It’s the classic comedy line endlessly repeated by Ernie Wise of (Eric) Morecombe and (Ernie) Wise fame, often used by straight man Ernie just as he’s trying to sell the idea of a short play to funny man Eric. The question these days is: How long should the play run?
It terms of how many minutes, it’s fun to see lots of opinions given about the correct length of a play. Of course, there is no real answer unless you know which market it’s aimed at.
If you’re looking for an Edinburgh festival fringe play, then 30 minutes can look good, although many run up to an hour or so. Whatever you do, don’t let them run further than an hour as time and space is at a premium at the event and anyone trying to show a two hour play will fight to gain seat sales unless they’re a really well known ‘name’.
Radio brings many options for play lengths. Shows can run for ten minutes, twenty minutes, the half hour and anything more. The radio station will let you know how long plays can run for all their play ‘spots’. If it’s a commercial channel you’ll lose time for advertisements, so remember to allow for it.
When you look at producing a play for children to watch, you need to consider the audience’s age. Younger children might not want to sit still for more than a half hour, but if it’s action packed, like a pantomime, then two 45 minutes acts work well.
Writing for an amateur society might take you towards two forty minute sets. The fewer words the amateurs have to learn, the more ‘professional’ they look, although no doubt many will argue against that having learnt ‘War and Peace’ for stage.
The commercial theatres will almost certainly want two acts plays, with both acts in the region of fifty to sixty minutes long. This gives a generous break in the middle for food and drink sales and also gives value for money to the audience. Many will argue that it’s quality that counts and not quantity, but if your play is too short, people will feel short changed. Ask them to sit for three hours and your cast will watch the ticket purchasers uneasy in their seats, wanting to leave for the bathroom facilities at the wrong moment.
Many playwrights scribe one hour plays. They hope to be able to sell them to radio and maybe to television. What we don’t see enough of is two one hour plays being promoted together in commercial theatres; one before the break and one after. It’s about time someone started changing the rules.
Ernie’s play ran for about ten minutes, and will be watched for years. Quality will always win through.
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