History Main / OurActsAreDifferent

* All episodes of the ''Theatre/{{Tsukiuta}}'' stage play series, and its various spinoff series (over 30 plays by 2022) tell their stories in one act, which can be almost three hours long. They have a second act, which is a separate show -- the dance live, where the characters perform their songs as idols. Other franchises, such as Theatre/TouMyu, also follow this format.

* American expressionist plays tended to be one-act dramas. Creator/EugeneONeill's ''The Hairy Ape'', Elmer Rice's ''The Adding Machine'' and Sophie Treadwell's ''Machinal'' each presented 7-9 scenes without intermission. TheMusical of ''Adding Machine'' is also in one act.

* ''Theatre/HanselAndGretel'' is a three-act opera, with an option to omit the first intermission and segue to the prelude to the second act without interruption.

* ''Theatre/{{JB}}'' by Archibald [=MacLeish=] was written to be performed without interruption, or with optional breaks after the Godmask/Satanmask exchanges that end scene 2 ("Put not forth thy hand!") and scene 7 ("Spare his life!").

* ''Theatre/{{JB}}'' by Archibald [=MacLeish=] was written to be performed without interruption, or with optional breaks after the Godmask/Satanmask exchanges that end scenes 2 and 7.

* Sarah Ruhl's ''Eurydice''

From Renaissance to Neoclassical this was the standard. Theatre at this time was based off of Aristotle's and Horace's works (as they were understood at the time) since Classical theatre was considered ideal. The five act structure was incredibly strict (especially in the Neoclassical period), it wasn't until Romanticism and Melodrama that this structure fell out of fashion. Few modern productions have a full-length intermission between every act (though they may give a couple minutes to stretch while the scenery is changed), although this wouldn't have been done at the time either. The older five act plays tend to be fairly long, and are often somewhat abridged in modern performances.

* ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'' was originally written in one act, but most regional productions insert an intermission.

From Renaissance to Neoclassical this was the standard. Theatre at this time was based off of Aristotle's and Horace's works since Classical theatre was considered ideal. The five act structure was incredibly strict (especially in the Neoclassical period), it wasn't until Romanticism and Melodrama that this structure fell out of fashion. Few modern productions have a full-length intermission between every act (though they may give a couple minutes to stretch while the scenery is changed). The older five act plays tend to be fairly long, and are often somewhat abridged in modern performances.

* When you read a play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare, you will almost certainly see it divided into five acts. However, the evidence is that Shakespeare himself did not think of his plays as divided into five acts, but this division was done by later editors. Shakespeare seems to have written his plays to be performed straight through without ANY intermissions. Modern productions often choose a point (rarely more than one point) in the script to take an intermission break.
** The five-act division was one of the many changes made to make Shakespeare's works more suitable to the Neoclassical rules that followed after his death. This applied to many other notable playwrights as well.
** An exception is ''Theatre/HenryV'', in which the five-act structure is explicit as a chorus precedes each act.

* ''Theatre/{{JB}}'' by Archibald [=MacLeish=] was written to be performed without interruption, or with optional breaks after scenes 2 and 7.

While never a particularly standard number of acts, authors have often found it convenient to divide up the standard three-act structure into four equal scenes, or have failed to find a real use for the fifth act in a five-act structure, and so have chosen a four-act play instead. Unless the acts are particularly long, modern performances generally give an intermission after Act II, basically treating it as a two-act play with each act having two fairly self-contained scenes.

* ''J.B.'' by Archibald [=MacLeish=] was written to be performed without interruption, or with optional breaks after scenes 2 and 7.

* The modern musical version of ''PeterPan''.

* ''A New Brain''

* ''Literature/NativeSon'' was adapted into a play in ten scenes with no designated intermission.

** An exception is ''HenryV'', in which the five-act structure is explicit as a chorus precedes each act.

* ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'' by StephenSondheim has no intermission, as it has no real plot.

* ''Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone'' is meant to be performed without an intermission, despite the [[ShowWithinAShow]] that it is about being a two-act musical. However, some productions do choose to add an intermission anyway, usually after the song "Toledo Surprise".