Musical Workshop Part 3 — Conflict Potential

Posted in Drama Workshop Videos (transl.: English) |

In this episode about con­flict poten­tial, Michael Kunze briefly reit­er­ates the essence of the first two parts of this musi­cal work­shop series:

• the author must be excited and pas­sion­ate about an idea
• per­sonal engage­ment, undy­ing fas­ci­na­tion, and love for a story idea are essen­tial in over­com­ing the many road blocks dur­ing the devel­op­ment phase of a musi­cal production

It is one thing to tell a story or write a book about an idea. The stag­ing of a drama, how­ever, comes with a very spe­cial require­ment — the con­flict poten­tial.

Drama means con­flict. In order to reach his goal, the pro­tag­o­nist must face grow­ing obsta­cles along his path. Only if a story idea offers suf­fi­cient con­flict mate­r­ial, is it a suit­able theme for a drama musical.

War­ring par­ties, war­ring ideas, a fight against all odds — that is the clas­sic con­flict within a dra­matic story.

What is a good exam­ple for con­flict potential?

Michael Kunze remem­bers the story devel­op­ment of his drama musi­cal, Marie Antoinette:

“Ini­tially, there was only my fas­ci­na­tion with Marie Antoinette’s life as the pam­pered Queen of France dur­ing tumul­tuous times. To cre­ate a poten­tial for dra­matic con­flict, I invented the char­ac­ter of Mar­grid Arnaud, a poor peas­ant girl of the French Revolution.”

“The poignant jux­ta­po­si­tion between the spoiled, super­fi­cial Queen and a poor woman of sim­i­lar age who con­sid­ered the Queen as the root of her people’s woes…now that’s what I call con­flict poten­tial! It instantly ele­vated Marie Antoinette from a mere his­tor­i­cal story to a truly dra­matic stage presentation.”

Watch the video here!