IGCSE Drama Glossary

Act

What actors do on stage

Division in the performance of a play

Each act has several scenes

Intermission between

Acting area

Area within the performance space where the actor may move in full view

"Playing area"

Acting style

Particular manner of acting that reflects cultural and historical influences

Action

Movement or development of the plot in the play

The sense of forward movement by the sense of time and/or physical motivations

Analysis

Response to dramatic art

Process of examining the elements of drama:

Literary

Technical

Performance

Antagonist

Opponent or adversary of the hero

Competes most often with the protangonist

Apron

Area between the front curtain and edge of stage

Arena stage

Type of stage without frame or arch separating the stage from auditorium

Articulation

Clarity or distinction of speech

Aside

Lines spoken by an actor that aren't to be overheard by other actors

Back projection

A method of projecting images onto a translucent screen from behind. Often used for projected scenery or special effects. Because the projector is usually close to the screen, special lenses are needed to ensure that the image seen by the audience is large enough.

Backdrop

A flat surface the width of the stage, hung upstage of the acting area, upon which scenery is usually painted.

Backlight

Light coming from upstage, behind scenery or actors, to sculpt and separate them from the background.

Barn doors

A rotatable attachment consisting of two or four metal flaps (hinged) that is fixed to the front of a Fresnel spotlight to cut off the beam in a particular direction(s).

Batten

A tubular metal bar, sometimes known as a

pipe, to or from which overhead lighting

instruments can respectively be attached or

suspended.

Bifocal spot

A Profile lantern with two sets of shutters, one of which produces a hard edge, and one a soft edge.

Black box

A one-room theater, without a proscenium arch; interior is painted black, including walls, floor, ceiling, and any drapes are also black.

Blackout

A lighting cue where all stage lights go off simultaneously.

Blocking

The path formed by the actor's movement on stage, usually determined by the director with assistance from the actor, and often written down in a script using commonly accepted theatrical symbols. See also Staging.

Box set

A set with three walls and a ceiling, leaving the fourth wall to be imagined by the actors. The box set represents a real room with doors and windows that work.

Business

A piece of unscripted or improvised action, often comic in intention, used to establish a character, fill a pause in dialogue, or to establish a scene. An author may simply suggest "busyness" to indicate the need for some action at that point in the play.

Catharsis

A theory advocated by Aristotle in his Poetics, which describe the feeling of release felt by the audience at the end of a tragedy; the audience experiences catharsis, or is set free from the emotional hold of the action, after experiencing strong emotions and sharing in the protagonist's troubles.

Character

A person portrayed in a drama, novel, or other artistic piece.

Characterization

How an actor uses body, voice, and thought to develop and portray a character.

Choreography

Movement of actors and dancers to music in a play.

Chorus

A group of performers who sing, dance, or recite in unison; in Greek drama, the chorus was the group of performers who sang and danced between episodes, narrated off-stage action, and commented on events.

Climax

The point of greatest intensity in a series or progression of events in a play, often forming the turning point of the plot and leading to some kind of resolution.

Cloth

A piece of scenic canvas, painted or plain that is flown or fixed to hang in a vertical position. A backcloth (or backdrop) hangs at the rear of a scene. A floorcloth is a painted canvas sheet placed on the stage floor to mark out the acting area, or to achieve a particular effect. Front cloth hangs well downstage, often to hide a scene change taking place behind.

Color filter

A sheet of plastic usually composed of a colored resin sandwiched between two clear pieces. The colored filter absorbs all the colors of light except the color of the filter itself, which it allows through. A color filter is sometimes known as a "gel," after "gelatin," from which filters were originally made.

Color mixing

Combining the effects of two or more lighting gels.

Comedy

A play that treats characters and situations in a humorous way. In Shakespeare's time, a comedy was any play with a happy ending that typically told the story of a likeable character's rise to fortune. In ancient Greece, comedies dealt almost exclusively with contemporary figures and problems. Low comedy is physical rather than intellectual comedy; high comedy is more sophisticated, emphasizing verbal wit more than physical action.

Comic relief

A break in the tension of a tragedy provided by a comic character, a comic episode, or even a comic line.

Concentration

The actor's focus, also called centering; focusing on the work at hand, being in character, or being in the moment.

Conflict

The internal or external struggle between opposing forces, ideas, or interests that creates dramatic tension.

Contrast

Dynamic use of opposites, such as movement/stillness, sound/silence, and light/darkness.

Cross fade

Bringing another lighting state up to completely replace the current lighting state. Also applies to sound effects/music. Sometimes abbreviated to Xfade or XF.

Cyclorama

A fabric drop hung from a curved or segmented batten (rod/bar), or a curved wall at the back of the stage, upon which light can be cast to create effects (cyc for short).

Dénouement

The moment in a drama when the essential plot point is unraveled or explained.

Development

Progression of the plot or conflict in a play.

Dialogue

Spoken conversation used by two or more characters to express thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Downlight

A light directly above the acting area.

Dramaturgy

The art, craft, or techniques of theater and dramatic composition.

Dynamic

The energetic range of, or variations within, physical movement or the difference between levels of sound.

End on

Traditional audience seating layout where the audience is looking at the stage from the same direction. This seating layout is that of a proscenium arch theater. See also Theater-in-the-round, Thrust, and Traverse.

Ensemble

The dynamic interaction and harmonious blending of the efforts of the many artists involved in the dramatic activity of a theatrical production.

Exposition

The part of a play that introduces the theme, chief characters, and current circumstances.

Farce

An extreme form of comedy that depends on quick tempo and flawless timing and is characterized by improbable events and farfetched coincidences; from the French meaning "to stuff."

Flashback

In a nonlinear plot, to go back in time to a previous event; a flash forward would move the action into the future.

Flat

A wooden frame, usually covered with painted cloth, used to create walls or separations on stage.

Flood

To wash the stage with general lighting. The name given to a basic box-shaped lantern with a simple reflector used to achieve this effect.

Focus

In lighting, the adjustment of the size and shape of a stage light and/or the direction in which it is aimed; in acting, the act of concentrating or staying in character.

Fourth wall

The invisible wall of a set through which the audience sees the action of the play.

Fresnel spotlight

Adjustable spotlight giving a diffused light, created by the construction of its lens of "concentric circles." Used with Barn doors.

Genre

A category of literary or dramatic composition; drama is a literary genre. Drama

is further divided into tragedy, comedy, farce, and melodrama, and these genres, in turn, can be subdivided.

Gesture

Any movement of the actor's head, shoulder, arm, hand, leg, or foot to convey meaning.

Gobo

An etched plate, usually metal, put in front of a spotlight so that a pattern is cast on stage. Gobos can be used in all kinds of ways, for

example, to imitate the effect of light filtered

through foliage or to create the effect of a neon sign. A gobo can be placed in a rotating holder to create a dynamic effect such as the light reflected from rippling water.

Groundrow

Compartmentalized floodlights set up on the stage floor so as to allow color mixing. Commonly used to light curtains and for color washes. See also Strip lights.

Hand props

Properties such as tools, weapons, or luggage that are carried on stage by an individual actor. See also Personal props, Props.

House lights

The lights that illuminate the auditorium before and after the performance and during intermission.

Imaging

A technique that allows performers to slow down and focus individually on an issue. The performers, sitting quietly with eyes closed, allow pictures to form in their minds. These images may be motivated by bits of narration, music, sounds, smells, etc.

Improvisation

The spontaneous use of movement and speech to create a character or object in a particular situation; acting done without a script.

Inflection

Change in pitch or loudness of the voice.

Interaction

The action or relationship among two or more characters.

Irony

An implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. There are several forms of irony. Verbal irony is when a writer or speaker says one thing and means something else (often the opposite of what is said). When the audience perceives something that a character does not know, that is dramatic irony. Situational irony can be described as a discrepancy between expected results and the actual results.

Isolation

Control of isolated body parts; the ability to control or move one part of the body independently of the rest.

Kinesthetic

Resulting from the sensation of bodily position, presence, or movement.

Language

In drama, the particular manner of verbal expression, the diction or style of writing, or the speech or phrasing that suggests a class or profession or type of character.

Lantern

The generic term for a stage spotlight.

Legs

Vertical curtains or flats used to hide the wings from view and frame the audience's view of

the stage.

Light set

A term used to describe a situation where no physical set is used on stage. The "set" is created entirely by means of lighting.

Mannerism

A peculiarity of speech or behavior.

Masking

Basically this is scenery or other visible

material designed to hide backstage "stuff" the audience is not supposed to see, such as the

wings or the back wall.

Melodrama

A style of play, which originated in the 19th century, relying heavily on sensationalism and sentimentality. Melodramas tend to feature action more than motivation, stock characters, and a strict view of morality in which good triumphs over evil.

Mime

Acting without words.

Mirroring

Copying the movement and/or expression or look of someone else exactly.

Monologue

A long speech made by one actor; a monologue may be delivered alone or in the

presence of others.

Mood

The tone or feeling of the play, often engendered by the music, setting, or lighting.

Motivation

The reason or reasons for a character's behavior; an incentive or inducement for further action for a character.

Movement

Stage blocking or the movements of the actors onstage; also refers to the action of the play as it moves from event to event.

Naturalism

A style of drama that developed in the late 19th century as an attempt to represent real life on stage faithfully and without artifice; the actions of characters tend to be dominated by determinism (societal or environmental forces).

Pace

Rate of movement or speed of action.

Parody

A mocking or satirical imitation of a literary or dramatic work.