Performing Keywords Flashcards
Acting style
The style in which the actor is performing e.g. naturalistic, comedic, melodramatic.
Accent
The distinctive way of pronunciation, especially one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social: E.g. Liverpudlian, Yorkshire, American, Received Pronunciation (RP) (to use instead of posh).
Body language
Your views or attitude can be communicated through the way you hold your body e.g. looking away and body facing away would suggest that you’re disinterested.
Naturalistic
A form of theatre designed to create the illusion of reality for an audience.
Non-naturalistic
Non-naturalism is a broad term for all performance styles that are not dependent on the life-like representation of everyday life.
Articulation
The clarity or distinction of speech.
Characterisation
How an actor uses body, voice and thought to develop and portray a character.
Chorus
A group of performers who sing, dance, recite in unison. In Greek theatre they often narrated off stage action to help audiences to understand the story.
Genre
Example: Satire - the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people’s stupidity/vices. Comedy - entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh. Tragedy - deals with tragic events and has an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the plite of the protagonist. Historical drama - refers to a work set in an earlier time period.
Dialogue
A conversation between two or more people.
Emphasis
Stressing a word in a sentence to make a particular point e.g. ‘I trusted you!’ ‘You’ve won one million pounds!’.
Facial expression
The way you express your emotions as a character through your face e.g. smiling, shock, surprise, frowning.
Intonation
The natural rise and fall of a voice.
Monotone
Speaking in the same tone of voice.
Pause
Imagine you just informed someone their mother just died. ‘ I am sorry to have to tell you that your mother has (pause) passed away’
You would not keep talking. You would give a moment to let the news sink in.
Flashback
To go back to a previous event in the story.
Pace
The rate of movement or speed of action or voice.
Gesture
Any movement of the actor’s head, shoulder, arm, hand, etc. to convey meaning.
Improvisation
The spontaneous use of movement and speech to create a character, acting done without a script.
Interaction
The action or relationship between two or more characters.
Language
The language used in performance, the diction or style of writing. Formal or informal language for a character.
Monologue
A speech made by one actor; a monologue can be delivered alone or in the the presence of others.
Mannerism
A habitual (something you do as habit) gesture or way of speaking or behaving e.g. occasional cough, hands circling when speaking, touching of hair.
Performance elements
This includes acting, speaking (vocal expression, diction, projection), nonverbal expression (gesture, body alignment, facial expressions, movement).
Pitch
A particular level of voice: e.g. high pitched.
Tone
The tone of an actor’s voice e.g. a harsh tone, a sarcastic tone.
Posture
Physical stance taken by a performer that conveys something about the character.
Eye contact
Avoiding eye contact with another character might suggest embarrassment or fear. Keeping eye contact might suggest intensity, power or confidence.
Stance
How an actor stands. Standing tall, feet apart, hands behind your back would suggest a serious state of mind whereas a more relaxed stance would be shown through shoulders relaxed, arms by side.
Stage space
This is a term which can be used to describe where actors stand at given moments in the play. Should the actor sit/stand in a particular part of the stage, centre-stage, downstage? Should the actor move closer/further apart to another character? Should the character take up a lot of space? Elevated? Low to the floor?
Role
The character portrayed by an actor.
Vocal expression/ vocal projection
How an actor uses their voice to convey character/ the volume of the voice to be heard by an audience.
Linear plot/ non-linear
When the story is in chronological order/disjointed narrative or disrupted narrative.
