Well, as I work on "Divorce in Love" I find myself with a first act that's probably 3/4th finished and over 50 pages long. As I'm looking at a three-act play, that may bode for a nearly 150 page play, give or take a few, and that's a bear. Especially for what is written like a comedy.
Now, I'm not about to tighten it before it's finished, and some of my other plays have actually been on the shorter side... but the rule tends to be comedy is brief. Unless you're Chekov, and the jokes only work in Russian. (This last statement is, of course, not true. I'm not a reliable narrator.)
Some of the length may simply come from a glut of characters (some of them are as yet unintroduced at 50 pages in... hmmm). Reasons for Moving had two actors, Great Escape had four, The Americans had three. This is looking at eight or nine, and I've given almost everyone a rambling monologue or six.
Am I getting messier or just more ambitious? Who can say?
And has anyone else noticed that a bigger cast means more audience? It only stands to reason. Sadly.
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