Myths are compelling and powerful, for they are not merely purveyors of familiarity and tradition but also eternally potent framing devices for issues of the present day. Unfortunately, their potency is rarely explored in playwriting, and they frequently end up being relegated to costume-dramas or treated as museum pieces, embalmed in their traditional contexts. This workshop explores how mythology can be usefully employed or subverted to create new play scripts. Hemang Yadav’s script Purana Residences, a work-in-progress, will be used as a case study of a play that consciously uses and perhaps deconstructs mythology to investigate tradition while exploring contemporary topics.
Through the workshop, participants should gain a greater consciousness of the ways in which mythology and its potency can be used to explore current issues and come up with a concept-paper for a play using mythology.
- Please note that this is not an introductory workshop for playwriting, however, so participants who are completely new to theatre or to writing may not fully benefit from this workshop. Some basic knowledge of staging and the form of a script would be necessary.
- All participants of Makyng the Myth Myne: Using Mythology in Playwriting are highly encouraged to attend the play-reading of Purana Residences.