well-made play

English

Etymology

Calque of French pièce bien faite.

Noun

well-made play (plural well-made plays)

  1. A play belonging to a 19th-century neoclassical theatrical genre involving a tight plot and a climax close to the end. The story depends upon a key piece of information kept from some characters, and moves forward in a chain of actions that use minor reversals of fortune to create suspense.
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