QCAA Drama flashcards

31 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Dramatic form

The overall structural shape a drama takes, such as linear, episodic, circular or montage, determining how events are ordered and connected for the audience.

Dramatic style

The recognisable set of choices in language, acting, design and staging that identifies a work, for example realism, expressionism, absurdism or physical theatre.

Theatrical convention

A device accepted by performers and audience as part of the theatrical frame, such as soliloquy, aside, chorus, mask, tableau or direct address.

Inciting incident

The event early in a drama that disturbs the initial situation and sets the central conflict in motion, giving characters a problem to pursue.

Climax and resolution

Climax is the moment of highest tension or irreversible decision; resolution is what follows, showing the consequences and the new equilibrium.

Dramatic tension

Pressure created through high stakes, time limits, secrets, conflicting objectives or withheld information, keeping the audience anticipating what happens next.

Fourth wall

An imagined barrier between performers and audience in realistic staging; breaking it means acknowledging the audience directly and disrupting the illusion.

Given circumstances

The facts of a character's world, including time, place, relationships, history and social position, that an actor uses to justify actions and reactions.

Objective and obstacle

An objective is what a character actively wants in a scene; an obstacle is what blocks it, and their collision produces conflict and playable action.

Projection

Vocal skill of filling a performance space with supported breath and clear tone so the voice reaches the audience without shouting or strain.

Articulation

Clarity of speech produced by precise consonant and vowel formation, allowing an audience to understand dialogue at distance and speed.

Proxemics on stage

The deliberate use of distance and closeness between performers and objects to signal relationship, status, intimacy or threat to the audience.

Improvisation acceptance

The rule of accepting and building on a partner's offer rather than denying it, allowing scenes to develop instead of stalling.

Devising

Creating original performance from a stimulus through research, improvisation, selection and structuring, rather than staging a pre-existing script.

Ensemble focus

The shared discipline of giving and taking focus, listening and reacting, and maintaining spatial and timing awareness so the group performance reads as one.

Status in performance

The relative power a character claims or concedes in interaction, expressed through posture, eye contact, space and vocal control, and often shifting during a scene.

Description versus interpretation

Description states what was done or seen; interpretation explains what it meant. Analysis keeps them separate before judging effectiveness.

Signifier and signified

In semiotic analysis, the signifier is the physical element such as red light; the signified is the meaning it produces, such as danger.

Mise-en-scène

The total visual and aural arrangement of a production, including set, props, costume, lighting, sound and staging, all of which generate meaning.

Stated evaluative criteria

Explicit standards used to judge a performance, such as clarity of intention, coherence of style or audience impact, rather than unqualified opinion.

Dramaturgical analysis

Examining how structure, character function, tension patterns and staging choices combine to produce the meaning of a play as a whole.

Audience reception

How spectators make meaning from a performance, shaped by venue, seating, cultural background, prior knowledge and the presentational or representational mode.

Presentational versus representational

Presentational performance acknowledges the audience and theatricality; representational performance maintains an illusion of real life behind an invisible fourth wall.

Verbatim theatre

Documentary form built from recorded interviews, transcripts or public records, edited into a script, with ethical duties of consent and accuracy.

First Nations protocols

Respectful practices for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories, including community consultation, permission, language care and acknowledgement of ownership.

Forum theatre

Boal's interactive form in which a short oppression scenario is performed, then spect-actors stop and replace the protagonist to test alternative actions.

Applied and community theatre

Drama made with or for a specific group to explore issues, build skills or spark dialogue, prioritising participation and social purpose over commercial presentation.

Site-specific performance

Work designed for and performed in a particular non-theatre location, where architecture, landscape and audience movement shape the staging and meaning.

Immersive theatre

A contemporary format where audiences move through the performance space and may interact with performers, dissolving the usual separation between spectator and action.

Cultural appropriation in drama

Taking performance elements from another culture without permission, credit or understanding, which differs from respectful cross-cultural exchange built on consultation.

Theatre in education

A form where a performing company tours schools using drama to explore curriculum or social issues, often with audience participation and follow-up discussion.