A one-act play is 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 ...
that has only one
act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more
scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular
subgenre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of the one-act play, especially in writing competitions. One act plays make up the overwhelming majority of Fringe Festival shows including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The origin of the one-act play may be traced to the very beginning of recorded Western
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
: in
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
, ''
Cyclops'', a
satyr play
The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is str ...
by
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
, is an early example. The satyr play was a farcical short work that came after a trilogy of multi-act serious drama plays. A few notable examples of one act plays emerged before the 19th century including various versions of the Everyman play and works by Moliere and Calderon.
[Francis M. Dunn. ''Tragedy's End: Closure and Innovation in Euripidean Drama''. Oxford University Press (1996).] One act plays became more common in the 19th century and are now a standard part of repertory theatre and fringe festivals.
One-act plays by major dramatists
*
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
– ''
Cyclops ''
*
Moliere – ''
The Flying Doctor'' (1659)
*
Edward Albee – ''
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' is a full-length play written in 2000 by Edward Albee which opened on Broadway in 2002. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was a finalist for the 2003 ...
'' (2002)
*
Samuel Beckett – ''
Krapp's Last Tape
''Krapp's Last Tape'' is a 1958 one-act play, in English, by Samuel Beckett. With a cast of one man, it was written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue". It was inspired by Beckett's experience of listenin ...
'' (1958)
*
Anton Chekhov – ''
A Marriage Proposal'' (1890)
*
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...
– ''
Clevinger's Trial'' (1973)
*
Israel Horovitz – ''
Line'' (1974)
*
Eugène Ionesco – ''
The Bald Soprano
''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco.
Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at the ...
'' (1950)
*
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
– ''
A Memory of Two Mondays
''A Memory of Two Mondays'' is a one-act play by Arthur Miller. He began writing the play in 1952, while working on '' The Crucible'', and completed it in 1955. Based on Miller's own experiences, the play focuses on a group of desperate workers ...
'' (1955)
*
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
– ''
Pariah'' (1889)
*
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...
– ''
The Long Christmas Dinner
''The Long Christmas Dinner'' is a play in one act written by American novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder in 1931. In its first published form, it was included in the volume ''The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays in One Act''.
Charact ...
'' (1931)
*
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his gr ...
– ''
The Sunset Limited'' (2006)
*
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
- ''
No Exit
''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting ...
'' (1944)
*
Athol Fugard - ''
"Master Harold"...and the Boys'' (1982)
*
Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays Art and ''God of Carnage''. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. The 2011 blac ...
- ''
Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
'' (1994)
*
Oscar Wilde - ‘’
Salome’’ (1891
rench
The Rench is a right-hand tributary of the Rhine in the Ortenau ( Central Baden, Germany). It rises on the southern edge of the Northern Black Forest at Kniebis near Bad Griesbach im Schwarzwald. The source farthest from the mouth is that of the ...
1894
nglish
See also
*
List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams
This is a list of the one-act plays written by American playwright Tennessee Williams.
1930s
''Beauty Is the Word''
''Beauty Is the Word'' is Tennessee Williams' first play. The 12-page one-act was written in 1930 while Williams was a freshman ...
*
Monodrama
A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character.
In opera
In opera, a monodrama was originally a melodrama with one role such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's '' Pygmalion'', which w ...
References
Sources
* Murray, Stephen. ''Taking Our Amusements Seriously''. LAP, 2010. .
External links
One Act Play Depot
{{play-stub