Animals as Characters

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > STRUCTURE > CHARACTERS > ANIMALS

'When they read my plays, people ask me all the time what horrible things must have happened in my childhood. Nothing horrible happened. Just mundane things that I perceived as horrible tragedies.'

-- Nicky Silver

Elephants and horses -- the real kind that snort, chomp, and do other natural acts -- were all the rage in 19th Century melodramas until film came along. But nowadays regional theatres seldom go for more than the occasional dog -- usually the small and useless variety. So take a cue from EQUUS and have human performers play them, in furry suits if you must, or preferably more symbolically.

Another Rule with only a handful of exceptions . . .

Real animals work even less well in the theatre than little kids. They're one more thing best left to Film where the camera makes Fido seem as professionally reliable as Maggie Smith or Jeremy Irons.

The safest way to deal with Animals -- if you're determined to have them as characters or friends of characters . . .

Stuff them
A small stuffed critter -- bought from your local upscale toy store -- can be held by a performer and made to seem alive to an audience. This is the best way out for your basic cat [they sleep a lot] or small dog.
Rely on a performer's pet dog if you want the real thing
This way, you may avoid the cost of a handler and it might even follow directions.
If they're real, get them off stage as soon as possible
Animals can work as well unseen as seen.

As with Kids, only do this if you're driven by the story you want to tell and can't think of writing anything else.

But here's one of those critter-rule exceptions . . .

In 2001, David Rabe used a large and real dog in his play called -- what else? -- THE DOG PROBLEM. The dog was played by a very compliant Labrador Retriever and the playwright was clever enough to only give him one scene. All the dog has to do is sit on a park bench and "listen" to a monologue by the central character. Oh, and another tip: the actor [human] keeps the actor [canine] on a leash so the dog can't take off into the audience.

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