Drama Key Terms

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  • Created by: Snuffles
  • Created on: 16-04-14 14:51
Facial Expression
Show the thoughts, feeling and emotions of the characters you are portraying in an exaggerated manner
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Voice
Speaking slower and projecting, using modulation
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Gesture
Gesticulating is important for characterisation
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Stance
Emphasis on characterisation
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Reacting
Reacting to the scene and situation around you further adds to the Fourth Wall
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Movement
Provides a idea of relationships between other characters (proxemics)
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Levels
Used to convey status. The higher the greater dominance
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Motivation
Super objective ect
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Protagonist
The central character
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Antagonist
The character who acts in opposition to the protagonist
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Denouement
The end of the play when all the loose ends are tied neatly together
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Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows something a character on stage does not
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Duologue
A scene between two characters
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Monologue
A long speech said by one character
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Blocking
The precise movement and positing of actors on a stage
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Masking
Standing in front of another actor and obscuring them from the audience
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Upstaging
Diverting the audience's attention away from the main performer
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Soliloquy
A monologue where a character shares their thoughts with the audience
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Role Play
In character, improvising a scene which is not in the play to deepen understanding of characters and their relationships
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Hot Seating
Answering questions, in role, about your character helping to flesh out the character
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Freeze frames
Highlight the importance of particular moments in a play
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Thought tracking
Use of freeze frames to show a particular character's thoughts and emotions at that point
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Mime
Acting out a scene using only gesture and no dialogue, allows you to concentrate of the visual aspects of a piece
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Genre splicing
Performing a scene in a alternative genre to how it was intended to be played helping you to discover subtext
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Role on the Wall
Drawing an outline of a character and adding pictures, statements, quotes, thoughts and ideas to build a deeper understanding of the character
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Lighting and Sound
Used to create mood and atmosphere, should be written into stage directions
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Costume
Used to indicate personality, period, situation and style of perfomance
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Aside
A speech delivered to the audience under the pretence other characters on stage cannot hear
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Backdrop
Scenery hung at the back of the stage
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Cue
A signal prompting an event
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Flats
Flat pieces of scenery which can be painted to give the illusion of building or setting
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Flies
A space above the stage where scenery can be hung or stored when not in use
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Gauze
A material that can be see-through when lit from behind but appear solid when lit from the front
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Rostra
Wooden stage blocks or small platforms
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Wings
Unseen areas on either side of the stage
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Stanislavsky
Naturalistic performance style
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Edward Craig
Use of levels and abstract set designs, use of neutral moveable screens instead of realistic scenery
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Antonin Artuad
Total theatre using light movement and sound. Creator of 'Theatre of Cruelty' a concept that pushed the audience's feelings to an almost painful extreme
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Brecht
Pioneer of political theatre and believed drama should educate. Broke down the Fourth Wall. Created 'Epic Theatre' using songs, explanatory placards, unnatural lighting, projection, spoken stage directions and direct address
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Meyerhold
Physical theatre
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Grotowski
Avant-Garde theatre, believed actors should feel like part of the performance and removed all 'non-essentials' sets, costumes, lighting ect to intensify relationship between audience and actor
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Peter Brook
Prolific theatre, inspired by Artuad and tried acting in all spaces
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Augusto Boal
Created Forum Theatre in which members of the audience can stop the performance and suggest alternative actions.
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Proscenium Arch
Common in Britain, Like looking through a window
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Traverse
Catwalk. Audience on two sides of stage
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In The Round
Audience sat around the stage (Shakespeare's Globe Theatre)
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Thrust
Audience on three sides
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Floodlight
General wash of colour across stage to create mood and situation
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Profile Spot
Strong beam of light on a specific area of stage
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Follow Spot
Designed to follow performer around stage
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Fresnel Spot
General wash of light across stage, softer edge. Can be used with Barn Doors
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Par Can
Cheaper, throws dramatic, harsh, strong beam of light
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Greek Theatre
Open Air, involves three actors and a chorus
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Medieval Theatre
Re-enactment of Bible stories
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Commedia Dell'Arte
Comedy that mocked human failings, using the same characters. No scripts used
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Elizabethan & Jacobean
Shakespearean, plays dark and increasingly violent
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Restoration
Comedies that mocked the rich, first time for women to appear on stage
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18th C Theatre
Elaborate scenery and large theatres. Introduction of 'Comedy of Manners'
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Victorian Melodrama
Lurid, mysterious and dark. Stock characters, villan, high-minded heroes and pure-hearted heroines
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Theatre of the Absurd
Comic yet questions serious issues
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Speaking slower and projecting, using modulation

Back

Voice

Card 3

Front

Gesticulating is important for characterisation

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Emphasis on characterisation

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Reacting to the scene and situation around you further adds to the Fourth Wall

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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