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Since the 1990s, there has been a large number of 'how-to' manuals published in English for aspiring playwrights. By and large, these texts treat the pedagogy of playwriting as a recent phenomenon. However, a series of relatively unknown books from the mid-nineteenth century were written with the purpose of teaching the craft of dramatic writing, emphasizing the importance of a hands-on understanding of the theatre and the individual roles within it. This article argues that, while these books are representative of the historical context in which they were written, they also contain advice which is still useful for playwrights, along with fascinating individual characteristics. Texts featured include one of the earliest manuals discovered, written by the anonymous 'A Dramatist'; a text by the first (known) woman to write a how-to manual in English; and a book which uses a mathematical formula as a foundation for writing a script. Karen Morash is Lead Academic Tutor on the BA Theatre Studies at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. She is a playwright and poet, and works as a dramaturg with the theatre company Head for Heights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on my on-going research into the playwright's role within the collaborative devising process, which includes questioning traditional pedagogical approaches to writing for the stage. In addition, it references the practical experience of developing and teaching modules focused on the craft of playmaking for the online Theatre Studies BA at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Although there may appear to be a disconnection between encouraging playwrights to engage with collaborative theatre making and the mainly asynchronous nature of an online degree, where students often work in isolation, the core tenet of this 'Perspectives' piece is that all teaching of playwriting, regardless of whether it is online or not, needs to move beyond the traditional classroom/workshop approach. Whilst the pedagogical framework that sees students engage in text-based studies of scripts and books about writing cannot be entirely abandoned, students benefit from a more embodied approach, which reminds them that they are writing for a medium which communicates in a multi-faceted way and is negotiated in the moment, so that they gain a more holistic understanding of how a script might be interpreted in live performance. Drawing on both my practice as a playwright and dramaturg, and my work in online teaching, I argue that there is potential to treat the 'Zoom room' as workshop, where students can work together, improvise, and treat their screens as spaces for experimentation and performance. In addition, this more dynamic approach helps to prepare students for a rapidly evolving theatre ecology, which had embraced digital technology long before Covid-19 entered our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]