Writing a Play...

In the western world, we struggle to talk about death and depression. The stigma around mental illness is still very real. Overall, we have quite an unhealthy relationship with what scares us.

A little while after releasing Short Poetry for Those Who Fear Death (2006), I received an email from a reader who stated that the book had saved their life. It was an incredible comment, and I was very happy to know that my poems had been instrumental in helping them feel better.

To me, the event confirmed something that I had always known. The uniqueness of the poetic language allows it to be used to tackle heavy topics in a much less threatening manner than many other types of literature. Having been deeply affected by several plays, I knew that this rule applied to theatre too.

My play, In the Silence of Words, was born out of a simple premise:

How the suicide of a loved one can lead to a deep understanding of oneself.

The challenge was to present the story in such a way as to be relatable and meaningful at the same time. I wanted to trigger conversations around several important topics, including the importance of mental wellbeing.

In the Silence of Words is loosely inspired by some major events in my life. This helped me visualize all the scenes and put myself in all my characters’ shoes. I spoke every bit of dialogue before typing it. Finally, I imagined myself as my own readers to try and understand how they would react to the whole plot.

Very early on, I realized that my writing process followed the concept behind the haiku, a very short poetry form that relies heavily on the unsaid to reveal meaning and that “does the talking” with a very limited number of words. The more I consciously took advantage of that “quirk,” the more naturally the story flowed and made sense to me.

At the end of 2007, I made the definite version of In the Silence of Words available to a dozen people. All of them felt that they had met the characters before. Most importantly, they described how they each had found one element to which they could strongly relate and that had given them an appreciation for life. Apparently, several readers even had eye-opening conversations with friends and family about the topics in the play! I had achieved my goal…

Years later, I finally decided to release the play as a book. The feedback and reviews I have received so far are all beautiful. This one makes me particularly proud:

“You know a play is well written when you can see the performance in your mind just from the dialogue. Cendrine Marrouat accomplishes this with ‘In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play’. This story is very moving with the loss of Cassandra’s mother and the resulting questions about self sacrifice. It’s almost a mystery as we pick through the past, but the heart of the play is a moral and emotional tug of war. It’s a beautiful read, especially if you love the theatre!” — Joshua Grant

For more information about In the Silence of Words, click the link below.

That's it for today! Thank you for reading!

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.