UNIT 2 ONE ACT PLAYS

Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Structural Pattern
2.3 Select One Act Plays
2.3.1 The Proposal
2.3.2 Riders to the Sea
2.3.3 Lzthuania
2.3.4 The hew Hangman
2.3.5 The Two Executrot2ers
2.3.6 Tlzc. Zoo Stoty

2.4 Let Us Sum Up

2.5 Exercise
2.6 Suggested Readings
2.7 Glossary

2.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit emphasizes One Act Plays and the objective of the unit is not to be
informative only but also to discuss a variety of one-act plays. The intention behind
discussing a tragedy, a comedy, a problem play, a social play and a play from the
drama of the absurd, is to widen the horizons of readers and open for their benefit
new vistas for study. The unit clearly demarcates the distinction between a full-
length play and a one-act play and the importance of the latter in the earlier and
present times. The title itself is suggestive of its nature.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In the history of the drama, there have been many short, unified dramatic works
which may properly he called one-act plays, but the term is usually reserved for
those written since the late nineteenth century. Interest in the genre grew as part of
the development of the modern, experimental theatre. A drania consisting of one act
is the dramatic equivalent of the short story. Before 1890, one act plays were used
chiefly in vaudeville programmes or as curtain raisers for the important play of the
evening. The Little Theatre Movement gave a boost to the one act plays. Important
dramatists who have written one act plays are Beckett, 0' Neill, Chekhov, Sqnge,
Silaw, Aibet: all; AII a'oai.
This kind of drama comprises a single act and normally lasts 20-30 minutes. It is
characterized by precision, brevity, swiftness and limited characters. It is not an
:ib~
:.:;:!:r - er\ion of a full length play, but is an independent literary form.

2.2 STRUCTURAL PATTERN

Any one act play is a complete play, meaning thereby that it has a beginning, a
middle and an end. It has a formal expcsition. eamplication, clinrzi and denouement.
14 The playwright does not have enough time and space to delineate his character as
 One .lct Plays

of the play. Conflict helps to move towards the crisis or turning point and
ly the denouement which leads to the end of the play. The plot which is a
ence of incidents and events is usually not loose and has got to be logical and
nvincing. 4ny one act play can be a tragedy, comedy, history play, problem play,
cia1 drama, or absurd theatre. Elizabethan drama was a 'five-act' play structure,
llowed by a 'four act' structure and in the present age the dramatists use a
ree-act' structure. Each act has scenes. In modern plays the playwrights have
ructured their play into multiple scenes and not acts. The one-act play has a
tructure which is cohesive, to be presented in a limited time span and therefore
nity of action is a must and there is no scope for change of place. The interplay of
an and his environment remains important.

-3.1 The Proposal by Anton Chekhov

e Proposal is a farce, a comic form of drama based on exaggerated and
mprobable episodes. This play dramatizes the events of an unmade proposal about
he marriage that is to take place between Lomov and Natalia. Arguments, quarrels
and misunderstandings evoke laughter. Tschubukov, a landowner, is surprised to see
Lomov, a young and neighbouring landowner at his place who is hesitant to state the
purpose of his visit. Tschub thinks that he has come to borrow money and decides
not to lend him any. Lomov makes a proposal of marriage to Natalia about which
Tschub is delighted as he's the father. The complication begins when Natalia appears
and there is a heated argument about meadows, and then about the dogs. The
situation becomes hilarious as Lomov sinks into the chair because of breathlessness
and Natalia becomes hysterical as she comes to h o w about Lomov's purpose to
visit them In his 'evening clothes. Tschub forces them into marriage, they kiss and a
hint is given about "domestic joys". The formal proposal is never made. The play
ends with the marriage without a priest, Church or ritual and the celebration with

Thus the follies and foibles of human nature are highlighted. The humour in the play
derives from the inability to understand the proposal. The thrust of the play is
Lomov and Natalia's marriage but the digressions incorporated are deliberate as
they are the chief source of laughter. The play does not pay attention to
characterization and the only aim of the actors is to amuse and entertain the

The play specifies the time period i.e. the end of the nineteenth century. There are
only three characters and the place of action is Tschub's home. If Tschub is
childish; Lomov is irrational, foolish, easily excitable and excessively comical; and
Natalia is quarrelsome, stubborn and hysteric. All three want the same thing. Natalia
is love sick for Lomov: Lomov has come for the proposal and Tschub indirectly is
very happy about the affair and this is what evokes laughter.

2.3.2 Riders to the Sea b y J M Synge

The play is based on the real incident of a man who was drowned in the sea in
Donegal. It is a tragedy that focuses on the theme of death. The shadow of death
looms large. The central character of the play hlauhya has been a witnew to six
deaths in the family. The action takes place in the cottage kitchen of Maurya. There
are only four main characters - Maurya the old woman, Bartley her son, Cathleen
Drama: An Introduction her daughter and Nora, her younger daughter. In the exposition all the characters
are introduced and the central subject as well. Maurya is disturbed because her
only surviving son Bartley is determined to go to the Galway fair. The theme of
death and the devastating power of the sea are also made evident. As the action
progresses , Maurya laments at length a b o u ~the deaths of all her family members.
Her fifth son was missing and it is from the identification of his clothes that it is
declared that he too drowned in the sea. The final catastrophe is when Bartley's
body is brought in and laid on the plank. She is suddenly transformed, and exhibits
self restraint and composure. She has the capacity to accept reality. Bartley's death
imparts a completion to Maurya's cycle of sufferings.
The structure is not at all loose. The niotif of the power of the sea is effectively
handled. Death lies at the core of the life of Aran Islanders and this has been well
taken up by Synge in this one act play. The conflict between man and sea, the irony
of fate or cosmic irony is well presented. Maurya and the sea are juxtaposed to
suggest that life and death are the two sides of the same coin. Life is tragic and
final reality is death. This is the reason as to why Maurya's attitude is changed at
the end.
The play lives richly and dramatically. Not only is the interest sustained by the
magic of the mood, not only is the spirit moved by the stark pathos of Maurya, but
also imagination is stirred by the unseen sea and by the intensely depicted story of
people struggling with an implacable natural force. Its depth lies in its language and
the rhythm inherent in the limited action and passive experience. It is a tragic
chorus which draws its strength from the quality of acceptance.

2.3.3 ~ithhaniaby Rupert Brooke

It is a tragedy with four main characters and three peripheral characters. The
writer presents the evil effects of poverty, which compels man to commit any
crime. It denounces any notion of morality in the presence of hunger and poverty.
Crime, sin, morality are meaningless notions when human beings are denied the
very basis of survival. It is a realistic play which brings forth the inevitable outcomes
of poverty. The reality is more nightmarish than a nightmare. Poverty makes a man
inhuman, cruel and soulless. Thus it is a social play that focuses on the ill effects of
poverty on human psyche.
The setting is a double-storied hut in a small village in Lithuania (near Eastern Coast
of Baltic Sea). It is a common man's house. It is early night in autumn. There is a
grim atmosphere of desolation. The main characters are the Stranger, Mother,
Father (Ivan) and Daughter (Anna). The stranger is Ivan Junior, a young middle-
aged man, medium height, weak built, flashily dressed, black hair and a beard. He
ran off from the house when he was thirteen and returned as a wealthy man. His
plan is to surprise the family and relieve them of their pitiful plight. Unfortunately he
dies before unveiling the secret. He is in fact murdered by his own sister Anna who
is unaware of the facts. She wants to rob him of his riches. Anna is past her youth,
not very tall, squared faced and not talkative. Poverty has made her emotionless,
fearless, greedy and an evil-minded person. For the sake of wealth she is ready to
murder a stranger. It's she who devises and executes the plan. She axes the man
and repeatedly hits him. Even after the revelation she is not repentant, only petrified
that she'll be imprisoned. The father and mother are kind-hearted people. It's the
Mother who agrees to shelter a stranger for some compensation. She is forcefully
involved in the murder but wants to delay the killing. She is shocked when she
realizes that the stranger was her long lost son. The father is human to the core of
his heart and suffers the most. His con'science does not allow him to kill a man.
It is a tightly well-knit play. The circumstances, in other words. the social order is
responsible for the actions.
 One Act Plays

nvict. The Chaplain rejects, the 2ndand 3rdWarder refuse; the Governor shirks.
us it is evident that no one wants to do the dirty job; no one wants to be a party

nkind and the hangman calls the act inhuman and 'murder in cold blood'. The
y debates on the issue - is man a slave of the system?

play is a melodrama in one act. Arrabal a Spaniard lived in France since 1954.

17
Drama: An Introduction