Features Of Performance Text Flashcards
Act
Subdivision between sections of a play. Acts are subdivided further into scenes.
Antagonist
The opposite of the protagonist in a drama.
Anti-climax
A climax is where everything comes together as a conclusion. An anticlimax conversely, is incomplete so can be disappointing or unsatisfying.
Character
A named individual within the play.
Chorus
In Greek theatre, a character (or group) representing an element in the drama which comments in the action, and advances the plot.
Climax
The significant moment in the plot of a play, when things change, or reach a crisis point.
Comic relief
A comic scene (or line) included in an otherwise straight-faced play to provide relief from tension for the audience.
Dialogue
The spoken text of a play - conversations between characters is dialogue.
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows more about the situation on stage that one of the characters in the drama.
Dramatic tension
Moments in a drama where the audience feels a heightened sense of anticipation about what is going to happen next.
Exposition
The section of plot at the start of a play which provides essential background information about the characters, their situation and their relationships to each other.
Flashback
A moment during the action of a play when the natural flow of time is interrupted so that a moment from the past can be presented.
Genre
A way of categorising different types of drama.
Interior monologue
The interior (or internal) monologue is the stream of conscious discussion a character has with her/himself. while working through problems or issues confronting them. It can be delivered as a recorded voiceover, or possibly as an aside spoken direct to the audience.
Libretto
Text of an opera, or other long musical vocal composition. The script of a musical.
Monologue
A speech within a play delivered by a single actor alone on stage.
Narration
Dialogue designed to tell the story or provide accompanying information.
Narration can accompany on stage action or be presented in its own right.
Plot
The basic story thread running through a performance/play which gives the reason for the characters’ actions.
Prologue
Short scene or speech before the main action of the play to put it into context or set the scene.
Protagonist
The leading character or “hero’ in a play who has to fight against/oppose the ANTAGONIST.
Rising action
The events that build up the pace and perhaps the excitement in a plot/drama.
Scene
A subdivision of a play.
Script
The text of a play or musical. Also contains stage directions and other notes.
Soliloquy
Lines delivered by an actor on stage as if to her/himself.
Stage directions
Instructions given by the author about how a play should be staged, when actors should make their entrances and exits and how lines should be delivered.
Stereotype
A role that has set characteristics, easily recognisable and sometimes exaggerated, and that follows consistently a generally agreed form.
Stock character
A role with set characteristics that may be used frequently in certain types of
drama, e.g. melodrama.
Structure
The way a piece of drama is put together; the connections between episodes, scenes or acts; the framework. (See also SHAPING)
Subplot
In narratives, this term refers to a secondary plot or storyline.
Subtext
In acting and character analysis, it refers to the idea that there are other meanings below the surface of what is actually said and done.
