A one-act play is a
play 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 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: in
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, ''
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 stro ...
by
Euripides, 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 – ''
Cyclops ''
*
Moliere – ''
The Flying Doctor
''The Flying Doctor'' is a 1936 Australian-British drama film directed by Miles Mander and starring Charles Farrell, Mary Maguire and James Raglan. The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia operate in the Australian Outback. Noted as Austr ...
'' (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 Pu ...
'' (2002)
*
Samuel Beckett – ''
Krapp's Last Tape'' (1958)
*
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
– ''
A Marriage Proposal
''A Marriage Proposal'' (sometimes translated as simply ''The Proposal'', russian: Предложение, translit=Predlozheniye, italic=yes) is a one-act farce by Anton Chekhov, written in 1888–1889 and first performed in 1890. It is a fast-p ...
'' (1890)
*
Joseph Heller – ''
Clevinger's Trial
''Clevinger's Trial'' is a 1973 short dark comedy play in one act by Joseph Heller.
''Clevinger's Trial'' is based on Chapter 8 of Heller's 1961 novel ''Catch-22''. It is excerpted from the 1971 play ''Catch-22'', being cut from the original vers ...
'' (1973)
*
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 – November 9, 2020) was an American playwright, director, actor and co-founder of the Gloucester Stage Company in 1979. He served as artistic director until 2006 and later served on the board, ex officio and ...
– ''
Line
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Art ...
'' (1974)
*
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
– ''
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'' (194 ...
– ''
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 e ...
'' (1955)
*
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with t ...
– ''
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''.
Chara ...
'' (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 g ...
– ''
The Sunset Limited
''The Sunset Limited'' is a play by American writer Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy's second published play, it was first produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on May 18, 2006, and it traveled to New York City later that same year. The play ...
'' (2006)
*
Jean-Paul Sartre - ''
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
Athol Fugard, Hon. , (born 11 June 1932), is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apart ...
- ''
"Master Harold"...and the Boys'' (1982)
*
Yasmina Reza - ''
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
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
- ‘’
Salome’’ (1891
rench1894
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