MATSEC AM Theatre and Performance flashcards

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

Catharsis

Aristotle's term in the Poetics for the purging of pity and fear produced in spectators by tragic action; it explains tragedy's emotional function rather than its moral lesson.

Verfremdungseffekt

Brecht's alienation effect: staging devices such as placards, direct address and song that interrupt empathy so spectators analyse social conditions critically rather than identify with characters.

Commedia dell'arte

Italian improvised comedy using stock masked types, lazzi and scenario outlines rather than full scripts; it flourished from the mid-sixteenth century and influenced Molière and Goldoni.

Abbey Theatre

Dublin theatre founded in 1904 by W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory as a home for Irish literary drama; its 1907 premiere of Synge's Playboy caused riots.

Theatre of the Oppressed

Augusto Boal's participatory method, including Forum Theatre, in which spectators become 'spect-actors' who rehearse interventions into staged social problems.

Naturalism

Late nineteenth-century movement, associated with Zola and Antoine's Théâtre Libre, presenting characters as products of environment and heredity, often behind a realistic fourth wall.

Units of action

Divisions of a script marked by changes in a character's objective or tactic; they guide rehearsal beat by beat rather than following page or scene breaks.

Given circumstances

The facts a play supplies about time, place, relationships, class and prior events; actors build character from these before adding interpretation.

Playable objective

An active want phrased as a transitive verb with a target, such as 'to force him to confess'; states like 'to be sad' cannot be acted.

Shared line

A verse line split between two speakers; it signals rapid overlapping exchange and shows the characters are closely connected or interrupting each other.

Dramaturg's pack

Research document collating textual variants, production history, period vocabulary and context, linking evidence from the script to choices made in rehearsal.

Magic if

Stanislavski's prompt asking the actor what they would do if the fictional circumstances were real; it activates imagination without requiring literal belief.

Through-line of action

Stanislavski's term for the single continuous objective that unifies a character's smaller objectives across the whole play and gives performance coherence.

Laban effort factors

Weight, time, space and flow; combining them produces named actions such as punch, float, glide and wring, giving physical vocabulary precision.

Alexander Technique primary control

The relationship between head, neck and spine that organises whole-body coordination; improved use begins by inhibiting habitual tension before directing movement.

Status transaction

Keith Johnstone's idea that status is enacted through behaviours such as eye contact, stillness and gesture size, and can be played against a character's social rank.

Projection

Audible delivery produced by supported breath and forward vocal placement rather than shouting; it relies on resonance and articulation, not force.

Devising

Collaborative creation of performance from stimuli and improvisation rather than a pre-existing script; material is generated, selected, edited and fixed into a repeatable score.

Viewpoints

Bogart and Landau's composition vocabulary: tempo, duration, kinesthetic response, repetition, shape, gesture, architecture, floor pattern and spatial relationship.

Chair duets

Frantic Assembly's seated partner sequences built from hand and arm impulses; they generate repeatable physical vocabulary and require attentive ensemble timing.

Verbatim theatre

Documentary form built from edited interview transcripts; ethical practice requires informed consent and anonymisation where contributors are identifiable.

Devising log

Running record of dates, stimuli, exercises, material produced and decisions; it evidences the collaborative process for assessment and reflection.

Proscenium arch

Stage framed by an arch with audience on one side only; it supports pictorial staging and a clear fourth wall but limits playing to other sides.

Thrust stage

Stage projecting into the auditorium with audience on three sides; blocking must play to all sides and avoid long periods with the back turned.

Key and back light

Key light defines the actor's form from a front angle; back light separates the actor from the background and adds depth through rim illumination.

Prompt copy

Stage manager's master script containing blocking, cue numbers, running order and calling notes; cues are called as standby followed by 'go'.

Cue-to-cue

Technical rehearsal that jumps between cues, skipping dialogue, to fix lighting and sound transitions before a full technical run with actors.

Evaluation versus description

Description reports what happened; evaluation analyses why choices worked and judges effectiveness using evidence, which is what assessment rewards.

Evidence-based judgement

A claim about a production supported by a specific cited moment, such as a gesture or pause, rather than a general impression of the whole show.

Reflective cycle

Structured reflection that identifies a problem, the intervention attempted, the outcome and the next step, then repeats; it evidences process improvement.

Cue sheet

Document given to the operator listing piece title, playwright, duration, lighting and sound cues, and props, so technical support matches the performance.

Physical score

Fixed sequence of entrances, gestures and exits marked in rehearsal; repeatability frees the performer's attention for live response rather than remembering blocking.