Fine Arts--Theatre
Nineteenth Century--The Well-made Play
Home
What is Theatre
Festivals and Origins
Dionysus
Sophocles
Aristotle
Elements of Classical Tragedy
Renaissance Theatre in England
Elements of Revenge Tragedy
Shakespeare
Elizabethan and Shakespearean Acting
French Neoclassicism
French Neoclassicism II
French Theatre--16th and 17th C.
The Nineteenth Century--World Views
The Nineteenth Century--Production Changes
Nineteenth Century--The Well-made Play
Theatre of the Absurd
Absurdism as Philosophy
Existentialism--Search for Meaning
Naturalism--Emile Zola
Realism--Henrik Ibsen
Contemporary Drama: Black Theatre
Terms

The well‑made play

        Scribe defined a "well-made" play and declared a well-made play must have the following elements.

 

Plot is important and must follow a formula of development, of action and reaction.

 

To advance plot, there must be theatrical suspense and entanglements. The unravelings, discoveries, reversals, and confrontations are part of the suspense and entanglements. Most importantly, the plot must uphold the morality of the patriarchal family.

               

Fine Arts-Theatre with dr.b