Dialogues normally take the form of a succession of utterances, but even in a succession there are overlaps. Disrupting this principle to produce simultaneity, provides a mirror image to the inverse process of stretching the pattern by introducing pauses or silences between the individual utterances. This can hardly be considered an innovation of modern drama. Modern drama was the first to begin to employ this device with any measure of innovative consistency. Pauses and silences always reflect some kind of disrupted communication. In classical drama, a period of silence is deployed to create suspense, to emphasize certain aspects or to allow reaction-time for the audience. Successful verbal communication is, therefore regarded as the norm.
The pause is used very effectively in Sweeney Todd, Epiphany:
You, sir? (Pause) Who, sir? (Pause) How about a shave?Or the beggar woman:
Alms, (Pause) Alms, (Pause) for a desperate womanOr in Wait:
...Let it brew (Pause) Wait.
Many speeches in Sweeney Todd have a tendency to be length and thereby creating suspense. Inversely, when the speeches are short, as in A Little Priest, the effect is comic.