Play constructed according to strict technical principles that produce neatness of plot and theatrical effectiveness. The form was developed &circa; 1825 by Eugène Scribe and became dominant on 19th-century European and U.S.
stages. It called for complex, artificial plotting, a buildup of suspense, a climactic scene in which all problems are resolved, and a happy ending. Scribe's hundreds of successful plays were imitated all over Europe; other practitioners of the form included playwrights Victorien Sardou, Georges Feydeau, and Arthur Wing Pinero, who brought the form to the level of art with The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1893).
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