Drama is about tension and tension resolved and for our purposes we confine ourselves to the live performance of a play in front of a live audience.

On the page it’s a play, on the stage it’s a performance.

In a production, the tension of drama means the audience expects something to happen on stage. It is the writer’s function to supply that story.

Modern production has dropped the older three act formula with two intermissions in favour of a two-part or even one-part offering.

However the old framework of three acts still works.

Characters are placed in a situation, Act One;

Complications abound, Act Two;

Matters are resolved for better or worse in Act Three.

The play's the thing.

For lively club discussion on writing drama see here.
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