An act is a major division of a

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

work, including a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, or

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

, consisting of one or more scenes. The term can either refer to a

conscious Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, a ...

division placed within a work by a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

(usually itself made up of multiple scenes) or a unit of analysis for dividing a

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

tic work into sequences. The word ''act'' can also be used for major sections of other

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

, such as

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

television programs A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

performances,

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

, and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Acts and scenes

An act is a part of a play defined by elements such as rising action, climax, and resolution. A scene normally 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. The elements that create the plot of a play and divide it into acts include the exposition, which sets up the rest of the story by giving basic information. Another element is the inciting incident, which starts all the action that will follow. Going along with the inciting incident, the major dramatic question is 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 the

crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

, which is the final plot point. At this point, the major dramatic question is usually answered. Finally, the play culminates with a resolution, or the dénouement, where everything comes together and the situation has been resolved. 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 a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to it, otherwise known as a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or bef ...

. Though there is no limit to the number of acts in a dramatic work, some may have been derived from different interpretations of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's '' Poetics'', in which he stresses the primacy of plot over character and "an orderly arrangement of parts", and others may have been derived from Freytag's Pyramid.

History

Roman theatre divided plays into a number of acts separated by intervals. Acts may be further divided into scenes. In classical theater, each regrouping between the entrances and exits of

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

s is a scene, while later use describes a change of setting. 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. 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. Contemporary theatre, in line with

screenwriting Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...

and novel forms, tends towards a three-act structure. Many operettas and most musicals are divided into just two acts, so, in practice, the intermission is seen as dividing them, and the word ''act'' comes to be used for the two-halves of a show whether or not the script divides it into acts.

Varieties

One-act plays

A one-act play is 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 in anthologies or collections.

Three-act plays

In a three-act play, each act usually has a different mood. In the most commonly used structure, the first act has many introductory elements (that is, who, what, when, where, why, and how); the second act is usually the darkest, with the

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.dénouement), often with the protagonists prevailing. * Act one: The conflict of the story is discovered. The exposition, the introduction of the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

and other characters that the protagonist meets, take place,Cannell, S. J. (n.d.). What is the three-act structure? ecture transcript as well as the dramatic premise and 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. * Act three: The climax occurs as well as the resolution (dénouement), a brief period of calm at the end of a play where a state of equilibrium returns.

Five-act plays

Until the 18th century, most plays were divided into five acts. The work of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, for example, generally adheres to a five-act structure. This format is known as the five-act play, and was famously analyzed by Gustav Freytag in ''Die Technik des Dramas'' (Dramatic techniques). The five acts played specific functions in the overall structure of the play similar to that of Freytag's pyramid. * Act One: Exposition and inciting incident * Act Two: First major turning point and progressive complications * Act Three: Rising action and climax * Act Four: Falling action * Act Five: Resolution (For tragedies, a catastrophe is added before it.) A similar five-part structure is also used in traditional Japanese Noh drama, particularly by

Zeami Motokiyo , also called , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright. His father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan'ami was also skilled in acting and formed a ...

. Zeami, in his work '' Sandō'' (The Three Paths), originally described a five-part (five ''dan'') 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 third ''dan'', and rapidly concluding with a return to peace and auspiciousness in the fifth ''dan'' (''kyū'').

Other media

As part of a

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

, each individual act can be separated by

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

. In

, a number of scenes grouped together create a story. The three-act structure is commonly referred to in

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

s of theatrical plays.