Overview
scene
Quick Reference
In a drama, a subdivision of an act or of a play not divided into acts. A scene normally represents actions happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black‐out, or a brief emptying of the stage. In the study of narrative works, ‘scene’ is also the name given to a ‘dramatic’ method of narration that presents events at roughly the same pace as that at which they are supposed to be occurring, i.e. usually in detail and with substantial use of dialogue. In this sense the scenic narrative method is contrasted with ‘summary’, in which the duration of the story's events is compressed into a brief account. Adjective: scenic.