More about one-act plays

What is a One-Act Play?

A one-act play, as the name suggests, is a play that takes place, from begining to end, in a single act.

An "act" is a unit of time within a drama during which a portion of the story unfolds. The length of time for an act ranges from 30 to 60 minutes - although they can be shorter or longer.

Full length plays are usually between 2 to 5 acts in length. The number of acts used depends on how the writer has structured his or her play.

Before the 18th century, plays were often written in 5 acts. Since then, it has been common to find dramas, films and operas following a classic 3-act structure.

In the classic 3-act structure, each act reveals a portion of the story. Act 1 is introductory - introducing characters, location, and the setting the scene for the story. Act 2 reveals the conflict or obstacle that the main character/s faces. Act 3 involves the climax of the story and its resolution.

What makes good one-act plays deceptively tricky to write is that all this "stuff" (introduction, obstacle, resolution) is achieved within a very short time frame, and must be handled in a believable way.

While one-act plays have only one act, they can contain more than one scene.

A scene is like a division of an act, in which a certain portion of the play unfolds. Scenes are usually separated by location (in the bedroom, at the dinner table), or time (e.g. in the morning, then the following evening).

How many scenes there are, again, depends on how the writer has structured the play.

One-act plays can range from one minute to one hour long.

With the rise in popularity of writing competitions, 10 minute one-act plays have become very popular of late (also known as "Flash Drama") in which the writer is given a limited time period in which to write a 10 minute play, incorporating specified elements, such as 2-3 characters, a certain prop, a line of dialogue, or some form of set.