KERRY'S Sunday Challenge #1  May 22, 2011 - May 28, 2011

THE FIVE ACT PLAY

Over the next five weeks, I will create 5 contests, inspired by well-known works of literature: a play, a novel, a novella, a children's story and a short story.

The terms of each challenge will be very clearly stated, but the FIRST RULE, which will apply to all the challenges, is that the piece must be written in the week of the challenge. Any older poems that are entered in the contest will not be eligible for a prize.

ACT I

'The Seagull' is the first of the four major plays written by the Russian dramatist, Anton Chekov. It is a work that the author himself claimed contained ‘‘five tons of love,’’ a play about a very human tendency to reject love that is freely given and seek it where it is withheld. Many of its characters are caught in a destructive, triangular relationship that evokes both pathos and humor. What the characters cannot successfully parry is the destructive force of time, the passage of which robs some of beauty, and others of hope.

Chekhov employs a method of ‘‘indirect action,’’ one in which characters confront changes that result from offstage occurrences, often in a period of the characters’ lives that elapses between acts. The plays also share the unique Chekhovian mood, a pervasive melancholic tone that arises from the haplessness of the characters that seem destined either to wallow in self-pity or indifference or consume themselves in frustrated passion.

THE CHALLENGE:

Write a poem in free verse or prose which explores the darker side of love: rejection, triangular relationships, unrequited passion. Alternatively, the title ( The Seagull) itself may prove to be all the inspiration you need.

Kerry O'Connor

South Africa

19 Contestants
19 Submissions
732 Views
Created May 22, 2011