The Stage

[bison]

Is there a rule of thumb about how many scenes a three-act play should contain? I realize there are variables, I mean a norm.

[bison]

Anybody? Somebody? Nobody?

[daft]

Is there a rule of thumb about how many scenes a three-act play should contain? I realize there are variables, I mean a norm.

Number of scenes is highly variable. Some scenes have only a couple of lines; some have no lines, though rarely.

The important thing is to time the intermission before the moment the average audience member's bladder bursts...

Seriously though, in constructing scenes the important thing to remember is not to make unrealistic demands on costume and scenery changes. Otherwise tell your story as you see it.

[ComicBent]

Bison, I do not think it is possible to give a quantitative answer.

First, are we talking about scenes in terms of location changes, or just changes in the combination of people in the same location?

If scenes involve location changes (and therefore set changes), then the number has to be fairly small.

But some scenes are not location changes. In other words, persons A, B, and C can have a long scene in an office, and then A and B leave. At that point D and E come into the office and have a long interaction with C. There you have what you would have to consider two scenes, though they are continuous in the same location. If you have scenes like those, you can have a lot of scenes in a three-act play.

The best answer is just to keep the number of set changes small. After that, the story will determine the number of scenes.

The number of reasonable scenes also depends on how the scenes will be handled. Bare-bones productions with few props can accommodate more scenes than productions with lavish sets.

Ray

[bison]

Thank you all...
I guess I was mainly referring to set changes now that I think about it!

[ComicBent]

I thought so. :)