These chattalogues are short plays and they follow the format of how plays are written. Like plays, they start off with the list of characters, have background directions in italics, and have the names of the characters and then exactly the words they say.

The format is very different from a prose story. In a story, you would have: “Hello,” Sandy said, “I didn’t expect to see you here.” But in a play it is written as:
Sandy: Hello. I didn’t expect to see you here.
(Notice the use of inverted commas in the story, which you don’t use in play format.)

Writing plays is different from stories in other ways too. The writers can’t describe the settings, and give lots of rich descriptions about the place. There can only be short descriptions of what is on the stage, but those descriptions are not for the people who watch the play. Writers also can’t go into long descriptions of the character: what they look like, or what they are feeling or thinking. They have to show these kinds of things in what the characters say. This can be quite challenging. Shakespeare got round this by having ‘monologues’ where the actor talks directly to the audience, telling them what he or she is thinking – kind of ‘thinking aloud’. However that is not a popular convention now. Another way of doing it is the use of a narrator – someone who is actually there to tell the story, and give the background detail of what is going on. You can see that the writer used this for ‘Unrequited Love’, but it is not a very common technique, as it can interrupt the flow of the story.

Often in other plays there will be instructions of what the stage should look like, what music or sounds there should be, what actors do (eg he walks across the stage) etc. And in screenplays for movies you can imagine there is even more information to convey, as the writer has to give instructions for the settings, and also what the cameras should be doing. In fact, on average, you need one page of film script for one minute of film! However these chattalogues are much simpler, and the focus is on the words rather than the actions of the actors. They were written for FunDza to be read out loud in class, or in groups, rather than acted.

This means that the chattalogue writers could squeeze in some background detail, such as here in ‘The scars in my heart’: As Noni walks on towards home she wonders who the man is. She can’t remember him. Maybe he is a friend of her sister – she has lots of male friends. Maybe they have lost contact with each other. He seems to be a nice guy.
If you were actually acting out the chattalogue on stage, this wouldn’t work – because who would be saying those words? But because the writer wrote it to be read in a classroom or group, she could get away with these kinds of additions.

Although the format is the same for each chattalogue, the themes are very different. ‘The scars in my heart’ is a powerful and disturbing piece about gender-based violence (based on a true story). ‘Unrequited love’ explores how we value status and wealth. Do you think the play is ‘idealistic’ – that is, ‘too good to be true’?! And then finally, the chattalogue ‘Proud to be me’ explores identity and culture in a private South African school.

The structure of these chattalogues follow the conventional story structure where we are introduced to characters, then the problem or challenge is introduced, there is escalation where the problem becomes more challenging, and a point of no return is reached – where things have to change. Then the story is resolved in some way. For all of these chattalogues – and many stories – although we get involved in the action, what is most important – and in some cases satisfying – it is the development of the characters. ‘The scars in my heart’ is the saddest play, as the problem, or challenge, is that a happy young girl goes through great trauma. At the end we see her come to terms with it, and build her relationship with her her aunt again, and help to get a rapist off the streets. The other two chattalogues are different: the challenges here are that the main character wants something he doesn’t have. In ‘Unrequited Love’ it’s easy to identify – Raymond wants his ‘girl’. In ‘Proud to be me’ S’bu wants acceptance, but doesn’t feel he can get it if he reveals his true self. In both these chattalogues the main characters come to realise that they actually have worth without having to change themselves to fit others.

This ‘lesson’ is certainly a valuable one for us all in a time where many of us are constantly comparing ourselves to others on social media, and wishing we could be more beautiful, more successful, more wealthy etc. And these chattalogues show us that although plays and stories are not ‘true’, they can offer us truths about ourselves and our worlds. We hope you enjoyed them!