rolhirst.co.uk

I didn’t set out to write a play, but sometimes the story leans more towards one format than any other, and that was certainly the case with ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

A while ago I became obsessed by the fact that people don’t often say what they’re thinking. Sometimes I get something in my head and the only way to deal with it is to write about it. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is a comedy about four characters and their thoughts – each character represented on stage by two actors, one for external dialogue, one for internal monologue. It’s a play about relationships, both personal and professional; about how we often say one thing and think something entirely different, how it’s possible to over-think any situation, and how our thoughts could well be our own worst enemies.

I’ve had mixed responses to the play when submitting it. Though it’s been praised for being an inventive idea and a nice exploration of office politics and relationships, it’s also been criticised for its central conceit – the fact that we hear all the characters’ internal monologues – because it removes any chance for the audience to analyse the character’s intentions or interpret subtext from the actors’ performances. I’m not sure I agree… but as this is the concept the whole play hinges on, there’s not a lot I can do in terms of a rewrite.

Still, I do think ‘Thinking Out Loud’ would make an interesting performance for the right group of actors. On the off-chance that anyone reading this is part of a local or student theatre group, and having read the attached file you find yourself thinking the same thing… then please drop me a line. Hey, stranger things have happened…

Click on the link below to download the entire play as a pdf file.

thinking-out-loud.pdf