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”.