SACE Stage 2 Drama flashcards

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

Given circumstances

The fixed facts of a scene - time, place, relationships, prior events and social rules - that an actor or creator establishes before making choices about behaviour and action.

Playable objective

A want expressed as an action toward another person, such as 'to force him to confess', rather than an emotion; it must meet an obstacle to generate drama.

Beat change

The moment a scene's balance of power shifts because a character achieves, loses or redefines their objective; it marks the unit of dramatic action in rehearsal.

Devising cycle

The iterative process of research, improvisation, selection, scripting or scoring, rehearsal and refinement used to build an original work without a pre-existing script.

Offer and acceptance

An improvisation principle in which a performer adds new information and treats a partner's idea as true, allowing the scene to advance rather than stall.

Status transaction

A dominant or submissive move in interaction - holding gaze, interrupting, adjusting posture - used to map power relationships physically during rehearsal.

Episodic structure

A form that arranges scenes as separate episodes rather than a single cause-effect chain, often using a linking figure, theme or narrator to create coherence.

Verbatim theatre

Documentary form built from recorded interviews or testimony, edited and performed, requiring source attribution and consent from contributors.

Cheating out

Angling the body three-quarters toward the audience so facial expression remains visible while the scene partner stays in the playing space.

Downstage

The stage area nearest the audience; movement downstage increases prominence and intensity, while upstage positions read as weaker or more distant.

Diaphragmatic support

Breath control driven by the diaphragm rather than the upper chest, providing sustained volume and stamina without vocal strain during projection.

Projection

Directing voice to reach the furthest audience member through supported breath and forward placement, distinct from shouting or amplification.

Articulation versus volume

Consonants carry clarity while vowels carry volume; rapid or heightened text demands sharper articulation even when the volume stays constant.

Cue-to-cue rehearsal

A technical rehearsal that jumps between light and sound cues, skipping dialogue in between, so timing of cues is fixed before full runs.

Giving focus

Deliberately directing audience attention to another performer through gaze, stillness or gesture, so the ensemble supports rather than competes.

Holding for a laugh

Pausing to let audience response finish before the next line, preserving audibility; the pause must be timed, not improvised at random.

Sightlines

The lines of vision from all audience seating positions; blocking and design must keep key action and faces visible from every seat.

Fourth wall

The convention that an invisible barrier separates performers from audience; it may be kept in realism or broken in direct address styles.

Tableau

A frozen group picture created by performers' bodies and levels, used to isolate an image, mark a transition or crystallise a theme.

Descriptive versus evaluative writing

Description records what happened, analysis explains how it was achieved, and evaluation judges effectiveness against stated criteria; reviews must keep these separate.

Element plus function

An analytical sentence pattern naming a theatrical element and stating what it did, such as 'the slow fade isolated the final image'.

Proxemics

The use of spatial distance between performers - intimate, personal, social and public zones - read by audiences as meaning about relationship and threat.

Icon, index, symbol

Three sign types: an icon resembles its object, an index points to it causally, and a symbol depends on convention, such as colour or a flag.

Dramaturgical contribution

The way a design element serves the play's meaning - establishing time, place, mood, rhythm or isolation of a figure - rather than its technical complexity.

Evaluation criteria

Explicit standards such as clarity of storytelling, stylistic coherence, design effectiveness and ensemble strength, used to judge a performance with evidence.

Reflective process writing

A record distinguishing what was planned, attempted, failed and revised, supported by specific moments rather than general statements about effort.

Peripeteia and anagnorisis

Aristotle's terms for the tragic reversal of fortune and the hero's recognition of truth, which together produce catharsis of pity and fear.

Freytag's pyramid

A five-part model - exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution - that fits well-made plays better than episodic or fragmented forms.

Magic if

Stanislavski's prompt asking the actor what they would do in the character's given circumstances, bridging inner justification and outer behaviour.

Alienation effect

Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt: direct address, placards, visible lighting and song that distance the audience so they judge socially rather than empathise.

Theatre of Cruelty

Artaud's approach attacking the senses through sound, gesture and extreme imagery, rejecting psychological plot in favour of spectacle that overwhelms the audience.

Forum Theatre

Boal's form in which a spect-actor stops a performed scene of oppression and replaces the protagonist to test alternative actions and outcomes.