The Camberwell Beauty– A playwriting challenge
Write a conversation between two people about The Camberwell Beauty Butterly!
In 1748, a butterfly was discovered in Camberwell’s Coldharbour Lane and named the Camberwell Beauty. Write a short conversation between two Camberwell residents in any time period about a new butterfly being discovered.
When you write a play, you start by getting your characters to have a conversation. This is called dialogue and it is a very important part of writing a play. We will also see the characters carry out actions during the dialogue, for example, they might drop a glass of water, or jump over a hedge.
You might like to describe the butterfly, give it an amazing name, or talk about where it was found. Maybe the characters are butterfly experts, artists, or some passers-by, who think butterflies are beautiful. Send your Camberwell Beauty Dialogue to Camberwell Arts!
Example Dialogue
AMIR and MAYA are cycling in Camberwell Green.
AMIR: Hey, did you see that?
AMIR leaps off his bike.
MAYA: What?
AMIR: That flash of red over there! I think it was a butterfly.
They pull over and wheel their bikes onto the Green.
MAYA: Where?
AMIR: By that tree!
MAYA: Wow, I see it!
AMIR: It’s got purple and white spots on it!
MAYA: I’m going to google what it is.
AMIR: I bet it flew here from somewhere far away.
MAYA: Nothing’s coming up for red butterfly with purple and white spots!
AMIR: What are you so excited about?
MAYA: If it’s not online, then we discovered a new species of butterfly!
AMIR: You’re not joking, are you?
MAYA: No. Right, I’m googling the number for the Natural History Museum – they’ll tell us what to do next!
AMIR: We’ll be famous!
MAYA: It’s dialling!
The butterfly flies off.
AMIR: It’s leaving!
MAYA: NO! What should we do?
AMIR: I don’t know!
AMIR and MAYA run after the butterfly, but it flies high in the air. They give up after a while.
MAYA: I was so looking forward to being famous.
Exercises written by Emma Dawson. Emma Dawson is a playwright who also works at Southbank Centre. Her short plays have been staged at Theatre503, Battersea Arts Centre, and Pleasance Theatre. She's currently working on a full-length play about explosions, ASMR, and porcelain.
