What can you say in a play that you could not say in a short story?

Answer 1

Hmmmm. I tend to think that pretty much any story could be told in pretty much any storytelling medium, but that certain stories work better told in certain ways. Things which might work better as a play would include -

an encounter consisting primarily of dialogue

anything with a lot of 'business' (say, for a slightly rubbishy example, the classic scenario of identical suitcases getting mixed up. You could write this in a story, but it would be pretty dreary, whereas acted out on stage, it's funny.)

Another possible advantage of a play over a short story is that actions describe themselves, so in terms of fitting everything in, it's perhaps a bit easier, especially if the story you have in mind needs to be very short, from a wordcount point of view.

I don't know. I'm struggling a bit, here, to say what I mean. I keep thinking of examples, and then thinking 'yes, but if you did it right that would work as a play OR as a story'. I don't think there's anything that really HAS to be one or the other, I think it comes down to the personal preference of the writer, and to what they're trying to achieve with the piece - although to achieve similar ends in the two different forms, you might have to approach the writing in very different ways. Sorry if that's a bit vague - but thanks for an interesting question!

Answer 2

I think you should reverse your question. It is more like what can you say in a short story that you cannot say in a play.

Those two works are entirely different media. A short story is told at a much faster pace, allows for commentary and streams of consciousness, and condensed action. A play is limited to the stage, and much of the storyline is told through dialogue.

Answer 3

you can express without words .. but then u could use descriptions in a short story so I agree with the first guy... Nothing

Answer 4

nothing