TOUCHSTONES 1 PERFORMING Look at the three pictures below of performances of famous plays. The lighting in each of these photos is telling you something about what might happen next in the play. The lighting is helping to tell the story.
Stage Directions
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Divide into small groups and discuss what you think happens next in each play. Then create a freeze-frame of the action of the next scene. A freeze-frame is like pressing pause on a remote control. You use your bodies to create a scene but then stop all movement.
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Stage directions are the playwright’s instructions to the actors as to what to do on stage. Some playwrights give detailed instructions and some give very basic ones. They are different to the dialogue, which tells an actor what to say on stage. Look at page 145 and at the examples below to see how stage directions and dialogue are laid out in a play script.
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CHORUS: School. Billy dreaded school. Although there were some things he liked. The teachers were nice, more or less. And the other kids, were mostly okay. Except for one. And that one was there to meet him as he walked through the gate.
Setting
[Bridget strides on to the stage area. She has hair in long plaits that stick out from the sides of her head. She advances aggressively towards Billy.]
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BRIDGET: Hello, Billy? What’s for lunch? Open your bag.
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CHORUS: Her name was Bridget the Bruiser. The school bully. Billy quaked as she walked towards him. Everybody quaked when the burly Bridget approached. [Bridget snatches Billy’s bag and roughly unzips it. She takes out his sandwiches and empties the rest of the bag onto the ground.]
BRIDGET: You should be more careful, Billy. One day you’ll lose something.
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Characters
Stage directions
[Bridget next unwraps Billy’s sandwiches and throws the paper on the ground. She then peels the slices of bread away to look at the filling inside.]
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Not peanut butter again! Can’t your Mother make anything else? Hey, what’s this? [Bridget dips her finger into the peanut butter and digs out a gooey, brown lump.] Err, what is it? It looks like…what’s that word Mrs Jennings uses whenever a dog’s been in the school yard? MRS JENNINGS: [prompting from the side] Droppings!
Dialogue
BRIDGET: Yeah, ‘droppings’.
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08/03/2022 10:17
