What is a French scene?

A unit of a play that begins or ends whenever a character enters or exits. It is named after the French classical convention of starting a new numbered scene with every change of who is on stage.

Should I use French scenes or the script’s scenes?

Use the script’s scenes when they are short. Use French scenes when a scene is long and its cast changes partway through, so you can call smaller groups for parts of it.

Do silent characters belong in the breakdown?

Yes. Anyone who has to be on stage needs to be called, whether or not they speak. Mark them so they are not forgotten.

Guide

How to make a scene breakdown

The scene × character grid is the most useful document a stage manager makes. Here is how to build one, and when to split scenes into French scenes.

A scene breakdown is a grid: scenes down the side, characters across the top, and a mark wherever a character appears. It is a property of the play, not your production — every production of Twelfth Night has the same breakdown — which means you only build it once and every scheduling decision afterwards gets easier.

Step 1: list the units

Start with the script’s own divisions: Act 1 Scene 1, Act 1 Scene 2, and so on. For a musical, list the numbers and the dialogue scenes between them as separate units — “No. 3, Opening” is a different call from the book scene after it. Give every unit a short label you’ll use everywhere: on the schedule, the call notice and the rehearsal report. Consistency matters more than the format you choose.

Step 2: mark who is in each unit

Read the script unit by unit and mark every character who speaks. Then read again for the people who don’t: the servant who brings the tray, the guard who stands at the door, the crowd. If they have to be on stage, they have to be called. Mark them too, perhaps with a different symbol so you know they’re silent.

Watch for speaker labels that change — “LADY BRACKNELL” in one scene and “LADY B.” in the next are the same person. Merge them now, before they become two rows on the call sheet.

Step 3: decide whether you need French scenes

A French scene is a unit that starts and ends whenever someone enters or exits. The name comes from French classical theatre, where a new numbered scene began every time the people on stage changed — Molière’s plays are numbered this way. For scheduling, French scenes let you call people for the part of a long scene they’re actually in.

Use French scenes when:

The script has long acts and few scene divisions — many Wilde, Ibsen and Chekhov plays have a single scene per act.
A scene runs long and its cast changes partway through — the first ten pages are two people, then six more arrive.
You keep failing to schedule a scene because one person in the second half is never free with the people in the first half. Splitting it often solves the problem.

Label French scenes so they sort in order: “Act 1 (i)”, “Act 1 (ii)”, “Act 1 (iii)”. Don’t split hairs — a two-line entrance that leaves straight away usually belongs to the unit around it. Aim for units of at least a page or two.

Step 4: weight the scenes

Not every scene needs the same rehearsal. Mark each one light, normal or heavy. Page count is a good first guess — a scene that runs eight pages is heavier than one that runs two — but adjust for what the page count misses: a fight, a dance, a song, a big ensemble moment, or two actors carrying a long emotional scene. Heavy scenes get more rehearsals and get them earlier.

Step 5: map characters to actors

Once the show is cast, add who plays whom. Doubling is where breakdowns earn their keep: two characters who never share a unit can be played by one actor, and the grid shows you at a glance which pairs are safe. When one actor plays two roles, their call for a night is the union of both roles’ scenes. For ensembles, list the group as a single “character” with several actors behind it, so the whole group is called together.

A worked example

Unit	Viola	Orsino	Olivia	Feste
1.4	x	x
1.5 (i)			x	x
1.5 (ii)	x		x

Splitting 1.5 at Viola’s entrance means Feste is called for the first part and Viola for the second, instead of both sitting through a long scene. Multiply that by a whole play and you have handed your cast back hours of their evenings.

Use it everywhere

The breakdown drives the schedule, the calls, the off-book plan and the line-run list. You can paste it into Tonight’s Call as a grid from your spreadsheet or one line per scene (“Act 1 Scene 2: Maya, Jordan, Priya”), upload your script and check the draft we make from it, or start from one of our public-domain play breakdowns.

Skip the spreadsheet

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Questions

What is a French scene?: A unit of a play that begins or ends whenever a character enters or exits. It is named after the French classical convention of starting a new numbered scene with every change of who is on stage.
Should I use French scenes or the script’s scenes?: Use the script’s scenes when they are short. Use French scenes when a scene is long and its cast changes partway through, so you can call smaller groups for parts of it.
Do silent characters belong in the breakdown?: Yes. Anyone who has to be on stage needs to be called, whether or not they speak. Mark them so they are not forgotten.