Alright, let’s talk about how to really dig into storytelling in playwriting, going beyond just what’s happening right now. Our lives aren’t straight lines. We jump from memories to hopes for the future, and all of that shapes who we are in this very moment. So, for us playwrights, using flashbacks and flashforwards isn’t just about being fancy; it’s about powerful ways to make our characters deeper, our plots richer, and to really play with how our audience sees things. I’m going to break down how to weave these time shifts into your writing, turning your play into something much more than a simple story – something that really explores cause, consequence, and destiny.
The Stages of Time: Beyond Just One Moment
Plays happen now. The stage is live, immediate. So, how can we bring in parts of other times without messing up that feeling? It all comes down to understanding why we’re doing it. A well-placed flashback or flashforward isn’t just a random jump; it’s a smart choice to give specific info, make emotions stronger, or completely shift what the audience understands.
Imagine your play is a building. A straight-ahead story is like a single-story place. Flashbacks? Those add depth by showing the foundations and lower levels. Flashforwards give hints of future additions or even a roof that’s not built yet. Every single addition has a job, adding to the whole structure and complexity of your play’s architecture.
Why Mess with Time? The Big Reasons for Temporal Shifts
Before we get into the “how-to,” let’s be clear about why you’d even think about changing your story’s timeline. Every time you play with time, it needs to serve a clear purpose for the drama.
- Revealing Key Backstory: Some stuff just can’t be smoothly dropped into dialogue in the present. A flashback lets you show a huge event, making it way more impactful than just talking about it.
- Deepening Characters: What made your character who they are? Flashbacks show those defining experiences, the traumas, or the big wins that explain their current actions and motivations. Flashforwards can even show where their choices ultimately lead.
- Building Suspense and Mystery: A partial flashback or a teasing flashforward can make the audience ask questions, keeping them on the edge of their seats for answers.
- Emphasizing Themes: Playing with time can really highlight patterns that keep repeating, cycles of behavior, or how certain destinies just can’t be avoided.
- Creating Contrast and Dramatic Irony: Putting a past event right next to what’s happening now can create powerful differences, showing change or maybe a lack of it. A flashforward can reveal a future the characters don’t even know about, making for a tense or ironic situation.
- Foreshadowing and Prophecy: Flashforwards, especially, can drop hints about what’s coming, building anticipation or dread.
- Exploring Cause and Effect: This is the most straightforward use. Flashbacks show the cause of something happening now. Flashforwards show the effect of a current situation.
The Art of the Flashback: Digging Up the Past
A flashback is more than just remembering; it’s actively going back to a past moment, often with all the sensory details you’d expect from a live scene. It’s a re-enactment, not just a thought.
Making It Happen: Staging and Lighting
The most important thing with a flashback is clarity. The audience needs to instantly know they’re not in the present anymore.
- Lighting Changes: This is the most common and effective trick. Use a very specific color scheme (like sepia tones, cool blues, stark whites) or a clear change in how bright things are (a spotlight on just one character, or a dramatic blackout and then a reset).
- Example: Imagine a really intense interrogation. The lights suddenly dim and turn a sickly green, isolating the person being questioned as they relive something traumatic. When the flashback ends, that harsh white light of the interrogation room snaps back on, jolting the audience (and the character) back to reality.
- Sound Design: A sudden shift in the soundscape can be incredibly powerful. Think a dreamlike echo, a heightened background noise from the past setting, or a very distinct piece of music.
- Example: A character is holding an old photo. The stage lights dim a bit, and you hear the sound of children laughing and distant carnival music fade in, transporting everyone to the scene in the picture.
- Set Changes/Keeping It Simple: For longer flashbacks, small set changes can help. For shorter ones, just suggest it. A single prop, brought into focus, can trigger the shift.
- Example: A character is sitting at a modern kitchen table. As they remember a childhood meal, a vintage tablecloth quickly gets pulled over the modern table, and a specific old dish is placed on it, hinting at the past without having to redo the whole set.
- Actor Movement/Costume: Actors might change their body language, use younger voices, or even put on a symbolic piece of clothing (a hat, a scarf) to show a different time.
- Example: A character, deep in thought, slowly changes their posture from a slumped, present-day figure to an upright, confident younger self, even as their lines shift to an event from years ago.
Narrative Triggers: Why Now?
A flashback should never just pop up out of nowhere. It needs a trigger – something happening right now that naturally brings up the memory. This makes sure it feels like a natural part of the story and not a jarring jump.
- Dialogue Cue: A line of dialogue directly mentions something from the past.
- Example: “That reminds me of the day you met him…” (Lights shift, scene changes to the past meeting).
- Prop/Object Trigger: A character touches something that has a lot of meaning from the past.
- Example: A character picks up a dusty old locket. As they open it, a bright light surrounds them, and they’re transported back to the day they received it.
- Sensory Trigger: A smell, a sound, a taste that brings back a strong memory.
- Example: A character smells burnt toast. That smell instantly takes them back to a vivid memory of a childhood house fire, the scent being the catalyst.
- Emotional Trigger: If a character is feeling a strong emotion now (grief, happiness, fear), they might relive a past event connected to that emotion.
- Example: A character bursts into anguished tears after an argument. As they start to calm down, they find themselves reliving the last moment they saw their dead loved one, the current grief spilling into past pain.
Types of Flashbacks and How They Hit
- The Explanatory Flashback: Gives you crucial missing information to understand what’s happening now or why characters are acting a certain way.
- Impact: Clarifies, explains, gives context.
- Example: In Act II, a character’s inexplicable fear of dogs is explained through a flashback to a childhood attack, suddenly making their behavior understandable and making you feel for them.
- The Emotional Flashback: Focuses on a powerful emotional moment in the past, often a trauma or a huge joy, to add more layers to the character.
- Impact: Builds empathy, adds psychological depth, explains current emotional states.
- Example: A character who seems emotionless is suddenly shattered in a flashback showing their happy, carefree youth, a stark contrast to their current despair.
- The Mystery-Unraveling Flashback: Partial or broken up, slowly revealing information to build suspense and drive the play’s main mystery.
- Impact: Creates suspense, makes the audience curious, leads to a big reveal.
- Example: Over several scenes, fragmented glimpses of a car accident appear – a broken windshield, a scream, a blurry face – slowly putting together the truth of a forgotten trauma.
- The Thematic Flashback: Highlights a repeating pattern or strengthens a central theme.
- Impact: Makes the theme stronger, emphasizes how events or behaviors often repeat.
- Example: A character dismisses a young idealist. A flashback shows that very character as an equally passionate idealist in their youth, highlighting a theme of disillusionment or cynicism.
What to Avoid with Flashbacks
- Using Too Many: Too many flashbacks can break up your story, confuse the audience, and slow down your play. Use them carefully and with a clear purpose.
- Information Overload: A flashback should reveal exactly what’s needed, not dump an entire history lesson. Keep them focused and brief.
- Lack of Clarity: As I said, visual and sound cues are super important. If the audience doesn’t know they’re in a flashback, it’s just confusion.
- Redundancy: Don’t use a flashback to show something that could easily and effectively be told through dialogue in the present. “Show, don’t tell” still applies, but sometimes “telling” is just more efficient.
The Prophetic Glimpse: Creating Flashforwards
Less common than flashbacks, flashforwards propel the audience into the future, offering a peek at what’s coming. They can be incredibly potent for building suspense, irony, or emphasizing that some things are just meant to be.
Making It Happen: Signaling the Future
Just like with flashbacks, clarity is key.
- Lighting/Sound: Similar techniques, but often with a more otherworldly or stark feel. A bright, clinical light for a dystopian future, or a hazy, dreamlike wash for a more metaphorical future.
- Example: A scene ends with a character making a big decision. The stage goes dark, then a single, harsh white light appears, focusing on a crumpled newspaper announcing a future disaster, only to snap back to the present.
- Symbolic Staging/Props: A key prop that only exists in the future (a specific uniform, a futuristic device) can instantly signal the time shift.
- Example: A character is holding a blooming flower. A flashforward shows the same character, years older, holding a withered version of that flower, instantly communicating the passage of time and likely the decline of a relationship.
- Actor Age/Appearance: If possible, costumes and makeup can subtly age an actor, or a different actor can play the older version of the character.
- Example: A young, vibrant couple talks about their future. The lights shift, and two older actors, dressed in similar but aged clothes, sit in the exact same positions, arguing about trivial things, showing their future disillusionment.
Why Peek Ahead? The Narrative Purpose
Flashforwards are often about destiny, consequences, or the overwhelming weight of choices.
- Building Dramatic Irony: The audience knows what’s coming, but the characters don’t. This creates tension and often pity.
- Example: Two lovers are planning their wedding. A flashforward shows one of them, alone and heartbroken, years later, instantly injecting the joyous present scene with a sense of impending tragedy.
- Foreshadowing/Prophecy: Direct hints at future events, building anticipation or dread.
- Example: A character makes a morally questionable choice. A flashforward shows them in prison, suggesting the consequences of their action.
- Exploring Consequences: Directly illustrates the long-term effects of actions taken now.
- Example: A character ignores a health warning. A flashforward shows them in a hospital bed, facing the terrible outcome.
- Thematic Reinforcement: Underscores themes like fate, free will, or how time can be cyclical.
- Example: A child acts out a specific hurtful behavior. A flashforward shows their adult self repeating the same action, highlighting a theme of inherited trauma or behavioral patterns.
- Plot Complication/Mystery: A flashforward might introduce a mysterious future event that the characters now have to work towards (or avoid) in the present.
- Example: A character receives a mysterious letter. A flashforward shows them in a terrible situation years later, holding the same letter, creating a puzzle for them and the audience to solve.
Types of Flashforwards and How They Hit
- The Consequential Flashforward: Shows the direct result of a current action or choice.
- Impact: Emphasizes stakes, creates urgency, warns characters (and audience) of potential problems.
- Example: A character signs a shady contract. A flashforward shows them broke and alone, demonstrating the fallout.
- The Ironic Flashforward: Reveals a future that is completely different from the characters’ present hopes or intentions.
- Impact: Generates tragic or comedic irony, highlights how unpredictable life is.
- Example: A young couple vows eternal love. A flashforward shows them as bitter, aged strangers living separate lives.
- The Prophetic Flashforward: Presents a seemingly inevitable future, often implying destiny or a fixed fate.
- Impact: Creates a sense of foreboding, explores themes of fate versus free will.
- Example: A character dismisses a chilling prophecy. A flashforward shows the prophecy fulfilled, making their current denial poignant.
- The Ambiguous Flashforward: A brief, suggestive glimpse that raises more questions than answers, leaving the audience to figure out its meaning.
- Impact: Builds suspense, encourages active audience interpretation, fuels discussion.
- Example: A play ends with a character staring out a window, unsure of their future. A final, brief flashforward shows a single, symbolic object (like a wilting rose, a broken chain), leaving the audience to interpret the ultimate outcome.
What to Avoid with Flashforwards
- Giving Away Too Much: The future should be hinted at, not fully revealed, unless your goal is to show an inescapable destiny. Keep some mystery.
- Predictability: If the flashforward is too obvious a consequence, it loses its dramatic punch. Aim for a surprising twist or a poignant confirmation.
- Implausibility: Even in a stylized setting, the future you show needs to feel like a logical (though perhaps heightened) result of the present.
- No Resolution in the Present: While a flashforward shows a future, the current story still needs its own journey and some immediate stakes. The flashforward adds to, not replaces, the present story.
Weaving Time Shifts Together: Smooth Transitions
The real skill isn’t just knowing what and why but how. Smooth transitions are super important for keeping the audience engaged.
The Overlap Technique (Audio/Visual)
Start the sounds or visuals of the new scene just before the old one completely fades out.
- Example: Present scene: Character 1 yells. Flashback: The lights on Character 1 start to dim, but the sound of an earlier version of the argument (from the flashback) begins to fade in just before the visual change is complete, creating a sound bridge.
The “Ghosting” Technique
Characters from different time periods might briefly share the same physical space.
- Example: Present scene: Character A is wrestling with a decision. Flashback: An older, spectral version of Character A silently enters, acting out a consequence of that very decision, her movements mirroring the present Character A’s anxiety.
The Scene Replay with Commentary
A scene is replayed, maybe faster or with a different emphasis, as a character (or narrator) talks about their past actions or thoughts.
- Example: A heated argument plays out. Suddenly, the actors freeze, and one steps forward, directly addressing the audience about their thoughts and feelings during that moment, then steps back, and the scene resumes, perhaps now running backward or at a different speed.
The Split Stage
Different parts of the stage show different time periods at the same time.
- Example: Stage left: a couple in their youth, full of hope. Stage right: the same couple, older and broken, talking about their past. The audience sees both timelines happening simultaneously, revealing growth, decay, or irony.
Dialogue as a Bridge
A line spoken in the present echoes or is finished by a character in a past or future scene.
- Example: Present: “I should have just…” Flashback character: “…told the truth.”
The Object Transition
An object is passed between actors representing different time periods.
- Example: A character holds a letter. As they read it, the lights shift, and an actor in a past costume receives the letter from the present character, then rereads it, starting the flashback.
When to Use Time Shifts: Strategic Decisions
Deciding to use a flashback or flashforward is one of the biggest structural choices you’ll make. It’s not about adding “cool” effects; it’s about making your storytelling the absolute best it can be.
- Early in the Play (Flashbacks): Often used to establish foundational trauma, character traits, or unresolved conflicts that drive the current action. This sets up the “why.”
- Mid-Play (Both): Can be used to complicate the plot, reveal a twist, provide missing pieces of a puzzle, or heighten stakes as characters make critical choices. This is often where the emotional and informational impact is at its peak.
- Late in the Play (Flashforwards): Can give a sense of resolution, inevitability, or reinforce the consequences of the play’s climax. A final flashforward can serve as a powerful statement about the theme or leave the audience with a lingering question about destiny.
The Question Filter
Before you add any time shift, ask yourself:
- Is this the only way to effectively convey this information/emotion? Can it be hinted at, discussed, or shown symbolically in the present without breaking the timeline?
- Does it serve a clear dramatic purpose? Is it making a character deeper, moving the plot forward, or enriching the theme? If not, cut it.
- Will the audience understand the time shift immediately? Is the signaling clear and not distracting?
- Does it enhance, rather than detract from, the play’s main story flow? Does it feel like a natural part of the story, or an interruption?
Learning from Examples: How Others Do It (Conceptual Ideas)
While I won’t name specific plays, think about these dramatic situations and how playing with time can really make them sing:
Scenario 1: A Family Drama About Forgiveness
- The Problem: A dad (JOHN) and son (DAVID) are estranged. The audience needs to understand the deep-seated resentment without long, boring explanations.
- The Solution: Explanatory Flashback. In Act I, during a tense conversation about a shared hobby, a simple line from DAVID about “always being second-best” triggers a brief flashback to JOHN dismissing a younger DAVID’s artwork years ago. This doesn’t explain everything, but it plants the seed of where their broken relationship began. It’s staged with a subtle lighting change and a small costume detail for DAVID (like a school badge).
- The Impact: Instead of just hearing about John’s dismissiveness, the audience sees it, making David’s current resentment real and understandable.
Scenario 2: A Thriller with a Race Against Time
- The Problem: A character (AVA) is desperately trying to prevent a disaster, but the stakes aren’t immediately clear.
- The Solution: Consequential Flashforward. In Act II, after AVA finds a crucial clue, the stage briefly transforms to show a chaotic future scene: sounds of distant sirens, rubble, and a distressed voice reading a news report about the very disaster she’s trying to stop. This is done with harsh strobe lights and distorted, overlapping sounds.
- The Impact: The audience now understands the devastating consequences if AVA fails, making the tension and urgency of her current actions much higher. The flashforward adds a chilling premonition and shows a future that’s not yet set in stone.
Scenario 3: A Romantic Comedy About Missed Opportunities
- The Problem: Two characters (LILY and MARK) keep missing each other. The audience needs to feel the cumulative weight of their near misses.
- The Solution: Juxtaposed Flashbacks. Throughout the play, as LILY complains about her bad timing in love, a series of short, quick flashbacks are triggered by sensory cues (a song on the radio, a specific perfume). Each flashback shows a different moment where LILY and MARK almost met: one entering a coffee shop as the other leaves, a near collision on a street corner, both at the same party but never introduced. The scenes are brief, overlapping, and use split-second lighting shifts to move rapidly between moments.
- The Impact: This really pushes the theme of fate and missed chances, creating both comedic frustration and a touching sadness. The audience becomes deeply invested in whether they will finally connect in the present.
In Closing: Mastering the Temporal Landscape
Flashbacks and flashforwards aren’t just crutches for your story; they’re incredibly sophisticated tools. When you use them precisely and with purpose, they elevate playwriting from a simple timeline to a really deep exploration of the human experience across time. They let you change how the audience sees things, make emotions stronger, and create a richer, more complex dramatic world. By carefully thinking about why you’re using them, how you’ll stage them, and how you’ll integrate them, you unlock new ways to tell stories, expanding your narrative way beyond just what’s happening in the moment on stage. The stage of time is yours to command. Be bold in your creation.