Drama Term Tuesday #35
/Scene
act
Divisions of dramatic texts into sections.
In traditional drama, dramatic action was divided into a succession of inter-related scenes, and further shaped into sections called acts. In Aristotelian drama, the action of the play was divided into five acts. Although these divisions have been applied to plays, it is not always possible to set such formal and formulaic limits to drama; frequently the structure of drama is more organic and less schematic.
Some directors and actors also further divided scenes into beats, naturally occuring sections which make a whole statement or point and which contribute to the overall impact of the scene.
