UNIT 4
Centre stage
Stage left
Downstage
Downstage left
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Downstage right
Upstage left
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Stage right
Upstage
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Upstage right
DRAMA
AUDIENCE
Areas of the stage
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An actor needs to know whereabouts on the stage to enter for a scene and they need to know where to move on stage. A stage is divided up into nine sections and each has its own name to help an actor navigate where they are supposed to be. These stage directions are always given from the actor’s perspective.
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Upstage is the part of the stage furthest away from the audience. Downstage is the part of the stage nearest the audience. The reason behind these names is interesting. During the Renaissance (between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries), when theatres weren’t quite as sophisticated as they are now, some audience members would have had to stand for the entire play, their heads level with the stage. This would have made it ridiculously hard to see a performance if the stage was flat. To solve this problem, stages were tilted so that the back was higher than the front, allowing the entire audience to see all the actors at all times. This meant that an actor walking away from the audience would literally be walking up the stage, while an actor coming down towards the audience would be going down the stage. That is how we get the words ‘upstage’ and ‘downstage’.
COMMUNICATING: GROUP DISCUSSION Divide into pairs or small groups. Discuss what type of stage you would use for the following shows if you were the director, and why. A one-man show about exploring the Arctic
A show-stopping musical with a large cast
A two-man show, a tragedy about doomed lovers
A comedy about the highs and lows of secondary school, with a cast of ten
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