Reading and Writing Drama
(One-act Play)
One-act Play
is a play that has only one act, as distinct
from plays that occur over several acts.
It may consist of one or more scenes.
Elements of One-act Play
1. Theme
theme is necessary
Ask yourself: what is it about?
Revenge? Self-discovery?
Mind needs to be clear about the theme
Characters, plots, and sub-plots need to point
to and support theme
Sub-plots might be missing in one-act plays
2. Plot
Different in one-act play from a full length play
In one-act play, theme is only time for significant
event
Determining place for hero, where all can be won
or lost
Events leading to this, can be included without
being shown to audience
The events that follow must be inferred or
understood by the audience
3. Character
There is not much area to develop all the
characters
The hero or the protagonist’s character needs
to be more developed and focused on
The antagonist can be developed to show
conflict
Some other characters can also be a little bit
developed to move the story forward
4. Dialogue
Economy is the key aspect here
Each line must be crafted carefully to focus on
the theme, the incident and the character of
the protagonist
The dialogues need not be terse, but concise
and full of meaning
Dialogues irrelevant to the plot, must be
altered or omitted immediately
Activity:
Write a short one-act play which involves two characters
following the guideline given below.
imagine the situation you want to write about and write it
down on a blank sheet of paper
Brainstorm the situation to come up with ideas involving:
a. details of the character, including their relationship and
the nature of the problem being explored
b. the topic you are talking about
c. the problem that arises in their conversation
d. the time and background of the conversation, i.e. setting
e. how the play starts and how it ends.
Work by your group
Do the drafting and editing inside the room
Present your output to the class in a form of a “One-Act
Play”.