{"id":444,"date":"2017-06-14T16:14:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T15:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/licor.hivolda.no\/?page_id=444"},"modified":"2017-08-18T11:57:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T10:57:49","slug":"theatrical-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/licor.hivolda.no\/?page_id=444","title":{"rendered":"Theatrical Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a list containing some terms which you will come across quite often, and others which are less likely to appear, but which may still be useful. Please note that this list concentrates on the theatre. Other dramatic forms like TV shows and films have extensive vocabularies of their own, though there will be some overlaps in usage.<\/p>\n

Stage direction<\/strong>\u00a0A stage direction (SD), describes in writing what is meant to take place on stage at a given moment in the performance of a play. Stage directions come in many shapes and forms. Some are bound by convention, like \u201cEnter\u201d and \u201cExit\u201d or \u201cExeunt\u201d, which, together with the names of the characters explain when someone comes or goes. Other stage directions can be reminiscent of prose and may contain lengthy descriptions of characters and events. The modern convention is to put stage directions in [square brackets and italics<\/em>].<\/p>\n

At-rise description<\/strong>\u00a0This explains what the stage looks like at the rising of the curtain or when the lights come up. In modern plays with complex sets, these can be quite detailed, whereas older plays or plays of a more minimalist bent tend to have no, or shorter, at-rise descriptions.<\/p>\n

Dramatis personae<\/strong>\u00a0List of characters in the play.<\/p>\n

Speech header or speech prefix<\/strong>\u00a0Tells the reader who is speaking.<\/p>\n

Act<\/strong>\u00a0From the Latin, meaning \u2018something that is done\u2019, an act is a portion of a play. Plays tend to contain one to five or more acts. Breaks between the acts allow stage personell to rearrange the sets and for the actors to change costumes.<\/p>\n

Scene<\/strong>\u00a0From an old Latin and Greek word for \u2018stage\u2019 or \u2018background\u2019, a scene is a further subdivision of a play. Acts may consist of several scenes. In renaissance theatre, a scene ends when all the characters have left the stage. The lights and curtains (in places where there are lights or curtains) do not have to come down between scenes.<\/p>\n

Act, scene and line numbers<\/strong>\u00a0In many types of drama it is common to refer to line numbers instead of pages. For renaissance drama one cites the act, the scene and the line in this fashion: (Titus Andronicus<\/em> 3.2.11-15)<\/p>\n

Through-line numbering<\/strong>\u00a0Instead of dividing the play up into acts and scenes, through-line numbering simply counts the lines from number one to the end of the play, and is cited like so: (Titus Andronicus<\/em> 1455-1459)<\/p>\n

Many modern dramas use page numbers instead. If there are no line numbers of either kind, page numbers are what you should use.<\/p>\n

Chorus<\/strong>\u00a0In Greek drama, a group of people speaking or singing in unison, commenting on the action of the play and making value judgements of characters’ behaviour. In later plays often reduced to one stage person, or even intergrated into another character.<\/p>\n

Blocking<\/strong>\u00a0Term used to describe where characters and objects are in relation to one another at a given moment in a play. Blocking is often meaningful in and of itself, but is not always indicated fully by the stage directions. Readers (and theatre directors) may find that different types of constellations on stage might give different kinds of meaning to certain key moments in plays.<\/p>\n

Stage areas<\/strong>\u00a0The practice of blocking divides the stage into several areas, which are sometimes indicated in stage directions. These are:<\/p>\n