The Play Writer

It was 1594 London, England. It was the opening night of William Shakespeare's newest masterpiece, A Midsummer Night's Dream. From what I gathered about rumors around London was that it definitely was a comedy and that there were fairies included somewhere within it. From what my father's friends have said the writing will surely make us laugh. With this in mind I hold this play, along with any future plays written by Shakespeare to be top notch.

I have gone with my father to many of his plays and enjoyed them so I'm rather excited to get to meet him in person this time around. One of my passions is playwriting, I try to learn from his scripts to improve my ability to write comedies and tragedies. I'm mostly interested in tragedies; making people feel all of the feelings associated with a horrible and maybe try to find a way to bridge the two; to make a tragedy that is also a comedy. So far though, I have had no luck.

The play opened today and I was starting to get nervous. Not just because I was meeting SHAKESPEARE but because of the way everyone always treats me. Everyone always assumes I'm a prostitute, I guess because there aren't a lot of women in that side of the city and the few that are, well are prostitutes. I try not to judge people and their way of life but when so many people assume it about me after denying it numerous times, it gets a little annoying and offensive.

Plays in London usually happen during the evenings but this play was special, or at least that's what Shakespeare had claimed. Therefore had demanded that it be performed at night. When the only lighting is by lanterns hanging from the walls and around the stage. The way the lights shone across the theater set the mood very nicely, creating a warm and comfortable environment. All of his plays sold out and 100% of the people came; there were never any empty seats or seats that had not been sold, or so my father has told me. This night was incredibly full.

Me and my father had the luxury of sitting on one of the many balconies that surrounded the stage; we sat directly in the middle of the stage so we could see everything that happened. My father, if you don't know, owns the theater at which all of Shakespeare's plays are performed, that's how we get amazing seats.

When the plays started it was pretty dark out. The stars shone in the night sky as the actors performed their lines; they were a fabulous job. Although I always did find it strange that men were playing the women roles and not women; and it was hard to picture a beautiful women character in his place, as I often tried to do in order to get the full effect of the plot of the play.

When the play was finished I stood and clapped like everyone else in the theater; the play had been marvelous. Now I was getting anxious about meeting William Shakespeare. My palms were sweating as I walked next to my father through the crowd, trying desperately not to get lost. All the way to the back of the stage I heard men whistling and yelling at me; of course I ignored them and kept on walking.

By the time we reached backstage most of audience had left and the theater was filled with silence. I had never been here when everyone was gone, it was somehow peaceful but a little unnerving at the same time. I looked forwards when my father called my name. Then I saw him; William Shakespeare.

I walked up to him, trying to keep my composure, and shook his hand. We exchanged niceties and got to chatting about the play and playwriting in general. I remember asking him about the process he used when writing the different genres; comedy, tragedy, and historical. He answered each one of my questions about writing and descriptive writing and character development.

When it was time for me to leave I stood from the chair I had been sitting in and we said out goodbyes but not before he said that he would like to read one of my scripts. I stood there, at The Theater, standing in front of William Shakespeare who had just asked me if he could read my work. I, of course, said yes, shook his hand and left with my father.

Meeting William Shakespeare that night and listening to his advice on, well, everything to do with writing, gave me new inspiration to try again at writing a combination of comedy and tragedy.