Transition Lines & Words

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > WORKING > EDITING > DIALOGUE > TRANSITION LINES

Order 'The audience was different in the 1930's. They expected a three-hour play, and in [J. B. Priestley's DANGEROUS CORNER] there was a lot of 'As you know . . .' The play doesn't need all that, and it still plays absolutely well.'

-- David Mamet
Transition Lines and Words are a playwright's inadvertent way of holding the audience's hand and leading it from one movement or beat in the dialogue to the next. These things smooth the texture of the dialogue, eliminating surprise and reducing our interest. And just as with Spoken Subtext, Transition Lines prevent your performers from doing the job they're paid for.
Since these things plaster over the cracks between movements in the dialogue, you can nearly always replace them with (Pause.) and immediately raise the level of tension and interest in the scene.
Another way to look at this: Transition lines or phrases are really saying to your audience . . .
	OK, get ready. Here we go. Be careful, we're about to start 
	a new subject. And the subject is ...
Likely culprits for this kind of editing often begin with. . .

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