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Length of Plays
I noted, having diligently read all the rules, that 75 pages is a good length for a play these days. This has prompted me to think of several questions:
- is this assuming 1 minute per page?
- what is the duration that typically requires an interval? (ie, 75 minutes seems to me to be able to performed as either 1 Act or 2)
I'm curious to know how theatre is being produced around the world. In New Zealand, traditional/classic theatre is still two acts, typically 90 - 120 minutes, but locally written (with younger audiences) tends to be 60 - 75 minutes with no interval.
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There's really no set time though. Although I agree completely that two hours in the theatre without a break is too long. Maybe it's because there are no car crashes and explosions...
Unless you're writing for a specific venue with a specific time limit (like a school show, or a fringe) the length of a play is the time you need to show the story in an engaging fashion. There's no point padding, or cutting a play to fit a box. The interval should come at the place when the characters MUST break away, more so than when the audience needs to break.
And it's all subjective too. I've been five minutes into a 60 minute play and known it was going to be years off my life that I'd never get back..... :)
I can't believe it is quite that long ago, but I was at the Edinburgh Festival in 1999. Six plays in one day - that's heaven. You are very lucky Sonia! And not just for the festival; it's a wonderful city.
Two hours with no break does seem long for the theatre, yet people cope fine with a movie that long.
My experience (mainly New Zealand) is that many festival and student theatres tend to pack in multiple shows, so no interval and no set/complex lighting. Whereas a box set, typically popular in many big theatres, tend to be the only booking, and often for a minimum of a couple of weeks due to the cost of packing in etc, and so want an interval so they can sell it as a night out (and drinks and ice-creams).
It's probably a bad idea at this point, but I do think about how my play might be staged, and where the breaks (and curtain line) should be.
Everything in life should be as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler - Albert Einstein
Hi Punter
I live in Edinburgh so have the luxury of pottering around the festival every summer - 99% of plays I see here that are around 75 minutes don't have any interval. OK, that might be because intervals are a luxury when you have 4 performances on in the same venue every day but I can usually sit through 75 mins (assuming thats pages) quite comfortably and I haven't noticed any tell-tale audience shuffling.
Having said that, I was confronted with a two hour play last year with no interval and that was a challenge.
Sonia