It's All An Act

2-Act vs 5-Act

The way in which my writing has changed with the passing of time is evident in every facet of the process and the final product. I write in verse because that is simply the way I write. I wish I could say there was something purposeful about it, but the truth would remain unchanged. I like it. It's structure has become more sophisticated over time, and large part of that was intentional, but I think it would be more interesting to note one of the unintentional transitions.

My early play-in-verse structure, in both form and layout, drew from the heavy hitters of yore. My original emulation of Heroic Couplets strove after the flavor of Milton and Paradise Lost, while the structure itself pulled upon the Bard; William Shakespeare. I had read more Shakespeare than any other playwright, all those years ago, and I recall being somewhere in Hell, then, too, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that they influenced my beginning. Of course, I was certainly nowhere near capable of accomplishing so daunting of a task with any degree of success... which is not to say I didn't finish that first play, but that I slowly started to change my methodology in the second... and in every play since, too, for that matter.

To bring the horse back around... In the beginning, there were five acts. I remember initially the choice was based mostly out of emulation, though likely subconsciously in nature. I recognized fairly early on that the choice of 5-Acts over any other structure was based on the presumed necessity of Plot. For me that meant:

Act 1: Introductions

Act 2: Development

Act 3: Complications

Act 4: Ramifications

Act 5: Resolutions

I feel it is relevant to point out that many of my 2-Act plays are longer than my early 5-Act ones. It is important, I think, to understand that structure doesn't always equal length. Even more ironic to me, my later pieces have fewer characters and sets, and more meat to their bones, than my earlier pieces.

Some of my early pieces were very ambitious, and the large cast sizes and my desire to make each one of them important meant that I needed a great deal of room. As I moved on from one play to the next, and especially as I looked back, I began to see that the narratives were overburdened, and the telling, boring. I slowly drifted away from the Characters I wanted to have, to toward Characters I needed to have. I did away with Tertiary Characters, and increased the depth of my Secondaries. I stopped trying to tell all of their stories, and focused in on the one that was important. As I progressed, I learned how to use the Secondary threads to inform and shape the Whole.

I remember the moment, though not the play, when I realized that 5 acts were unnecessary to a certain project. I remembered thinking how many of the scenes would be dead weight if the play continued in the vein it seemed intended upon. I was sitting there, staring at my scene cards; culling the chaff. It was liberating.

People often ask me how long such-and-such project is going to be. It's a mildly amusing question, and mildly annoying to. Mostly because I don't know. I never have. It makes just as much sense to ask when how long I'm going to live. I have no doctors projections, and though I do have a statistical spectrum to study, the truth of the matter is that no one knows. Traditionally, my response is simply, “As long as is needed.” A 5-Act may very well be shorter than a 2-Act, if that's the way the story goes. I no longer feel chained to the structure of the 5 Act, though, in truth, those elements are still an essential part of narrative. It is, perhaps, that their demarcations have changed; become blurred. What I have learned is that the nature of the story itself manifests the play and the structure it needs.

My current project was originally intended to be One Scene and One Act. I discovered yesterday that Act 1 ended and that Act 2 had begun. The nature of the story itself and the considerations of the characters I wanted to explore, all demanded more space; more time. I will give them all as much as they need. One Scene, One Act, Five Acts: in the end, the structure is less important than the play itself and how far the Characters want to go to accomplish what the playwright intended to show. I do know, and you have probably figured this out by now, too, I'm not succinct. I hope you enjoy the ride. I certainly enjoy writing it.