Act (drama)

Anactis a major division of atheatrework, including aplay,film,opera,ballet,ormusical theatre,consisting of one or morescenes.^[1]^[2]The term can either refer to aconsciousdivision placed within a work by aplaywright(usually itself made up of multiple scenes)^[3]or a unit of analysis for dividing adramaticwork into sequences. The wordactcan also be used for major sections of otherentertainment,such asvariety shows,television programs,music hallperformances,cabaret,andliterature.

Acts and scenes

An act is a part of a play defined by elements such as rising action,climax,andresolution.Ascenenormally represents actions happening in one place at one time and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a blackout, or a brief emptying of the stage.^[1]

The elements that create theplotof a play and divide it into acts include theexposition,which sets up the rest of thestoryby giving basic information. Another element is theinciting incident,which starts all the action that will follow. Going along with the inciting incident, themajor dramatic questionis formed, which holds the rest of the play. The majority of the play is made up of complications, which change the action. These complications lead to thecrisis,which is thefinal plot point.At this point, the major dramatic question is usually answered. Finally, the play culminates with a resolution, or thedénouement,where everything comes together and the situation has been resolved.^[4]These elements of the plot are the main things used to divide a play into acts and sometimes scenes. In some scenarios, the play may not end with a resolved situation; it may leave the audience on a peak and have asequelto it, otherwise known as acliffhanger.

Though there is no limit to the number of acts in a dramatic work, some may have been derived from different interpretations ofAristotle'sPoetics,in which he stresses the primacy of plot over character and "an orderly arrangement of parts",^[5]and others may have been derived fromFreytag's Pyramid.^[6]

History

Roman theatrewas the first to divideplaysinto a number of acts separated by intervals. Acts may be further divided intoscenes.^[7]In classical theater, each regrouping between the entrances and exits ofactorsis a scene, while later use describes a change of setting.^{[citation needed]}

Modern plays often have only one level of structure, which can be referred to as either scenes or acts at the whim of the writer, and some writers dispense with firm divisions entirely.^{[citation needed]}Successive scenes are normally separated from each other in either time or place, but the division between acts has more to do with the overall dramatic structure of the piece. The end of an act often coincides with one or more characters making an important decision or having an important decision to make, a decision that has a profound impact on the story being told.^{[citation needed]}

Contemporary theatre, in line withscreenwritingand novel forms, tends towards athree-act structure.Manyoperettasand mostmusicalsare divided into just two acts, so, in practice, theintermissionis seen as dividing them, and the wordactcomes to be used for the two-halves of a show whether or not the script divides it into acts.

Varieties

One-act plays

Aone-act playis a short drama that consists of only one act; the phrase is not used to describe a full-length play that does not utilize act-divisions. Unlike other plays which usually are published one play per book, one-act plays are often published inanthologiesor collections.^[8]

Three-act plays

In a three-act play, each act usually has a differentmood.In the most commonly used structure, the first act has a lot of introductory elements (that is, who, what, when, where, why, and how); the second act is usually the darkest, with theantagonistshaving a greater compass; and the third act has a resolution (dénouement), often with the protagonists prevailing.

Act one: The conflict of the story is discovered. Theexposition,the introduction of theprotagonistand other characters that the protagonist meets, take place,^[9]as well as thedramatic premiseand inciting incident (the incident that sets the events of the story in motion) occurs approximately halfway through the first act.
Act two: The main character encounters an obstacle that prevents the character from achieving his or her dramatic need. This is known as the complication. The main character reaches his or her lowest point, seems farthest from fulfilling the dramatic need or objective, and seems to have no way to succeed.^[9]
Act three: Theclimaxoccurs as well as the resolution (dénouement), a brief period of calm at the end of a play where a state of equilibrium returns.^[9]

Five-act plays

Until the 18th century, most plays were divided into five acts. The work ofWilliam Shakespeare,for example, generally adheres to a five-act structure.^[10]This format is known as thefive-act play,and was famously analyzed byGustav FreytaginDie Technik des Dramas(Dramatic techniques). The five acts played specific functions in the overall structure of the play similar to that ofFreytag's pyramid.^[11]^[12]

Act One:Expositionand inciting incident
Act Two: First major turning point and progressive complications
Act Three:Rising actionandclimax
Act Four: Falling action
Act Five:Resolution(Fortragedies,acatastropheis added before it.)

A similar five-part structure is also used in traditional JapaneseNohdrama, particularly byZeami Motokiyo.Zeami, in his workSandō(The Three Paths), originally described a five-part (fivedan) Noh play as the ideal form. It begins slowly and auspiciously in the first part (jo), building up the drama and tension in the second, third, and fourth parts (ha), with the greatest climax in the thirddan,and rapidly concluding with a return to peace and auspiciousness in the fifthdan(kyū).^[13]

Other media

As part of atelevision program,each individual act can be separated bycommercials.

Infilm,a number of scenes grouped together create a story. The three-act structure is commonly referred to infilm adaptationsof theatrical plays.

References

^^a ^bBaldick (2004)
^Turco (1999)
^Waters, Steve (2010).The Secret Life of Plays.London:Nick Hern Books.p. 32.ISBN 978-1-84842-000-7.
^"Resolution".literaryterms.net.January 23, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on August 19, 2020.RetrievedAugust 17,2020.
^"The Internet Classics Archive | Poetics by Aristotle".classics.mit.edu.Archivedfrom the original on February 26, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 10,2017.
^Freytag, Gustav (1863).Die Technik des Dramas(in German). Archived fromthe originalon January 16, 2009.RetrievedJanuary 20,2009.
^Encyclopedia International.Encyclopedia International. Grolier. 1963. p. 46.Archivedfrom the original on July 24, 2023.RetrievedAugust 23,2020.ACT, major portion of a play. It may have one or more components, called scenes. It derives from the Roman theater, which was influenced by the earlier Greek theater's practice of separating sections of the...
^M., Dunn, Francis (1996).Tragedy's end: closure and innovation in Euripidean drama.Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-508344-X.OCLC 896946798.Archivedfrom the original on November 21, 2021.RetrievedAugust 9,2021.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^^a ^b ^cCannell, S. J. (n.d.). What is the three-act structure? [Lecture transcript].
^Snuggs, Henry L. (1960).Shakespeare and Five Acts: studies in a dramatic convention.New York:Vantage Press.
^Bunting, Joe (August 22, 2022)."Five Act Structure: Definition, Origin, Examples, and Whether You Should Use It In Your Writing".The Write Practice.RetrievedJuly 24,2023.
^Callaghan, Fija."The Five-Act Structure: The Foundation of an Engaging Story".Scribophile.RetrievedJuly 24,2023.
^Quinn, Shelley Fenno (Spring 1993). "How to write a Noh play – Zeami'sSandō".Monumenta Nipponica.48(1): 58–62.doi:10.2307/2385466.JSTOR 2385466.

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