Notes on an effective play

An effective play should contain or make use of:

• Hints and intimations
• A secret made known to the audience either at the beginning or toward the end. If the spectator but not the actors know the secret, the spectator enjoys their game of blind man’s bluff. If the spectator is not in on the secret, his curiosity is aroused and his attention held.
• A discovery
• A punishment (nemesis), a humiliation
• A careful resolution, either with or without a reconciliation
• A quid pro quo
• A parallelism
• A reversal (revirement), an upset, a well-prepared surprise.

—August Strindberg