological dimension of, 35; regulates action, 37–38; resistance to ending, 66; responses to threat, 37; roots of, 41–43; speech and, 59; sports version, 35; as story, 38–41; world below the neck, 47–49, 52, 71, 74, 110; writing practice, 50–51 conscience, 37 credibility, 64 death, 73, 117; of reader in text, 64, 66 defenses, 15, 43–44 denial, 27–28, 55, 66 desire, 10, 29; conflict and, 42–43, 59; for ending, 64; tension and threat, 17–19 destiny, 109 dialogue, 44 Dionysus, 22–25, 59, 89, 100, 111 discovery, 27 distance, 84–85 Doll’s House, A (Ibsen), 17–19, 59 Doris (Loman Family Picnic), 52–58 drama theory, 15–16 Dramatic Closure: Reading the End (Schleuter), 61 dreams, 12–13, 14 Drums in the Night (Brecht), 6–7 eating metaphor, 89 “Elements of Style” (Parks), 23, 77–78 Else, Gerald, 87 emotion, 8, 83–84; knowledge and, 102–3 emotional form, 59–60; aspects of, 20–21; audience connection to, 78–80, 110–11; central character and, 16; change and, 31–34; circuit of, 81; core of, 114–17; knowledge and feeling and, 26–28; loss and beginning of, 17; other names for, 26; plot, 103–10; process of, 1–2, 28, 63–64; psychological dimension of conflict, 35; reading independently from, 78; resistance to, 61–62; tragic pathos, 20, 87–90; unchanging conflict and, 53–54; writer’s biography and, 2–7, 26, 79, 105–6; writing practice and, 25–29 endings, 7, 15–16, 60–80; barriers to, 16, 46; change and, 76–78; desire for, 64; exceptions to the rules, 61–62; losing, 66–67; meaning created by, 63–64; possible, 56–58, 79; psychoanalytic model, 62–63; resistance...