Other Flashcards
Artistic intention
The way the director (or ensemble) decides to realise the performance including decisions on the staging, performance style and design requirements. See also VISION.
Atmosphere
The mood of a scene as it is understood by the audience.
Audition
Process where the director or casting director of a production asks actors/
actresses/performers to show him/her what they can do.
Contemporary
A performance for a 21st century audience. See also PRESENT-DAY.
Context
The situation or circumstances in which a piece of drama is set or devised, including historical, cultural or social influences. Context may be explored using the ‘W’ questions: What? Who? Why? Where? When?
Convention
Stage conventions or theatrical conventions are practices that have become accepted over time or that can be established within a performance piece. For example, it is a convention in pantomime that the Dame is played by a male performer and the Principal Boy by a female performer. ‘Convention’ may also be used to describe drama activities such as conscience corridor.
Cultural context
The values and attitudes explored thematically in the text.
Form
The shape and structure of a drama. In theatre, form is determined by the content of the drama (e.g. the way the playwright has constructed the narrative elements) and by the way it is presented (the choices made by actors, designers and directors in interpreting the material for performance). Form is closely associated with genre and these terms are often confused but they do not have the same meaning. For example, a play classified as in a naturalistic genre will be recognised by the audience as naturalistic by the form it takes on stage. (See also
GENRE and STYLE)
Historical context
The time the text was written and the playwright was writing, and context within the text of when and where the narrative is set.
Present-day
A performance for an audience today. See also CONTEMPORARY.
Proxemics
Proxemics means the distances between characters/actors in a play. It shows their relationships and feelings.
Realisation
The performance that is viewed by an audience.
Repertoire
A collection of regularly performed pieces or techniques, usually attributed to a particular performer or playwright.
Semiotics
How meaning is created and communicated through systems of signs and symbols of drama. All of the elements that make up a theatrical performance have meaning and an audience ‘reads’ or interprets them to understand the events in the performance.
Social context
The relationships and interactions between the characters and the events in the text.
