Features Of Performance Text

Question 1

Act

Answer 1

Subdivision between sections of a play. Acts are subdivided further into scenes.

Question 2

Antagonist

Answer 2

The opposite of the protagonist in a drama.

Question 3

Anti-climax

Answer 3

A climax is where everything comes together as a conclusion. An anticlimax conversely, is incomplete so can be disappointing or unsatisfying.

Question 4

Character

Answer 4

A named individual within the play.

Question 5

Chorus

Answer 5

In Greek theatre, a character (or group) representing an element in the drama which comments in the action, and advances the plot.

Question 6

Climax

Answer 6

The significant moment in the plot of a play, when things change, or reach a crisis point.

Question 7

Comic relief

Answer 7

A comic scene (or line) included in an otherwise straight-faced play to provide relief from tension for the audience.

Question 8

Dialogue

Answer 8

The spoken text of a play - conversations between characters is dialogue.

Question 9

Dramatic irony

Answer 9

When the audience knows more about the situation on stage that one of the characters in the drama.

Question 10

Dramatic tension

Answer 10

Moments in a drama where the audience feels a heightened sense of anticipation about what is going to happen next.

Question 11

Exposition

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Flashback

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Genre

Answer 13

A way of categorising different types of drama.

Question 14

Interior monologue

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Libretto

Answer 15

Text of an opera, or other long musical vocal composition. The script of a musical.

Question 16

Monologue

Answer 16

A speech within a play delivered by a single actor alone on stage.

Question 17

Narration

Answer 17

Dialogue designed to tell the story or provide accompanying information.
Narration can accompany on stage action or be presented in its own right.

Question 18

Plot

Answer 18

The basic story thread running through a performance/play which gives the reason for the characters’ actions.

Question 19

Prologue

Answer 19

Short scene or speech before the main action of the play to put it into context or set the scene.

Question 20

Protagonist

Answer 20

The leading character or “hero’ in a play who has to fight against/oppose the ANTAGONIST.

Question 21

Rising action

Answer 21

The events that build up the pace and perhaps the excitement in a plot/drama.

Question 22

Scene

Answer 22

A subdivision of a play.

Question 23

Script

Answer 23

The text of a play or musical. Also contains stage directions and other notes.

Question 24

Soliloquy

Answer 24

Lines delivered by an actor on stage as if to her/himself.

Question 25

Stage directions

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Stereotype

Answer 26

A role that has set characteristics, easily recognisable and sometimes exaggerated, and that follows consistently a generally agreed form.

Question 27

Stock character

Answer 27

A role with set characteristics that may be used frequently in certain types of
drama, e.g. melodrama.

Question 28

Structure

Answer 28

The way a piece of drama is put together; the connections between episodes, scenes or acts; the framework. (See also SHAPING)

Question 29

Subplot

Answer 29

In narratives, this term refers to a secondary plot or storyline.

Question 30

Subtext

Answer 30

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.