Guidelines for play layout
1. Text
Preferred document format is Microsoft Word but Appleworks acceptable.
Ensure that document contains correct spacing / single spacing throughout. Remove any double or multiple spacing.
Ensure that there is one line space between each new line of dialogue / block of stage direction (see sample point 1).
Ensure that character names at beginning of speech and in stage directions are in capitals and if at beginning of speech are followed by a colon (see sample point 2).
Stage directions after character’s name but before speech should be in brackets with no full stop and no initial capital letter; stage directions in the middle of speech should be in brackets with initial capital letter and full stop; stage directions in between different characters speech should have no brackets and be spaced as above.
Ensure that scene headers are in lower case, beginning with a capital 'S' and use numerals (i.e. 1, 2, 3) rather than words (i.e. one, two, three) (see sample point 3).
Ensure that all triple dots after dialogue (…) are spaced as follows:
Space / dot / space / dot / space / dot / space (see sample point 4)
Ensure that all dashes are proper dashes (–) rather than (-).
Ensure that all punctuation is ‘smart’ and use single inverted commas for any quotes.
Avoid italics, bold, underline or capitals except where mentioned above.
Ensure that document is fully checked for spelling errors, repeated or fragmented words and full punctuation.
2. Additional Material
The additional material must also conform to above textual guidelines where appropriate and should include:
- short biography of no more than 200 words
- character list - names in capitals and brief description
- production notes if appropriate
- review for back cover from either national newspaper or one of the sponsors
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