Drama Technical Terms

Question 0

Plot

Answer 0

The storyline of a play

Question 1

Playwright

Answer 1

The person who creates a play as text, the author (note ‘wright’ here means ‘craft’ not ‘write’)

Question 2

Act

Answer 2

Major subdivision of a play

Question 3

Scene

Answer 3

Minor subdivisions of a play

Question 4

Stage directions

Answer 4

Playwright’s instructions to actors and director

Question 5

Characters, actors

Answer 5

Main people in a play, speaking and non-speaking parts

Question 6

Aside

Answer 6

Words spoken by a character secretly, usually to the audiences

Question 7

Monologue

Answer 7

Usually a long speech, not necessarily alone

Question 8

Soliloquy

Answer 8

A speech given alone on the stage by a character

Question 9

Stage

Answer 9

Performance area

Question 10

Proscenium arch

Answer 10

With a traditional border to the stage (like the stage in the school’s Main Hall)

Question 11

Thrust or Semi-Round

Answer 11

A stage often on a platform built out into the auditorium

Question 12

In-the-Round

Answer 12

A stage in which seating is around the performance area (often just open flooring with banks of seating around)

Question 13

Up-stage

Answer 13

At the back of a stage

Question 14

Down-stage, front-of-stage

Answer 14

At the front of a stage

Question 15

Cross-stage

Answer 15

From side to side of a stage

Question 16

Mis-en-scène

Answer 16

What the audience sees on the stage at any one time, as if you were stage a snap-shot

Question 17

Wings​

Answer 17

The areas to the side of the stage where actors wait to come on

Question 18

Backcloth

Answer 18

The cloth at the back of the stage, often with scenery painted on it

Question 19

Curtains

Answer 19

Which shield the stage from view

Question 20

Spotlight

Answer 20

Strong light that ‘spots’ a character or space

Question 21

Limelight

Answer 21

The old type of lights at the front of the stage; to be in the limelight is therefore to be noticed, out in front

Question 22

Coloured gels

Answer 22

Coloured shield for lights to create effects

Question 23

Houselights

Answer 23

The light for the auditorium

Question 24

Costume

Answer 24

Clothes for the actors to wear on stage

Question 25

Props

Answer 25

Any moveable item (other than costume) on the stage

Question 26

Auditorium

Answer 26

Where the audience sits

Question 27

House

Answer 27

The theatre, usually more specifically all the patrons i.e. the audience

Question 28

Front-of-house

Answer 28

The area (the lobby) before the audience enters the auditorium