Dialogue is at the heart of playwriting, and everyone does it differently. A collection of playwrights offer their advice on how best to write good dialogue, and explain how words on the page are different from people speaking in real life.

Structuring a scene

In this collection, leading playwrights explain some of the key elements of a well-written play, and discuss how they approach them in their own work. Simon Stephens, David Hare, Katori Hall, Matt Charman, Nell Leyshon, James Graham, Alia Bano, Richard Bean, Anders Lustgarten and Roy Williams talk about writing dialogue, creating characters, structuring a narrative and more. They also offer some top tips for first time writers, and talk about their own writing methods.