KS5 Glossary Terminology

Question 1

Acting area

Answer 1

The area within the performance space which the actor may move in full view of the audience. Can be known as the playing area

Question 2

Acting style

Answer 2

A particular manner of acting that reflects cultural and historical influences

Question 3

Action

Answer 3

The movement or development of the plot or story in the play - the sense of forward movement created by sense of time and/or the physical and psychological motivations of the characters

Question 4

Analysis

Answer 4

Responding to dramatic art, the process of examining how the elements of drama (literary, technical and performance) are used

Question 5

Antagonist

Answer 5

The opponent of the hero (protagonist) or main character of drama. Someone who actively competes with another character in the play

Question 6

Apron

Answer 6

The area between the front curtain and the edge of the stage

Question 7

Arena stage

Answer 7

A type of stage without a frame or arch separating the stage from the auditorium in which the audience surrounds the stage area e.g. theatre-in-the-round

Question 8

Articulation

Answer 8

The clarity or distinction of speech

Question 9

Aside

Answer 9

Lines spoken by an actor to the audience that is not supposed to be overheard by the other characters on stage

Question 10

Black box

Answer 10

A single room theatre without a proscenium arch. The interior is painted black including the walls, floor, ceiling and any drapes are black

Question 11

Blocking

Answer 11

The path formed by the actor’s movement on stage, usually determined by the director with assistance from the actor. Often written down in a script using theatrical symbols

Question 12

Business

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Catharsis

Answer 13

The feeling of release felt by the audience at the end of a tragedy or is set free from the emotional hold of the action after experiencing strong emotions and sharing in the protagonist’s struggles

Question 14

Character

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Characterisation

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Choreography

Answer 16

The movement of actors and dancers to music in a play

Question 17

Chorus

Answer 17

A group of performers who sing, dance, or recite in unison. They were the group of performers who sang and danced between episodes, narrated off-stage action, and commented on events

Question 18

Climax

Answer 18

The point of greatest intensity in a series or progression of events in a play that often form the turning point of the play leading to some kind of resolution

Question 19

Comedy

Answer 19

A play that treats characters and situations in a humourous way. In Shakespeare’s time, a comedy was any play with a happy ending that typically told the story of a likable character’s rise to fortune. Low comedy is physical rather than intellectual comedy, high comedy is more sophisticated, emphasising verbal with more than physical action

Question 20

Comic relief

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Concentration

Answer 21

The actor’s focus (also called centering) that focuses on the work at hand, being in character or being in the moment

Question 22

Conflict

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Contrast

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Dénouement

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Development

Answer 25

Progression of the plot or conflict in a play

Question 26

Dialogue

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Dynamic

Answer 27

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

Question 28

End on

Answer 28

Traditional audience seating layout where the audience is looking at the stage from the same direction (similar to proscenium arch)

Question 29

Ensemble

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Exposition

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Farce

Answer 31

An extreme form of comedy that depends on quick tempo and flawless timing and is characterised by improbable events and farfetched coincidences

Question 32

Flashback

Answer 32

Used in a non-linear plot, to go back in time to a previous event, a flash forward would move the action into the future

Question 33

Focus

Answer 33

The act of concentrating or staying in character

Question 34

Fourth wall

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Genre

Answer 35

A category of literary or dramatic composition and can be further divided into tragedy, comedy, farce, and melodrama, and these genres can also be subdivided

Question 36

Gesture

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Imaging

Answer 37

A technique which 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

Question 38

Improvisation

Answer 38

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

Question 39

Inflection

Answer 39

Change in pitch or loudness of the voice

Question 40

Interaction

Answer 40

The action or relationship among two or more characters

Question 41

Irony

Answer 41

An implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
Verbal Irony is when a writer or speaker says one thing and means something else (often the opposite of what is said)
Dramatic Irony is when the audience perceives something that a character does not know
Situational Irony can be described as a discrepancy between expected results and the actual results

Question 42

Isolation

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Kinaesthetic

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Language

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Mannerism

Answer 45

A peculiarity of speech or behaviour