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Introduction

Besides dialogue, the other form of writing that generates dramatic literature is stage directions. Stage directions perform a number of functions within the text. They tell the actors how to move and speak, they also describe the setting and props, they sometimes provide helpful information about how a play should be performed.

Stage directions appear as notes in the script and are often set off from the dialogue in some way. Sometimes they appear in italics or they can also appear in brackets or parenthesis. In performance, stage directions are not spoken out loud as part of the production, but when you are reading a play as a text, the stage directions provide essential information that helps you to visualize the play.

Stage directions sometimes also provide practical information for the creative team producing the performance, such as information about lighting, props, sets, etc. Because they are written for people familiar with the theatre, stage directions often use language that most readers are not familiar with to talk about the stage. For example, upstage is the part of the stage furthest from the audience, while downstage is the part of the stage closest to the audience. And stage left and stage right refers to the actor’s right and left not the audience’s.

Stage Directions

Function & importance of stage directions.

Stage directions can serve a multitude of functions for a play, depending on who is interacting with them. At their basic definition, stage directions are instructions in a playtext that tell performers what to do, where to go, what should be onstage, etc. On the surface, this may seem like a simple function: instructors from a playwright or director to actors in a performance. However, stage directions hold a lot of meaning when we analyze a play. If it’s worth specifying in a stage direction, it must be important. While many stage directions are indicators to performers (and readers) of when certain characters enter and exit, some stage directions go beyond entrances and exits. Some stage directions will tell a performer how to deliver a line, or what prop they should grab as they say something, or where they should walk along the stage as they speak or listen to another character. If the playwright or director is specifying details like these in the stage directions, that means these details are crucial to the performance, to characterization, to establishing setting or plot, establishing a mood or tone, etc. Ultimately, however, stage directions are suggestions rather than commands, unless they are crucial to maintaining a cohesive plot. Actors and directors are still free to interpret or edit out stage directions if they choose a different interpretation of their character than the playwright suggests.

When reading a playtext, stage directions give us valuable information about what’s going on in the play. Without the physical movement or actors in front of us and the visual spectacle of the stage, stage directions help us as readers visualize the scene of a performance. They can also provide crucial information for plot when no one is speaking, but actions are taking place: like “Hamlet stabs Claudius” or “Othello smothers Desdemona with the pillow. She dies.”

Here is a longer passage from the scene from A Doll’s House (The MAID referred to is the NURSE). [RANK, HELMER and MRS LINDE go downstairs. The NURSE comes forward with the children; NORA shuts the hall door.]

NORA – How fresh and well you look! Such red cheeks! – like apples and roses. [The children all talk at once while she speaks to them.] Have you had great fun? That’s splendid! What, you pulled both Emmy and Bob along on the sledge? Both at once? That was good. You are a clever boy, Ivar. Let me take her for a little, Anne. My sweet little baby doll! [ Takes the baby from the MAIDand dances it up and down ] Yes, yes, Mother will dance with Bob too. What! Have you been snowballing? I wish I had been there too! No, no, I will take their things off, Anne; please let me do it, it is such fun. Go in now, you look half frozen. There is some hot coffee for you on the stove.

[The NURSE goes into the room on the left. NORA takes off the children’s things and throws them about while they all talk to her at once.]

NORA – Really! Did a big dog run after you? But it didn’t bite you? No, dogs don’t bite nice little dolly children. You mustn’t look at the parcels, Ivar. What are they? Ah, I daresay you would like to know. No, no – it’s something nasty! Come, let us have a game! What shall we play at? Hide and seek? Yes, we’ll play hide and seek. Bob shall hide first. Must I hide? Very well, I’ll hide first.

[She and the children laugh and shout and romp in and out of the room; at last NORA hides under the table; the children rush in and look for her but do not see her; they hear her smothered laughter, run to the table, lift up the cloth and find her. Shouts of laughter. She crawls forward and pretends to frighten them. Fresh laughter. Meanwhile there has been a knock at the hall door but none of them has noticed it. The door is half opened and KROGSTAD appears, he waits a little; the game goes on.]

Unlike Caryl Churchill, Ibsen writes very full stage directions, which in this extract take up almost as much space as the dialogue.

Furthermore, the directions indicate not only movement but sound. No lines are written for the children, but they are far from silent; they talk and laugh and shout. Nora’s questions in her first speech indicate something of what they say. Incidentally, her speech also indicates further action: ‘No, no, I will take their things off, Anne’. Speech and stage directions together give us a picture of a mother happy to play with her children at their level. When she takes their outside clothes off, she ‘throws them about’ rather than putting them tidily away, as a responsible adult might, and the directions tell us that there is a good deal of romping about for Nora and the children, and that it is Nora who hides under the table. The scene contributes to our view of her as a vigorous, playful young woman, and links with the way she is represented in other scenes in the play. Nora’s passionate physicality is evident later, in a more sexual sense, in the scene when she dances the tarantella. And the way she addresses her children (‘My sweet little baby doll!’; ‘No, dogs don’t bite nice little dolly children’) recalls the way her husband has spoken to her in the first scene of the play (‘Is that my little lark twittering out there?’; ‘It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money’).

Stage directions are perhaps the most obvious way in which a playwright will indicate how the text is to be performed, but they need to be interpreted as much as the speeches do, and will not necessarily be followed literally. Here, for instance, is the description of the Helmers’ living room with which the play text starts:

SCENE – A room furnished comfortably and tastefully but not extravagantly. At the back a door to the right leads to the entrance hall; another to the left leads to HELMER’S study. Between the doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door and beyond a window. Near the window are a round table, armchairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door, and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking chair; between the stove and the door a small table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small bookcase with well-bound books. The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter.

This is her space (Torvald has his study offstage), and she is seen in it for almost the whole play, only being absent for the scene between Krogstad and Mrs Linde at the beginning of Act III. The visual impression should be of a claustrophobic interior, and this may be created in a literal way, following Ibsen’s instructions as closely as possible. But it may also be interpreted more freely. The last production that I saw, performed by Shared Experience, actually included in the set a fairly large doll’s house, large enough for adult characters to crawl in and out. This does not form part of Ibsen’s directions, but is one way of interpreting the claustrophobia that the directions suggest, as well, of course, as giving literal expression to the title of the play.

Approaching Plays. Licensed under CC BY SA 4.0 http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/literature-and-creative-writing/literature/approaching-plays/content-section-3

Along with dialogue, stage directions help you to fully visualize a play when you are reading it instead of seeing it performed. Stage directions describe where and when a scene takes place, how an actor should deliver their lines, and how the actor should move on stage. Sometimes stage directions even indicate an actor’s mood or reveal their motivation.

Even though stage directions themselves are never actually read out loud as part of a performance, the information that they provide for actors and theatre craftspeople is essential to generating the finished product of the performance. And as a reader, stage directions are crucial to you as a tools that helps you to imagine the play in performance.

ENG134 – Literary Genres Copyright © by The American Women's College and Jessica Egan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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stage direction

Definition of stage direction

Examples of stage direction in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stage direction.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1790, in the meaning defined above

Dictionary Entries Near stage direction

stage director

Cite this Entry

“Stage direction.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stage%20direction. Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.

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Stage Directions for Actors: The Basics

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Every play has some degree of stage direction written into the  script . Stage directions serve many functions, but their primary purpose is to guide actors' movements on the stage, called  blocking .

These notations in the script, written by the playwright and set aside with brackets, tell the actors where to sit, stand, move about, enter, and exit. Stage directions also can be used to tell an actor how to shape his or her performance. They may describe how the character behaves physically or mentally and are often used by the playwright to guide the play's emotional tone. Some scripts also contain notations on lighting, music, and sound effects.

Defining Common Stage Directions

Stage directions are written from the perspective of the actor facing the audience. An actor who turns to his or her right is moving stage right, while an actor who turns to his or her left is moving stage left.

The front of the stage, called downstage, is the end closest to the audience. The rear of the stage, called upstage, is behind the actor's back, furthest from the audience. These terms come from the structure of stages in the Middle Ages and early modern period, which were built on an upward slope away from the audience to improve viewer visibility. "Upstage" refers to the section of the stage that was higher, while "downstage" refers to the area that was lower.

Stage Direction Abbreviations

From the rear of the stage to the audience, there are three zones: upstage, center stage, and downstage. These are each divided into three or five sections, depending on the size. If just three sections, there will be a center, left, and right in each. When in the center stage zone, right or left may be referred to simply as stage right and stage left , with only the very middle of the stage being referred to as center stage .

If the stage has been divided into 15 sections instead of nine, there will be a "left-center" and "right-center" in each section, for five possible locations in each of the three zones.

When you see stage directions in published plays , they are often in abbreviated form. Here's what they mean:

  • D: Downstage
  • DR: Downstage right
  • DRC: Downstage right-center
  • DC: Downstage center
  • DLC: Downstage left-center
  • DL: Downstage left
  • RC: Right center
  • LC: Left center
  • UR: Upstage right
  • URC: Upstage right-center
  • UC: Upstage center
  • ULC: Upstage left-center
  • UL: Upstage left

Stage Direction Tips for Actors and Playwrights

Whether you're an actor, writer, or director , knowing how to use stage directions effectively will help you improve your craft. Here are some tips.

  • Make it short and sweet.  Stage directions are meant to guide performers. The best ones, therefore, are clear and concise and can be interpreted easily.
  • Consider motivation. A script may tell an actor to walk quickly downstage center and little else. That's where a director and actor must work together to interpret this guidance in a manner that would seem appropriate for the character.
  • Practice makes perfect.  It takes time for a character's habits, sensibilities, and gestures to become natural, especially when they have been decided by someone else. Achieving this means lots of rehearsal time both alone and with other actors, as well as being willing to try different approaches when you hit a roadblock.
  • Directions are suggestions, not commands.  Stage directions are the playwright's chance to shape physical and emotional space through effective blocking. That said, directors and actors don't have to be faithful to stage directions if they think a different interpretation would be more effective.
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StageMilk / Acting Tips / Stage Directions (An Actor’s Guide)

What are Stage Directions

Stage Directions (An Actor’s Guide)

You open a play to page one, and the first thing that comes tearing at you is a whole swathe of italics, a writer ranting at you about the lighting in Brooklyn in the summer of ’73, in-depth descriptions of a library or simply “They cross the Andes”: the indomitable OG of wild stage directions from Peter Shaffer’s 1964 play The Royal Hunt of the Sun . What are these italicised commands? And how can you, as an aspiring actor, make sense of them? Separate the wheat from the chaff? The Tenessee Williams from Eugene Ionesco? The answers are contained below, so read on to uncover the mysteries and intricacies of stage directions in theatrical productions!

Updated 4th October, 2022.

What are Stage Directions?

Stage directions are instructions in a play for technical aspects of the production, such as lighting, sound, costume, scenery or props and, most importantly, the movement of actors onstage. It is the stage directions that tell you what a character looks like, where they travel in the space and what the space looks and sounds like.

Stage directions give you vital information for the action and relationships between people, things and places inside a text. They also give you an insight into the playwright and how they approach their work. Shakespeare was famously very light on the stage directions, his only credited one is ‘Exit stage left, pursued by a bear’! This is because he was acting in or directing his own pieces and didn’t need to write down the stage directions. Tennessee Williams, on the other hand, was incredibly descriptive, outrageously prescriptive and wrote genuine essay-length stage directions! Each writer has their own style, and it is your job as the actor to know what these instructions mean and how to make them work for you on stage.

Types of Stage Directions

Different types of stage directions will give you different types of information. Sometimes, it’s purely for the ease of blocking a scene—working out where the actors stand and how they’ll move around the space. Other times, it’s more descriptive of the world of the play, allowing you to conduct analysis as to how you might bring words off the page and into life. One thing to keep in mind is that while you’ll likely read every word written down in the script, not all stage directions may be relevant to you directly. Sometimes, they’ll be of more use to the director, design team or the dramaturg. By learning the different types of stage directions, you’ll get a better sense of what the author was trying to convey in writing them down, and how they may help you in your performance.

The Basics of Movement Directions

You may have heard of the idea of “stage left” or “centre stage”. These are actual terms used in the theatre to describe the various positions on the stage. They are always given from the actors perspective—upstage being towards the back of the auditorium and downstage towards the audience. Left and right correspond to the actor looking out at the audience. It can be a little confusing at first, but with practice it becomes second nature. See this helpful diagram below:

Stage Directions

So now when you read the stage directions from Look Back in Anger by John Osborne and read the following in Act 1: “(He walks C., behind Cliff, and stands, looking down at his head.)”, you know that you have to move from where you finished you last line to centre stage and peer down at the other actor sitting in the chair! Easy, right?

One important variation of this convention is the use of “prompt side” (P) and “opposite prompt (side)” (OP), which are alternate names for stage-left and stage-right. More a staple in British theatre, they refer to the “prompt corner” traditionally occupied by the stage manager to the left side of the stage—a nook where actor’s could be safely prompted if they forgot their place in a play. Prompt corners are still common features in modern theatres, although their placement to stage-left is not always guaranteed. All the same, many actors and directors favour P and OP as they eliminate the sometimes-confusion of having to clarify which person’s left or right is being spoken about.

Scenic Stage Directions

The opening stage directions to Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler looks like this:

“In the back, a wide doorway with curtains drawn back, leading into a smaller room decorated in the same style as the drawing-room. In the right-hand wall of the front room, a folding door leading out to the hall. In the opposite wall, on the left, a glass door, also with curtains drawn back. Through the panes can be seen part of a veranda outside, and trees covered with autumn foliage.”

This is some specific work, here, am I right? Ibsen knows exactly how he wants the stage to look and even now, decades after his passing, the stage for this play nearly always looks the same. Here is a picture of a production at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, directed by Amanda Gaughan in 2015:

Stage Directions Henrik Ibsen

You can see that Ibsen’s stage directions from hundreds of years ago have been brought faithfully to life in this production. 

That being said, you also can see the directors and designers of these shows, creatively interpreting these instructions to suit their own spaces and their own visions of the production. They may not have the entrances and exits in the right spots and will have to slightly adjust Ibsen’s plan to make it work. When stage directions are this specific, however, the production of them tends to be very close to the description provided. The world the playwright sets up is more often than not integral to the characters on the stage and needs to be treated as such.

Of course, some directors will look at a page’s worth of description of a room and say: “Let’s cross this out, team: our production of Virginia Woolf takes place on a moon base!” This is perfectly fair, provided that the new staging reflects the original intention and vision of the author’s words. However, some authors/their estates are famous for having productions follow stage directions to a tee—some even threaten legal action for any unsanctioned deviations. Samuel Beckett’s estate is famous for their pursuit of companies who think his (many) descriptions can be scribbled out and re-interpreted.

Costume and Character

A big element for any character onstage is their appearance. It is what lets us know who they are and how they see themselves in the world. Sometimes a playwright will give a full character description along with a costuming one that gives you a complete picture of who this person is. In John Osbourne’s Look Back in Anger , the protagonist Jimmy is described as follows:

“Jimmy is a tall, thin young man about twenty-five, wearing a very worn tweed jacket and flannels. Clouds of smoke fill the room from the pipe he is smoking. He is a disconcerting mixture of sincerity and cheerful malice, of tenderness and freebooting cruelty; restless, importunate, full of pride, a combination which alienates the sensitive and insensitive alike. Blistering honesty, or apparent honesty, like his, makes few friends. To many he may seem sensitive to the point of vulgarity. To others, he is simply a loudmouth.”

Now obviously, as the actor playing Jimmy, it would be difficult to play all of these aspects at the same time. However, if I was going to audition for the role, I would try and wear clothing that was similar to the description here. It gives you vital information: the character is working class, he is full of pent up energy and he smokes. That is someone who is very different from, say, the character description for James Bond—“A handsome man, in an immaculate suit, with a glint in his eye and a pistol in his jacket.” And you wouldn’t want to get your audition preparation confused one way or the other!

This is also why I always tell new actors that they must read the entire play! You must always read the full play, because the stage directions amongst many other things give you such wonderful and concrete ideas about your character—how they see themselves in the world and how the world around them reacts to their presence. Note the way that the simple character description of Jimmy gives us more clues about him than the clothes in his wardrobe: T he pipe could be seen as an accessory to the outfit. But why does he smoke it? What does that suggest about the character’s mental state or propensity for bad habits? Why is his jacket worn? Why not buy a new one?

Sound, Lighting and Technical Aspects

The final technical aspect of stage directions are sound, lighting and other technical directions. These are not as important to actors as the other aspects above or below, but they are worth keeping in mind. A sound or a lighting effect can affect your performance significantly; when reading a play or doing preparation for an audition, always keep these notes in mind as a gunshot happening offstage in the middle of your monologue will probably be something you need to react to!

Performance Directions

Alongside these technical stage directions that deal with the practical aspects of putting on a show, playwrights will also include performative stage directions. These are often single word actions in parentheses that indicate how the playwright thinks the line should be delivered. These can completely change the meaning or subtext of a line. Examples include:

Gavin : I’m a golfer. I play golf. Melissa : What else do you do? Gavin : (smiling) I don’t understand what you mean.

From Party Time by Harold Pinter. Or try Medvedenko from Checkov’s The Seagull :

Medvedenko : Why? (Thoughtfully.) I don’t understand… Your health is good, your father may not be rich, but he has all he needs. My life’s far harder than yours. I make twenty-three roubles a month, that’s all, not counting pension deductions, and I don’t go round wearing black.

Or this interchange from Noel Coward’s Shadow Play :

Martha : How much do you mind? Vicky : Mind what? She takes the dressing-gown off the bed and goes into the bathroom, leaving the door open. Martha : (firmly) About Simon and Sibyl. Vicky : Heart-broken, dear— (She laughs.) You mustn’t be deceived by my gay frivolity, it’s really only masking agony and defeat and despair— Martha : (helping herself to a cigarette) You’re extremely irritating.

You can see in all of these small excerpts how much these parentheticals add to or alter the course of the action. Smiling while saying “I don’t understand what you mean” adds in a swathe of subtext that wouldn’t be there otherwise. But perhaps one of the most important performance directions is…

…any of the above. In which something  happens that is neither said nor performed with action, but is nonetheless very important. Far too many actors, when starting out, see the word “pause” in their scripts and think: “This is the part where I’ll stop for a moment. If it’s a “long pause” I might start on a mental grocery list…”  Ask yourself  why  the author has put a pause in that moment. What moment of significance passed? What’s changed in your character’s objective , their approach to the scene or the power dynamic ? Everything happens in those moments, even if nothing is physically going on.

Stage Directions The Seagull

How Much Attention Should I Pay to Stage Directions?

Fair question. It’s something of a divisive issue for actors, especially when it comes to performance stage directions. Below, we are going to outline two prevailing schools of thought on the subject:

#1 “Honour Everything” Approach

Exactly as it sounds. This approach says: if the script tells you to cry on the fifth line of Act 2, you cry on the fifth line of Act 2 come hell or high water! It is the challenge of the work for you, the actor, to bring your emotional vulnerability and bring it to life on cue! The writer has given you everything you need to do this and it is up to you to get inside the given circumstances of the character and execute their emotional journey as specified in the work, to the letter!

#2 Arthur Miller doesn’t own your choices….

The counterpoint to this is, as a wonderful teacher from Steppenwolf told me, is: “Arthur Miller doesn’t own your choices! He’s dead. He ain’t coming back!” The vibe here being: if you are not feeling it, do not make it happen just because the script says so. You must bring your own unique vision and interpretation of the role to bring it to life. If you attempt to generate an emotional state on cue, it will feel forced and fake to an audience rendering the moment invalid.

I think I ascribe to a third way, which is: sometimes, you just cannot make it happen. It might be difficult to feel complete joy on stage at night if you have suffered a death in the family during the day. You might find it easier to cry some nights rather than others. What I will say is that the text should be treated with great respect and seriousness. You should attempt to perform everything that is written in there; however, if you are unable to, or if a different choice occurs on a line that is more genuine for you, then go with it! The person who is really there to help in these moments is your director. The director has the power to be able to say yes or no to sticking to these performative stage directions in a script, and you should consult with them before making any decisions either way. If you are auditioning for the role, I would encourage you to trust your gut, go with what feels right and be prepared to change your interpretation once you are in the audition room if required!

There you have it! Stage directions de-mystified! They can get a lot more esoteric than the examples listed here. I was once in a production of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl which featured a stage direction of: “ He builds a house out of string in front of her “ which was a technical challenge to achieve let me tell you! However, for the vast majority of the time, stage directions serve as fantastically detailed indicators of character, environment and relationships between your character and the rest of their world in any given piece. Hopefully this article has helped you understand the basics of stage directions. And if you would like to practice putting stage directions into action, why not sign up for our Online Scene Club below!

About the Author

Patrick Cullen

Patrick is an actor, writer, comedian and podcaster based in Sydney, Australia. A graduate of the Actors Centre Australia in 2014, Patrick has been working in film, TV and theatre across Sydney and Brisbane ever since. Patrick can be found glued to test cricket in bars across the land.

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  • stage direction

an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements.

the art or technique of a stage director.

Origin of stage direction

Words nearby stage direction.

  • stage brace
  • stage business
  • stage director
  • stage-door Johnny
  • stage-driver

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stage direction in a sentence

As the cast gathered around a tiny printer, Benjamin spat out the screenplay, complete with almost impossible stage directions like "He is standing in the stars and sitting on the floor."

When he ended Vieux Carré with the stage direction , “The house is empty now,” Lahr somberly terms it “an augury and an epitaph.”

Krasinski: The stage direction was, “He is horrible at singing.”

“In the stage direction , they almost have sex on stage … there was a lot more fondling,” Friedlich says.

But his hopes were dashed when Alan replied that he was referring to the final stage direction (Exeunt, bearing off the bodies).

While they are working themselves up to it, Manrico appears, as the stage-direction says, "like a phantom."

In all the copies Holy maidens is made, absurdly enough, part of the stage direction .

Here is one of those rare and tremendous moments of which one may say that there is a stage direction , “Enter Shakespeare.”

It takes, therefore, practical stage direction to realize all the possibilities of stage atmosphere in a practical way.

For purposes of indicating the pantomimic action of the play, the dramatist resorts to stage-business and stage-direction.

British Dictionary definitions for stage direction

an instruction to an actor or director, written into the script of a play

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for stage direction

Part of the script of a play that tells the actors how they are to move or to speak their lines. Enter , exit , and exeunt are stage directions.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

No Sweat Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Stage Directions

Reading Shakespeare’s original scripts can sometimes throw up issues around understanding – not just understanding the words of the characters, but also understanding Shakespeare’s stage directions . This article explains what stage directions are, and provides a “translation” of Shakespeare’s most common stage directions.

Stage directions are simply directions to the company performing a play as to what’s happening around the drama, who’s on the stage and who isn’t, when they arrive, when they leave, where they are on the stage, when music should be played, bugles sounded, and so on.

Here is a list of the main stage directions Shakespeare used, along with an explanation of each:

Indication of the coming of a battle – a bugle call to arms

Words an actor speaks to the audience which other actors on the stage cannot hear.

Indicates the entrance on to the stage of a character or characters.

Last words after the conclusion of a play.

Indication that a military attack is taking place.

Indicates the departure of two or more characters from the stage.

Indicates the departure of a character from the stage.

Music usually introducing the entrance or exit of a king or another important person. It’s usually a short trumpet piece.

Indicates that the characters entering are playing hautboys, which are Elizabethan oboes.

Introduction of a play where someone comes on and tells the audience something important about the play that’s about to be performed.

Trumpet flourish to introduce the entrance of a character, such as a king.

Indicates that a character is alone on the stage.

Indicates that entering characters are carrying lit torches.

Indicates that a person speaking or being spoken to is somewhere offstage.

The most famous and intriguing of all Shakespeare’s stage directions is ‘ exit pursued by a bear ,’ in The Winter’s Tale. We find it extremely funny and strange, even though it results in the death of the person being pursued: It would not be funny if you were being pursued by a bear. But to the Elizabethans, bringing a real bear on to the stage wouldn’t be anything to bat an eye about. The two most popular activities in Jacobean London, vying with each other for popularity, were theatregoing and bearbaiting . As the Globe Theatre was right next door to a bearbaiting arena, bears and their handlers were readily available, and what better way was there of getting rid of a character who had fulfilled his function, without making a big drama of it?!

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Stage directions

The stage remarks are the remarks of a poet, who are interspersed between the prose of a dramatic text (cf. literary genres) and give information about the stage design or appearance, equipment, gestures, mimicry, and the manner of speaking of the actors. In addition, such stage assignments can also describe the nature and protagonists of the protagonists, such as their tempo and behavior, where acoustic effects can also be identified here. Stage instructions are usually presented in italics, and are primarily intended for actors and directors to bring the respective work to the stage according to the respective poet. However, such information can also inspire the reader’s imagination.

Such stage assignments can already be found in ancient dramas (cf. Literaturepochen), which can be attributed, among others, to Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC). They are also found in a very concise form in medieval texts. In the humanistic and baroque drama, the most important are the factual and simple opera, the instructions in the 16th and 17th century are particularly significant. In classical music there are then again almost concise instructions (for example, in Goethe’s Torquato Tasso), where realism and romance once again made more extensive stage directions.

A little later, for example, in naturalism with Arno Holz or Gerhart Hauptmann, such inserts are extremely precise in the dramatic text, and they also give details of the stage happenings, or describe in epic breadth how the stage design is and the performers have to behave in it , In doing so, more attention is also given to the audience, who reads the dramas and does not only see them. This respect for the readership, which can be better imagined, is mainly to be found in naturalism and expressionism. Epochs of literature as a timeline

Examples of such stage instructions The following are two examples which illustrate what has been written. The first example is mainly characterized by scarcity and can be attributed to the classic, while the second piece is more detailed in the notion on the stage and is naturalistic.

Alphons. And if we introduce the world and posterity, So it is not just idle to receive. The beautiful sign, which honors the poet, Even the hero, who always needs it, To see him without envy round his head, Behold, I behold your forehead’s forehead. Pointing to Herme Virgils.

If it’s a coincidence, it’s a genius Braided and brought? It is shown here Not for nothing. Virgils I hear say: What do you honor the dead? Had the But their wages and joy as they lived; And if you admire and adore us, Give the living thing its part. My marble decor is already warmed enough, The green branch belongs to life.

Alphons beckons his sister; she takes the garland from the bust of Virgil and approaches Tasso. He steps back.

Leonore. You refuse? See which hand the wreath, The beautiful, unforgiving, you!

The above example originates from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Torquato Tasso (1790; UA: 16.2.1807) and is characterized above all by extremely tight stage instructions. In particular, the positioning of the actors and their direction of vision and direction of movement are specified. The following example, which describes the space shown in an enormous length. This is the beginning of the drama The Family Selicke (UA: 7.4.1890) by Arno Holz and Johannes Schlaf.

The living room of the family Selicke. (It is moderately large and very modest furnished On the right, a door leads to the corridor Front left one into the room Wendt’s. A little further behind this a kitchen door with glass windows and twin- curtains. The back wall takes on an old, cumbersome, flowered sopha, over which, between two small, yellowed gypsum statuettes “Schiller and Goethe” Kaulbach’s steel engraving “Lotte, Brod cutting”. Below, in the half-crown, arranged symmetrically, a number family portraits. Before the Sopha an oval Table, on which, among all sorts of coffee burning white glass lamp with green umbrella. Right from him a window, to the left of him a small tapestry, which leads into a chamber. Moreover, between the both doors on the left side wall, a table with a canary above which a regulator ticks, and, behind the right side wall, a bed whose head, the auditorium by means of a screen is covered. At the foot of the bed, near the window, finally a small nightstand with medication

The stage remarks are the remarks of a poet, who are interspersed between the prose of a dramatic text (cf. literary genres) and give information about the stage design or appearance, equipment, gestures, mimicry, and the manner of speaking of the actors , In addition, as stage assignments can also describe the nature and protagonists of the protagonists, such as their tempo and behavior, where acoustic effects can be identified. If you are looking for a job in the world, then you should be able to get the job done.

(A). Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC) can be found in ancient dramas (cf. literaturepochen), which can be attributed. They are also found in a very concise form in medieval texts. In the humanistic and baroque drama, the most important are the actual and simple opera, the instructions in the 16th and 17th century are known significant. In classical music, there are also a few concise statements (for example, in Goethe’s Torquato Tasso), where realism and romance.

A little later, for example, in naturalism with Arno Holz, or Gerhart’s main man, looking at the epic breadth of the stage design is and the performers have to behave in it, In doing so, more attention is also given to the audience, who reads the dramas and does not only see them. This respect for the readership, which can be better imagined, is primarily to be found in naturalism and expressionism. Epochs of literature as a timeline

Examples of such stage instructions The following are examples. The first example is primarily characterized by the fact that the artist is not a member of the group.

Alphons. And if we introduce the world and posterity, So it’s not just idle to receive. The beautiful sign, which honors the poet, Even the hero, who always needs it, To see him without envy round his head, Behold, I behold your forehead’s forehead. Pointing to Herme Virgils.

Alphons beckons his sister; it takes the garland from the bust of Virgil and approaches Tasso. He steps back.

The above example originates from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Torquato Tasso (1790; UA: 16.2.1807) and is characterized above all by extremely tight stage instructions. In particular, the positioning of the actors and their direction of vision and direction of movement are specified. The following example, which describes the space in an enormous length. This is the beginning of the drama The Family Selicke (UA: 7.4.1890) by Arno Holz and Johannes Schlaf.

The living room of the family Selicke. (It is moderately large and very modest furnished On the right, a door leads to the corridor Front left one into the room Wendt’s. A little further behind this a kitchen door with glass windows and twin- curtains. The back wall takes on an old, cumbersome, flowered sopha, overwhich, between two small, yellowed gypsum statuettes “Schiller and Goethe” Kaulbach’s steel engraving “Lotte, Brod cutting”. Below, in the half-crown, arranged symmetrically, a number family portraits. Before the Sopha an oval Table, on which, among all sorts of coffee burning white glass lamp with green umbrella. right from a window, to the left of him a small tapestry, which leads into a chamber. Moreover, between the both doors on the left sidewall, a table with a canary above what a regulatory ticks, and, behind the right sidewall, a bed whose head, the auditorium by means of a screen is covered. At the foot of the bed, near the window, finally a small nightstand with medication

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Industrial Scripts®

Writing Stage Directions in a Screenplay: The ULTIMATE Lowdown

literature definition stage directions

Crafting good quality stage directions can often be one of the trickiest parts of writing a screenplay. The directions need to be clear and concise but also need to engage the reader. With a number of do’s and don’ts, we’re providing the lowdown on writing stage directions in a screenplay.

Table of Contents

Stage directions: an intro, how to: format, language and style used in stage directions, writing evocative stage directions, writing about characters in stage directions, stage directions in a spec script vs a shooting script, avoiding exposition, how to: transitions, how to: parentheses.

So what are stage directions? Well, these are the parts of your screenplay that will help describe the action around the dialogue.

The etymology is of course from the theater, where ‘stage directions’ would be what is written in the playtext to provide information relevant to the staging of the play.

Broadly speaking, it would tell actors where to go, set designers what to design and directors what to focus on. Stage directions can be literal and functional in describing what is happening, or they can be more abstract and poetic in setting the scene. This is exemplified by probably the most famous stage direction of all time, Shakespeare’s ‘Exit pursued by a bear’ from The Winter’s Tale .

So whilst stage directions can be replaced by screen directions within a screenplay, the same basic rule applies.

The three key things your stage directions should focus on:

  • Describing the action happening in the scene
  • The location of the scene
  • Describing the characters

It’s worth noting that when it comes to stage directions, the rules can be flexible. Ultimately, if your script is clear in conveying the story and readable in doing so, then rules and traditions can be played with.

However, a solid set of guidelines is always useful to follow in making your script as effective as possible and making sure that beleaguered script readers are helped rather than hindered in comprehending your story.

Stage Directions Theater

When it comes to starting to write your stage directions, first of all, you need to keep the format in mind.

Stage directions aren’t supposed to be written like a long, embellished story. You need to write clearly and directly, avoiding big chunks of text and long-winded sentences.

If a screenplay reader is presented with large blocks of text there’s a risk of them getting bored or distracted. You want them to be caught up in the excitement of your story, not trawling through unnecessary descriptions of what the weather is like that particular day.

Utilize short, punchy sentences that are easy to read, with preferably no more than two or three-line paragraphs. That way, the reader will get a feel of how the events will unfold when they’re actually on screen.

The present tense should be used when writing stage directions. The action should be happening now, not in the past.

  • Steer clear of using phrases like, ‘We see the man dealing a deck of cards.’
  • Instead, phrase it like this, ‘The man deals a deck of cards.’

Another formatting detail to employ in your stage directions is to capitalize an un-introduced character’s name, followed by their age. This capitalization only occurs the first time the character is mentioned in the screenplay. Then after this, their name can be written in lowercase.

Age, meanwhile, is not only obviously important for understanding a character but also for the casting process. With an ensemble cast, this is particularly key as we need to get a clear grasp of how the characters are either similar to or distinguished from one another.

Royal Tenenbaums Cast

The language you need to use when writing stage directions can be one of the hardest things to get used to. Forget everything you were taught in school about metaphors, similes and descriptive writing.

The literary devices that are normally considered to be beneficial for setting the scene in writing, are largely unnecessary here. Elaborate and intricate descriptions with reams of adjectives have little place in stage directions. You need to provide the bare bones and maintain the engagement.

Take the following stage directions…

‘She quickly walked into the very small, dingy, dark room. Thick blood has stained all of the walls, slowing dripping to the floor. The furniture is upturned and ripped apart, stuffing spilling grossly from a nearby armchair.’

Yes, this is an engaging read and would be at home within a piece of prose. It’s well written and illuminative. But try and find a balance between illumination and efficiency.

Instead, you could aim for something more succinct, like this… ‘She strode into the mangled, upturned room, reeling at the blood-stained walls.’

By making the directions too literary, it can slow the pace of the story. The audience will be able to see the room without needing a complete breakdown of every detail. Therefore, use short energetic sentences and leave setting the scene to the production designer and set dressers. Immerse the character, and the reader, into the scene rather than leaving the description feeling too objective.

The description you include should not be intended to give exhaustive detail about exactly how the setting looks but instead used to highlight aspects of the story in terms of the themes, tone and plot. Really interrogate whether your flowing literary description is actually helping convey the story, or if it’s just making sure every corner of a room is shown.

On the other hand, you don’t want your script to come across as under-written. The reader still needs to be able to visualise the characters, action, and scenery. So be sure to avoid using generic language. Your thesaurus will be your best friend!

Instead of saying your character ‘walked’, consider making them saunter, stride, trudge or wander. The extra detail will allow the reader to get a better grasp of your character and how they behave, making them more three-dimensional.

Think also about how the description can illuminate something about the character. For example, how can how a character ‘walks’ convey something about their personality? A ‘stride’ could convey confidence. Or a ‘wander’ could convey an easy-going nature.

With such little space and time to introduce characters (particularly supporting characters within large casts) every small piece of detail can make a massive difference.

Similarly, a small piece of incisive description about a setting can transport the reader to that location.

  • How does the location inform the mood and feel of the scene?
  • What can the setting say about the themes of the story?

These are questions to consider. A gloomy, moody setting can imbue tension in a scene. Or a sun-soaked, hazy setting can imbue joy. Your setting’s description can play a key part in the building of a scene and of the script overall.

The Beach Location Stage Directions

The first time you introduce your protagonist or another supporting character, (remember to introduce in caps) it can be tempting to fill half a page with a detailed description of what you imagine them to look like. Rather than overloading the reader with all this unnecessary detail, you need to give more of an overall impression of your character.

literature definition stage directions

Phrases like, ‘A feisty redhead’, or ‘Handsome and well-tailored’ instantly conjure up a clear image in the reader’s mind, without having to describe the character down to every last freckle.

The best character descriptions are incredibly perceptive in that they can sum up a character (or at least how they come across) in just a sentence. Being able to succinctly boil your character down to a pithy, efficient sentence is a true test of how well you know your characters.

Rose Titanic Stage Directions

One of the key things to remember when you begin to write your screenplay is that in this instance, you’re a writer, not a director. By submitting a screenplay that you’ve written in the style of a shooting script; you’ll have wasted valuable time.

If your stage directions include every desired camera angle and every last close-up shot that you imagined, you’ll most likely end up irritating the production team. As a result of this, they’ll probably discard your added directions anyway.

Deciding how the screenplay will be shot is not your job. When writing stage directions, your job is to give a simple explanation of what appears on screen during that particular scene, including action, scenery and what the characters are doing. This is referred to as a spec script. Fingers crossed, when your screenplay is produced, it will be someone else’s job to add in camera angles and shot types.

Shooting Script

Film is obviously, a visual medium, meaning that the audience will only be able to perceive what is physically in front of them. Your stage directions should only contain facts and information that can be physically filmed and recorded.

When writing your screenplay, it is important to keep the idea of, ‘ show, don’t tell ’, in mind. Overly expositional writing can feel clunky and amateur.

Take the following stage direction…

‘Her mouth dropped open, visibly shocked at what she saw. The smell was also horrendous.’  

You don’t have to tell the reader she is visibly shocked; you can infer it by her reaction. It’s important that you don’t try and tell the audience what they can’t see. You can’t tell them that the smell was horrendous if they can’t physically see it.

Instead, add in a short description of the character wrinkling their nose in disgust. You have to show that the room smelt horrendous through the character. If the stage direction provides information about the character that can be visually represented (even if somewhat ambiguous), then it is valid.

When writing your screenplay, an important detail to pay attention to is the transitions that you use. Be sure to familiarise yourself with the industry-standard screenplay format before starting to add these elements.

Here’s a short guide to the most commonly used transitions and what their purpose is.

  • CUT TO: – This is the simplest, as well as most common, transition. This implies a change of scene over the course of one frame.
  • DISSOLVE TO: – This transition indicates one scene fading out, as the next scene fades into place instantly after. It represents a passage of time, or simply used for dramatic effect.
  • FADE IN: / FADE OUT: – These transitions are used at the beginning of the screenplay (FADE IN:) and at the end of the screenplay (FADE OUT:) to simply indicate the start and end of the story.
  • FREEZE FRAME: – This one is fairly self-explanatory. Whatever scene is on the screen will momentarily pause, as if it were a photo.
  • FLASH CUT TO: – A flash cut shows an extremely brief shot, designed to flash in front of the audience’s eyes.
  • SMASH CUT TO : – A smash cut is completely unexpected. Horror films use it, cutting from an intense, scary scene, to a completely unrelated, calm scene. It should feel abrupt and unexpected.
  • JUMP CUT TO: – This transition makes the subject appear to jump forward in time by breaking a single shot with a well-timed cut.

10 Most Shocking Jump Cuts In Film History

An important part of formatting your screenplay is parentheses. They come hand in hand with the stage directions. Adjectives are put in parentheses, just below the characters name, to describe how the character speaks a line. Or it could be a verb that gives the actor an action to complete whilst speaking the line.

However, it’s important that you use them sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. It is the job of the actor to add emotion, tone and gestures to the performance. Use a parenthesis only when absolutely necessary, in a situation where the intention might be hard to read from the dialogue. Every line of dialogue within a scene with a parenthesis under it would look very jarring indeed.

Parentheses are used in this example from Titanic to follow the action of Jack taking off his shoe, whilst still speaking, as well as capturing Rose’s emotions.

literature definition stage directions

It might be easy to miss that Rose is ‘perplexed’ by Jack’s question. A simple ‘No’ could be read in a number of different ways, all missing the point of her reaction to the question. By using a parenthesis, the intention becomes clear. Furthermore, there’s a dynamism to having Jack take off his shoe as he talks. The action continues through the dialogue, creating a feeling of movement.

Stage directions are the parts of your script around your dialogue that help describe the action, setting and characters.

‘The man deals a deck of cards’ or ‘Katy enters the room’ are examples of stage directions. They describe the movements of the characters in the scene. Furthermore, setting description such as ‘the morning sunlight fills the room’ is also an example of stage direction.

You need to find a balance between efficiency and fluency in your stage directions. They need to paint a picture of the scene but in a way that doesn’t stop the flow and pace of the script. Try to always be immersive, plunging your characters and consequently the reader into the action, rather than writing from an objective point of view.

What did you think of this article? Share It , Like It , give it a rating, and let us know your thoughts in the comments box further down…

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This article was written by Isabelle Collingridge and edited by IS Staff.

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The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre

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The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theatre

30 Stage Directions and the Theater Historian

Alan C. Dessen , Peter G. Phialas Professor (Emeritus) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is the author of eight books, four of them with Cambridge University Press: Elizabethan Stage Conventions and Modern Interpreters (1984); Recovering Shakespeare's Theatrical Vocabulary (1995); Rescripting Shakespeare (2002); and, co-authored with Leslie Thomson, A Dictionary of Stage Directions in English Drama, 1580–1642. In 2005 he gave the annual British Academy Shakespeare lecture. Between 1994 and 2001 he was the director of ACTER (A Center for Teaching, Education, and Research). Since 1994 he has been editor or co-editor of the Shakespeare Performed section of Shakespeare Quarterly.

  • Published: 18 September 2012
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A stage direction can be detailed and evocative, as with accounts of dumb shows, a few battle scenes, or scenes involving special effects or pageantry. More typically, however, is direction that lacks specific details but instead invokes a formula where the implementation of the onstage effect is left to the players or to the imagination of a reader. Questions about origins are linked to the issue of provenance (place of origin, derivation). Similar questions pertain to chronology (when were a play and its theatrical signals composed?). Although the theatre historian cannot discount provenance and chronology, what needs stressing is the presence in the extant stage directions of a widely shared theatrical vocabulary, especially from the 1590s on. Next to consider are the different functions of stage directions. This article considers various concepts related to stage direction, including traffic control (getting actors and properties on and off the stage), signals linked to the placement of the actors on the stage (an equivalent to the so-called blocking), and mid-scene entrances and exits.

When watching the first performances of Twelfth Night or Hamlet , what did an Elizabethan playgoer actually see? For the theater historian, that question leads to another: wherein lies the evidence for such an investigation? And, given the dearth of eyewitness accounts, drawings, and other external records of theatrical practice, that second question leads to the internal evidence found in extant manuscripts and printed plays. Hence— enter the stage direction.

To build edifices upon these signals in italics, however, can be a daunting task. Sometimes, interpretation is easy, requiring no more than the translation of a Latin word ( manet, exiturus ). Occasionally, directions can be detailed and evocative, as with accounts of dumb shows (as in Hamlet , iii. ii), 1 a few battle scenes (as in Cymbeline , v. ii), or scenes involving special effects or pageantry ( The Tempest, Henry VIII ). More typically, however, are directions that lack specific details but instead invoke a formula ( vanish ; they   fight ; enter   unready, mad , or in his   study ) where the implementation of the onstage effect is left to the players or to the imagination of a reader. In some instances such formulas can be fleshed out by invocation of material from comparable scenes elsewhere where more details are available, a process analogous to the work of an iconographer who ranges widely in the available literature so as to explicate an image ( booted, rosemary )—and here is a major asset of a stage direction dictionary. Nonetheless, many texts ( Measure for Measure is a good example) provide few signals other than straightforward entrances and exits—and the first published version of Ben Jonson's Volpone , the 1606 Quarto, provides no stage directions at all.

To use stage directions as evidence is therefore to confront many puzzles and potential sources of confusion. First comes the question of who is responsible for the extant signals? In his landmark 1790 edition Edmund Malone stated categorically that they were ‘furnished by the players’ and were therefore subject to change by the editor (Malone 1790 , vol. i, p. lviii); other candidates have been scribes who copied the manuscripts (notably Ralph Crane, to whom have been attributed the massed entries in The Winter's Tale and some unusual items in The Tempest ), compositors in the printing shop, and bookkeepers in the playhouse who supposedly transformed a playwright's draft into a promptbook suitable for performance. Recent scholarship, however, has demonstrated that a high percentage of stage directions are authorial in origin. Indeed, close attention to the surviving manuscripts and printed texts with playhouse annotations has shown how few were the additions or corrections made by the bookkeeper—most commonly to specify sound effects, spell out which actors are to play supernumerary roles, and anticipate the introduction of large properties (W. Long 1985 ). Occasionally, one of these practical in-the-theater signals survives in a printed text, as with ‘ two Torches ready ’ (Fletcher, Love's Cure , vii. 205).

Questions about origins are linked as well to the issue of provenance (place of origin, derivation). Scholars seeking to reconstruct the physical features of a particular theater such as the Globe will concentrate on evidence from plays known to have been performed in that building. If the goal is to tease out the number of stage doors or the presence of flying machinery at the Rose, that scholar will not invoke scenes or stage directions from a play linked to the Red Bull. When widely scattered stage directions are invoked as evidence, the provenance of individual plays cannot be completely ignored (as when John Marston, writing with a particular theater in mind, refers to music   houses ), but for those whose primary concern is not the reconstruction of a specific theater this distinction becomes less important than other variables.

Similar questions pertain to chronology (when were a play and its theatrical signals composed?). Some locutions found in the 1580s and early 1590s are superseded or simplified in the play-texts that follow ( proffer, let ); the earlier signals are often longer, without the shorthand forms that later become commonplace. However, for the bulk of the period up through the 1630s continuity rather than evolution is the norm. To downplay the importance of chronology is not to argue that staging procedures and the terms used to signal those procedures stayed the same in all theaters between the 1580s and the early 1640s. But if (as is often the case) Shakespeare-Heywood and Brome-Shirley make use of much the same terminology, the importance of chronological distinctions is greatly diminished.

Although the theater historian cannot discount provenance and chronology, what needs stressing is the presence in the extant stage directions of a widely shared theatrical vocabulary, especially from the 1590s on. Admittedly, the language used by a professional dramatist may not be exactly the same as that used by a bookkeeper, a scribe, an amateur writer, an academic, or a Ben Jonson refashioning his play for a reader. Still, the major variations in that vocabulary arise less often from different venues or different decades than from authorial idiosyncrasy. For example, George Chapman is more likely than any other professional dramatist to use Latin terms; most dramatists regularly use aside to mean speak aside , but Shakespeare, for one, prefers other locutions (e.g. to himself ) and uses aside to denote onstage positioning. By proceeding carefully and not building edifices upon unique or highly idiosyncratic usages the scholar can set forth a range of terms that would have made excellent sense to Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dekker, Heywood, Jonson, Marston, Chapman, Middleton, Massinger, Brome, Ford, and Shirley.

Next to consider are the different functions of stage directions. Their major role is traffic control—getting actors and properties on and off the stage—so that the most widely used term by far is enter . A large majority of the extant signals therefore consist of enter and some combination of proper names (Hamlet, Faustus, Hieronimo); titles or professions (queen, bishop, merchant); and generic types or collective nouns (army, citizens, others, servants, soldiers, women). Also plentiful are signals that specify the place where or from which the entrance is to be made ( above, below , at   several doors , in a   prison, shop , or study ) and modifiers that characterize the entering figure as amazed, bleeding, booted, disguised, marching, mourning, muffled, raging, reading, running, sick, solus , or weeping (to cite but a few examples). Equally important are the many uses of exit and its plural, exeunt, along with related terms such as manet - manent and offers to go . Even here at the most basic level, however, problems and inconsistencies abound, particularly for mid-scene exits and re-entrances which are regularly omitted.

When one moves beyond enter-exit and traffic control, problems increase exponentially. What can be frustrating for both first-time readers and theater historians are the many silences when we today most want specifics about the onstage action. (Is Hamlet aware of the eavesdroppers during the nunnery scene? If so, when?) What is characteristic of most playscripts of this period is not explicit detail about how to stage a given moment but some combination of (1) silence and (2) coded signals directed at playhouse professionals who knew their craft well.

As a case study, consider The Two Merry Milkmaids , one of the few examples of a printed text (as opposed to a manuscript) of an Elizabethan or Jacobean professional play that has been annotated for performance, in this instance in two different hands (L. Thomson 1996 ). To set up the play's central trial scene the Quarto first directs: ‘ Enter the Duke, Judges, Raymond, with others, the form of a Court ’ and then ‘ Enter Dorigen placed at the Bar’ (I3 r ). The two annotators then do spell out several items not available in the Quarto: from one a sound effect (a sennet at the entrance of royalty) and a table (presumably for the judges and perhaps the Duke himself); from the second a sound effect ( hoboys ), a guard to place the accused at the bar , and an expansion of ‘ with others ’ into several named courtiers. Nonetheless, neither annotator spells out the number of judges (subsequent dialogue has two judges speak), any distinctive costumes, the presence and number of chairs, or how the table and chairs are to be configured. Here, then, for a major ensemble scene that requires at least two significant pieces of furniture, the author of the printed stage direction has left a great deal to the expertise of the players; the playhouse annotators have inserted marginal signals to ensure the availability of large properties and sound effects; but those annotators have not felt it necessary to expand or improve upon ‘ the form of a Court ’.

In preparing the Quarto for playhouse use the two annotators did not have today's reader in mind—and here is the basic problem that confronts today's theater historian. Certainly, the staging of court and trial scenes may have varied somewhat from theater to theater or even in the same theater over a span of years, but the configuration probably remained roughly the same: a bar; a table; seats and placement for the judges; and something important that is implicit but not spelled out in the many signals: distinctive costumes for judges, sheriffs, advocates, and other court personnel. Indeed, along with the bar, such costumes would probably have been the most significant part of the ‘code’ to signify ‘a courtroom’. An experienced dramatist, however, could assume a theatrical vocabulary shared by both players who knew their craft and playgoers familiar with such scenes; such a playwright could therefore provide few or no details or could fall back upon some formula: ‘the form of a Court’; ‘as to her Trial’ (The Winter's Tale , iii. ii. 9); ‘in manner of a Consistory’ (Henry VIII, ii. iv. 0).

To deal with this scene in The Two Merry Milkmaids is to confront a larger problem linked to permissive stage directions , a category wherein key details are left indeterminate or open. By far the most common situation is to leave indefinite the number of actors required for an entrance, a lack of specificity that may result from either (1) theatrical exigency or (2) a necessary lack of precision at the time of writing (as when a playwright is not familiar with the personnel of the theatrical company that is to perform the play). In either case the writer of the stage direction may not be certain how many actors will be available as supernumeraries (for example, early in a show some personnel may be busy taking tickets and unavailable as extras).

The number of figures in an entrance can be left indeterminate by a variety of means. Most common is the use of a collective noun ( army , attendants, followers, lords, men, others , train , ‘ and the rest ’). Typical of hundreds of examples are: ‘ Lucius, Iachimo, and the Roman Army at one door: and the Britain Army at another ’ (Cymbeline , v. ii. 0); ‘ Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers ’ ( The Merchant of Venice , v. i. 126). Various modifiers also allow for indeterminancy: certain, diverse, sundry , and most commonly several : ‘ certain Romans with spoils ’ and ‘ certain Volsces come in the aid of Aufidius ’ ( Coriolanus , i. v. 0; i. viii. 13); ‘ diverse Spirits in shape of Dogs and Hounds ’ ( The Tempest , iv. i. 254); the Muses ‘ playing all upon sundry Instruments ’ (Greene, Alphonsus of Aragon , line 45); ‘ a Masquerado of several Shapes and Dances ’ (Fletcher, Women Pleased , vii. 308). Most obvious are the eight entrances that include some version of ‘ as many as can be ’, as in Titus Andronicus (i. i. 72).

Other signals leave costumes, properties, or stage business open: ‘ with as many Jewels robes and Gold as he can carry ’ ( 2 The Seven Deadly Sins , line 15; Greg 1931: ii, no. 2); ‘ The Ghosts use several gestures ’ (Massinger, The Unnatural Combat , v. ii. 278); ‘ A Spirit (over the door) does some action to the dishes as they enter ’ (Heywood, The Late Lancashire Witches , iv. 206). For costume the term of choice is sometimes proper (in the sense of ‘fitting, appropriate’), as in ‘ certain Reapers (properly habited) ’ (The Tempest , iv. i. 138). Occasionally a stage direction calls for a speech or song but leaves the specific words or melody to the performers: ‘ Jockey is led to whipping over the stage, speaking some words, but of no importance ’ (Heywood, 2 Edward IV , i. 180). The verb prepare is used to set up an onstage action: ‘ Prepare to play ’ for the fencing in Folio Hamlet (v. ii. 265); ‘ Prepares for death ’ at an execution (Heywood, A Challenge for Beauty , v. 68); and when special properties are involved: ‘ An Altar prepared ’ (Fletcher, The Sea Voyage , ix. 62); ‘ two prentices, preparing the Goldsmith's Shop with plate ’ (Heywood, 1 Edward IV , i. 63). Most common are versions of ‘ A banquet prepared ’ as in Macbeth (iii. iv. 0). Again, how to prepare an altar, banquet, execution, shop , or trial is not specified but is left to the expertise of the players, as is what is proper or the number of items or actions encompassed by certain, diverse, several , and sundry .

Along with as many as can be , the most obvious set of permissive signals consists of those that include an or . These signals are used widely for personnel, properties, costumes, and actions. The most common use of or is to leave indeterminate the number of entering figures: ‘ three or four with tapers’; ‘two or three other ’ ( Much Ado , v. iii. 0; v. iv. 33); ‘ Enter two or three setting three or four Chairs, and four or five stools ’ (Field, A Woman Is a Weathercock , v. ii. 0). Comparable locutions are used to leave open the number of repetitions of an action or sound: ‘ makes a conge or two to nothing ’ (Fletcher, The Nice Valour , x. 149). Less plentiful are uses of or with reference to alternative actions, sounds, and properties: ‘ makes legs: or signs ’ (Jonson, Epicoene , (Greene, James IV, lines 2051–3). Sometimes at issue is the availability of a particular property or resource: ‘ Exit Venus . Or if you can conveniently, let a chair come down from the top of the stage, and draw her up ’ (Greene, Alphonsus of Aragon , lines 2109–10). ii. i. 10); ‘ musical songs of marriages, or a mask, or what pretty triumph you list ’

The indeterminacy clearly evident in others, as many as can be , and or can also be glimpsed in a much larger group of stage directions that contain coded or shorthand terms that omit significant bits of information so that much is left to the implementation of the players (as is the case with verbs such as prepare and entertain ). The most visible examples are what can be termed elliptical or metonymic signals in which the missing details are easy to spot and flesh out. Few readers will take literally a direction such as ‘ Exit corse ’ ( Richard III, i. ii. 226 ) or ‘ The organs play, and covered dishes march over the stage ’ (Middleton, A Mad World My Masters , ii. i. 151), where the attendants who carry the bier or the covered dishes are assumed, not specified. Such a practice is widespread, most notably with signals that call for the entrance of figures bearing a body, halberd, musket, torch, drum , or trumpet : ‘ Enter Buckingham from his Arraignment, Tipstaves before him, the Ax with the edge towards him, Halberds on each side ’ ( Henry VIII , ii. i. 53); ‘ Enter four torches ’ (Heywood, 1 If You Know Not Me , i. 234); ‘ Enter Edgar at the third sound, a trumpet before him ’ (Quarto King Lear , v. iii. 117). Such shorthand usages are practical, unremarkable, and easy to document (indeed, signals for halberds without designated bearers are more common than those for officers with halberds ).

More tantalizing for the theater historian are those situations where what is omitted is less certain. An ellipsis may be obvious when an object is cited without the player who must carry it, but is much harder to recognize when personnel or effects are signaled without any accompanying costumes or properties. A reader today who confronts such theatrical shorthand will either expand the phrase (‘ Exit corse ’) or at the least recognize the existence of some coded effect ( enter in a shop, ‘the form of a Court’ ) even if the exact implementation of that effect remains in doubt. But, as already noted, the vast majority of surviving stage directions consist only of an enter followed by one or more named figures or generic types (doctor, forester, friar, jailer, lawyer, lord, merchant, nurse, sailor, servant, soldier) with no information about costume, make-up, and hand-held properties, all of which were presumably the province of the actor (as opposed to an altar, bed, bar, bier, coffin, scaffold , or table ). For example, an apparently straightforward stage direction such as enter a jailer or keeper may be as elliptical or incomplete as ‘ Exit corse ’ if such a figure would be assumed to have a distinctive costume and be carrying a large set of keys so as to convey to a playgoer a sense of enter in prison .

To borrow from Hamlet, the norm is silence. Signals for the most elaborate tavern scenes (e.g. 1 Henry IV , ii. iv; 1 The Fair Maid of the West , Act 1) provide nothing more than entrances for the relevant figures, and the same is true for many comparable busy scenes. Costume signals are plentiful and therefore too complex to characterize easily, but the standard procedure is to have figures that were probably readily identifiable by their distinctive garments or properties (doctor, forester-woodman, friar, gardener, jailer, lawyer, merchant, nurse, scholar) enter with no further details provided. Large properties, as noted earlier, are sometimes prepared , but more often an altar, bar, bed, bier, coffin, scaffold, or table is borne, carried, placed, set , or thrust in/out/forth , sometimes with a permissive or coded term attached: ‘ a Tomb, placed conveniently on the Stage ’ (Greene, James IV , line 3). Although not elliptical in the fashion of ‘ Exit corse ’, the many signals that call for generic figures or large properties are couched in a form of shorthand that conveyed a great deal to a knowledgeable theatrical professional but is often opaque to a reader today.

Admittedly, not all items left to the implementation of the entering actor remain murky or indecipherable today, as when players are directed to enter discontented, drunk, malcontent , or melancholy . Today's reader or actor can readily understand ‘ Caliban sings drunkenly ’ ( The Tempest , ii. ii. 178), but harder to piece out are the signals and silences linked to madness. Few of the plentiful mad scenes that start in the 1580s with plays such as 1 Tamburlaine, The Spanish Tragedy , and The Cobbler's Prophecy provide any details in the stage directions, as with ‘ Enter Lear ’ (Folio King Lear , iv. vi. 80). The occasional more specific direction is usually generic, most commonly enter mad (ten examples, including Quarto King Lear , iv. vi. 80) and enter   distracted   /distractedly (eight examples, including Folio Hamlet , iv. v. 20). Variations include ‘ with distracted looks ’ (Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts , v. i. 88) and ‘ raving and staring as if he were mad ’ (Quarto 2 Henry VI , iii. iii. 0). The use of generic signals that leave the implementation to the actor is best seen in John Webster's The White Devil where the speeches of the dying Bracciano ‘ are several kinds of distractions and in the action should appear so ’ (v. iii. 82; see also v. iv. 82). The one detail that is supplied with any regularity is disheveled hair for mad women, usually phrased as ‘ with her hair about her ears ’ (Folio Troilus and Cressida , ii. ii. 100; Heywood, 1 The Iron Age , iii. 269). The variations from silence to specificity can be seen in the three versions of Ophelia's first mad appearance in Hamlet (iv. v. 20): ‘ Enter Ophelia ’ (Q2); ‘ Enter Ophelia distracted ’ (Folio); ‘ Enter Ophelia playing on a lute, and her hair down singing ’ (Q1).

Also instructive are the many variations in directions for an actor to enter   unready . As with mad , sometimes a variant of the term can stand alone, so that figures enter: ‘ unready ’ (Fletcher, The Coxcomb , viii. 323); ‘ all unready ’ (Heywood, 2 The Iron Age , iii. 381); ‘ not full ready ’ (Dekker, 1 The Honest Whore , ii. i. 12); or ‘ as in his Chamber in a morning, half ready ’ (Field, A Woman Is a Weathercock , i. i. 1–2). To join Danae in bed ‘ Jupiter puts out the lights and makes unready ’ (Heywood, The Golden Age , iii. 69). Unlike the situation with such terms as discontented, drunk, mad, and malcontented , an even larger number of signals spell out how to stage unreadiness, most commonly by means of costume. Many unready situations result from interrupted sleep, as with ‘ half unready, as newly started from their Beds ’ (Heywood, 2 The Iron Age , iii. 413), so that various items of night attire, especially the nightgown, are regularly specified. The number of actual uses of unready itself is then dwarfed by a much larger number of signals that direct an actor to enter in a nightgown, nightcap, shirt , or slippers , and trussing, unbraced , or half   naked .

If the authors of stage directions leave much to the implementation of the entering actor (for example, details about what we term make-up are rare), the same is true for that category of signals linked to the placement of the actors on the stage, an equivalent to what we term blocking . A reader today may assume that the two onstage posts or pillars that supported the heavens (at least in the large public amphitheaters) were used regularly for various actions, most notably the many eavesdropping or observation scenes (e.g. Much Ado , ii. iii and iii. i; Othello , iv. i; Troilus and Cressida , v. ii), but only one such signal survives: ‘ stands behind the post ’ (Barnabe Barnes, The Devil's Charter , F3 v ). Rather, the few theatrical signals that mention a post call for some distinctive business, as with ‘ practicing, to the post ’ (Jonson, Folio Every Man in His Humour , iii. v. 141). Given the large number of observation or concealment scenes, surprisingly few specific signals are available, and those few are generic or non-prescriptive, as with ‘ stand unseen ’ (Heywood, The Escapes of Jupiter , line 1583). That ‘ behind the post ’ (as spelled out in The Devil's Charter ) should be understood as implicit in ‘ stand unseen ’ is a possible inference, but such an expansion is far less obvious than a comparable expansion of ‘ Exit corse ’. The evidence suggests that the staging of such eavesdropping was either (1) a matter of standard practice that did not need specific signals (so that Barnes's usage is anomalous or superfluous) or (2) something to be left to the players.

Other directions for onstage placement are also less than informative to a reader today. Admittedly, references to figures and actions above/aloft and below/under the stage are common, presumably because such entrances or effects were to be distinguished by the bookkeeper and players backstage from the normal flow of action on the main stage. As already noted, anything to do with traffic control is likely to receive attention, as with widely used locutions such as enter at one door … and at the other door; enter severally; enter at both doors . However, the few terms used to denote movement or location on the main stage leave almost everything to the implementation of the actor, as when attendants are directed to ‘ stand in convenient order about the stage ’ ( Henry VIII , ii. iv. 0). Signals that correspond to today's sense of blocking are rare and usually are linked to some special effect or configuration: ‘ They place themselves in every corner of the stage’ (Antony and Cleopatra , iv. iii. 8).

Stage directions linked to onstage placement are therefore open rather than specific. An exception is found in the relatively few signals that invoke the term side : ‘ the Pope taketh his place, three Cardinals on one side and captains on the other ’ (Barnes, The Devil's Charter , L1 r ); ‘ four stand on one side, and four on the other ’ (Folio 3 Henry VI , iv. i. 6). More permissive and therefore more typical are terms such as apart, aloof , and afar off : ‘ Enter Hamlet and Horatio afar off ’ (Folio Hamlet , v. i. 55); ‘ She espies her husband, walking aloof off, and takes him for another Suitor ’ (Heywood, 1 Edward IV , i. 83). In Dekker's Satiromastix Horace enters aloof so as to elicit the comment ‘Captain, captain, Horace stands sneaking here’ (iv. ii. 24, 46); in Folio 3 Henry VI the French king asks a group ‘to stand aside’ and ‘ They stand aloof ’ (iii. iii. 111).

Similarly, signals for rapid movement, violence or threatened violence, and interrupted exits (as in variations on o ff ers to go ) may be widespread, but, except for items 20). The term of choice for such onstage movement is often aside (to be distinguished from the more familiar use of the same term as applied to speech). Most of the many examples provide only aside linked to a verb, most commonly go, stand , step , and take: ‘takes Amy aside, and courts her in a gentle way ’ (Brome, A Jovial Crew , iii. 426); ‘ walks aside full of strange gestures ’ (Fletcher, The Mad Lover , iii. 14). already cited, indications of onstage placement are surprisingly few. A number of figures are directed to withdraw or retire , often to be observers or eavesdroppers: ‘ withdraw to the other part of the stage ’ (Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour , ii. iii.

Although sporadic use of terms such as aloof, apart, aside, post, retire , and withdraw suggest at least some attention to positioning or blocking, a survey of hundreds of plays and thousands of stage directions provides no equivalents for terms we take for granted today: onstage; offstage; upstage; downstage; stage right; stage left . The one consistent signal that is to be found is the term within , which is regularly linked to offstage sounds or voices. However, the term without , which would seem to be the logical extension or antithesis, is rare. Similarly, onstage figures are regularly directed off , but rarely is the term on invoked to bring actors onto the stage. Rather, the key words in their vocabulary that would correspond to our onstage-offstage are in, out , and forth . The problem is that a review of the use of these terms by such seasoned professionals as Shakespeare, Dekker, Fletcher, and Heywood not only yields no clear, consistent distinctions but offers numerous examples of apparent contradictions, sometimes within a given scene. Indeed, in some instances the verb being used ( bring, draw, lead, set, thrust ) appears to be more important than the adverb that supposedly provides the direction.

A few examples can be instructive. Some signals do provide what appear to be clear, consistent distinctions, as with ‘ He goes in at one door, and comes out at another ’ (Heywood, The English Traveller , iv. 69). Here out clearly corresponds to our in -onstage and in corresponds to our out-offstage . What could be more straightforward? But from another Heywood play comes: ‘ They march softly in [off the stage] at one door, and presently in [onto the stage] at another ’ ( 2 The Iron Age , iii. 379—and presently means ‘immediately’), so that the same stage direction can provide two opposite meanings for in. Similarly, the same scene in Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI supplies ‘ Bedford brought in sick in a Chair ’ and ‘ Bedford dies, and is carried in by two in his Chair ’ (iii. ii. 40, 114); and the Folio version of 3 Henry VI provides, first, ‘ enter Warwick, Somerset, and the rest, bringing the King out in his gown ’ and later, ‘ They lead him out forcibly ’ (iv. iii. 27, 57). Similarly, in Jonson's Bartholomew Fair Ursula ‘ Comes out with a fire-brand ’, but, when she reappears a hundred lines later, she ‘ comes in, with the scalding pan ’ (ii. v. 59, 155); for the same climactic moment in King Lear (v. iii. 238) the Quarto has ‘ The bodies of Goneril and Regan are brought in ’ (L3 r ), but the Folio has ‘ Goneril and Regan's bodies brought out ’ (TLN 3184), so that, in this instance, brought in and brought out are synonymous.

In citing such examples, my purpose is not to belittle Shakespeare, Heywood, Jonson, and others as sloppy or inconsistent. Rather, my point is that a firm sense of onstage and offstage , although crucial to our theatrical vocabulary and habits of thought, was far less important to them (and the varying uses of forth further reinforce this argument). Although I am reluctant to draw any far-reaching conclusions from this evidence, I do sense that their mindset is actor-centered and therefore closely linked to the presence, needs, and perspective of the entering or departing actor. As Bernard Beckerman has argued (Beckerman 1981 : 152, 158), today's actors and directors ‘expect to turn the stage area into an idiosyncratic world that can house the events of the play in question’ so that ‘somehow the stage is to be altered to suit the play at hand and only the play at hand’, but for the Elizabethans ‘whatever sense of locale a play or scene showed was derived from what the actors brought on stage’ so that ‘doors, posts, and walls did not convey information about locale independently’. Rather, ‘the players projected an identity upon the individual part of the stage by calling, for instance, the upper level the walls of Corioli or one of the doors Brabantio's house’, so that ‘the environment that the players projected onto the facade or about the platform needed to be only as detailed as the narrative required for the moment’.

In practice, such an approach can then be oblivious to rigorous distinctions that to us seem logical, even essential. Similarly, signals such as ‘ Exit corse ’ and ‘ covered dishes march over the stage ’ may at first seem amusing or quaint but, especially when combined with permissive stage directions, can point us towards a fundamental problem that underlies any attempt to reconstruct English Renaissance theatrical practice. Admittedly, details are available about many onstage effects, but in some areas the inconsistencies can be puzzling and the silences deafening. Because the signals were directed at theatrical professionals who needed no tutoring, exactly how much coded information was conveyed by enter a friar/doctor/jailer or ‘ stand unseen ’ is difficult, perhaps impossible, to reconstruct today.

Another hurdle in the path of reconstruction is linked to Richard Hosley's distinction between fictional and theatrical stage directions (Hosley 1957: 16–17). For Hosley theatrical signals ‘usually refer not to dramatic fiction but rather to theatrical structure or equipment’ ( within, at another door, a scaffold thrust out ), whereas fictional signals ‘usually refer not to theatrical structure or equipment but rather to dramatic fiction’ ( on shipboard, within the prison, enter the town ). The same onstage event can therefore be signaled by both enter above and enter upon the walls (of a city), with the second locution the fictional version of the first.

The most theatrical of signals can be seen in a playhouse annotator's call for a specific property such as a bar or a table. At the other extreme are those fictional directions in which a dramatist slips into a narrative or descriptive style seemingly more suited to a reader looking at a page than an actor on the stage. Some of these fictional signals show the dramatist thinking out loud in the process of writing so that the details anticipate what will be evident in the forthcoming action: ‘ Parolles and Lafew stay behind, commenting of this wedding ’ ( All's Well That Ends Well , ii. iii. 184). Such stage directions can be valuable insofar as they provide evidence about the dramatist's thought processes or his sense of the narrative but often tell us little about what the playgoers saw.

9780199697861, however, various complications can arise when today's reader cannot be certain if a signal is theatrical, and therefore calls for a significant property such as a tomb or a tree, or fictional , so that a sense of a tomb or forest is to be generated by means of language, hand-held properties, and appropriate actions in conjunction with the imagination of the playgoer. Such complications are further compounded by the presence of an explicit or implicit as or as if . A seemingly straightforward fictional signal such as ‘ Enter Marius solus from the Numidian mountains, feeding on roots ’ (Lodge, The Wounds of Civil War , lines 1189–90) initially may appear to tell the story rather than provide a signal to an actor, but a starving Marius who has been alone in exile could enter ‘[ as if ] from the Numidian mountains ’ so that the actor will use ‘ feeding on roots ’ (as in Timon of Athens ), along with disheveled costume and hair, to signal his mental and physical state. Similarly, ‘ Enter old M. Chartly as new come out of the Country To inquire after his Son ’ (Heywood, The Wise Woman of Hogsdon , v. 340) tells the mission of the old man in narrative terms but may also signal some ‘country’ costume or other property (a staff, a basket). A fictional signal such as enter on the walls requires only that the figure enter above or aloft , whereas other seemingly fictional signals may convey some practical, albeit coded, instructions.

In this context consider the many and varied stage directions that either incorporate or omit the tiny word as , particularly in constructions that involve enter from and enter in . Uses of enter from often show a playwright using a stage direction either to enhance the story being told or to indicate a particular stage door. A selection from Shakespeare's plays includes entrances ‘ from his arraignment ’ ( Henry VIII , ii. i. 53); ‘ from the murder of Duke Humphrey ’ (Folio 2 Henry VI , iii. ii. 0); ‘from the Courtesan's’ and ‘from the bay’(The Comedy of Errors , iv. i. 13; iv. i. 84); and ‘ from the cave ’ (Cymbeline , iv. ii. 0). To see the potential significance of the omission of an as, however, one need only set up some pairings: enter ‘ from hunting ’ ( Titus Andronicus , ii. iv. 10) versus ‘ as from hunting ’ (Heywood, The Late Lancashire Witches , iv. 171) or ‘ with her Hawk on her first … as if they came from hawking ’ (Quarto 2 Henry VI , ii. i. 0); enter ‘ from dinner ’ (Quarto Merry Wives , B1 r , i. ii. 0) versus ‘ as from dinner ’ (Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts , iii. iii. 0) or ‘ as it were brushing the Crumbs from his clothes with a Napkin, as newly risen from supper ’ (Heywood, A Woman Killed with Kindness , ii. 118). The largest group consists of variations on ‘ as from bed ’ (e.g. Fletcher, The Lovers' Progress , v. 128; Heywood, 2 The Iron Age , iii. 381), a version of unready , including such costume signals as ‘ Dalavill in a Nightgown: Wife in a night-tire, as coming from Bed ’ (Heywood, The English Traveller , iv. 70 ). Most of these signals use the as from formula with few or no details to set up a recently completed offstage action: ‘ as from a wedding ’ (Fletcher, The Woman's Prize , viii. 2); ‘ as from prison ’ (Massinger, The City Madam , v. iii. 59). The effect is to create a sense of actions, places, or a ‘world’ just offstage to be imagined by the playgoer.

Harder to interpret but potentially more revealing are the enter in signals. For many scenes the ongoing narrative fiction requires that the action take place in a particular place (a courtroom, garden, prison, shop, study , or tavern ). As already noted, most of the relevant scenes provide no more than an enter followed by a list of proper names or generic types. Some, however, do provide a shorthand signal, as when Brutus is directed to enter ‘ in his orchard ’ ( Julius Caesar , ii. i. 0). A number of figures therefore enter in prison, in his study , or in the shop , and a smaller number enter in other venues. To read such signals today is almost inevitably to draw upon reflexes gained from reading novels or watching cinema, television, and modern stage pictures linked to properties, sets, and lighting.

But what if an implicit as or as [ if ] is factored into this equation? Eleven plays may specify entrances ‘ in prison ’, and a few of these stage directions do provide more details, as with ‘ in prison, with Irons, his feet bare, his garments all ragged and torn ’ (Heywood, A Woman Killed with Kindness , ii. 127). However, four Caroline playwrights signal an entrance ‘ as in prison ’ (e.g. Brome, The Queen and Concubine , ii. 35). Again, consider the following pairings: enter ‘ in the woods ’ ( Timon of Athens , iv. iii. 0) versus ‘ Andrugio, as out of the woods, with Bow and Arrows, and a Cony at his girdle ’ (Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra , K4 r ); enter ‘ in his Study ’ (Marlowe, Dr Faustus , A-text lines 30, 437) versus ‘ as in his Study ’ (Fletcher, The Fair Maid of the Inn , ix. 193); ‘Enter Luce in a Seamster's shop, at work upon a laced Handkerchief’ (Heywood, The Wise Woman of Hogsdon , v. 284) versus ‘ as in their shop ’ (Field, Amends for Ladies , ii. i. 0). For a related usage compare two versions of Richard II , iv. i. 0: ‘ Enter Bullingbrook with the Lords to parliament ’ (Quarto) versus ‘ Enter as to the Parliament ’ (Folio).

As with ‘ Exit corse ’, to omit an implicit as from an enter from signal does not cause major problems, for a theater-oriented reader can readily imagine the appropriate costume and effects for entrances in a Noel Coward comedy from tennis or from swimming . However, the same omission from an enter in signal can make a significant difference. An entrance in the woods, in a garden , or in his orchard may suggest onstage greenery, but an implicit or explicit as suggests that any sense of woods, garden, or orchard is to be generated for the playgoer by the entering actor's costume, hand-held properties, and dialogue. Similarly, the sense of a tavern can be linked to easily recognizable figures (most commonly drawers) in distinctive costumes along with portable objects such as wine, cups, tobacco, and towels. Specific directions to enter in the tavern may be scarce, but far more common is a signal such as ‘ Enter Drawer with Wine, Plate, and Tobacco ’ (Field, Amends for Ladies , iii. iv. 36) which is comparable to as in a tavern or perhaps a tavern prepared .

To focus upon as from, as in , and related entrances is then to confront a variety of situations that bring into focus distinctive features of the drama before 1642. Starting in the Restoration but especially in the 1700s, movable scenery became an integral part of both staging and theatrical thinking, so that, from the beginning of the editorial tradition until very recently, scholars, drawing upon their sense of playgoing or imagined performances, have attached specific locales to Shakespeare's scenes, even when such specificity clashed with the original effects. As Beckerman notes, what is assumed in such post-1660 or post-1700 thinking is that an actor arriving onstage enters to a pre-existing, already established ‘place’. But, as indicated by the plentiful as from and as in signals, before the emergence of scenes and sets the pre-1642 actor entered to a neutral, unlocalized space. If the locale was for some reason important, that actor then, whether through dialogue, properties, costume, or distinctive actions, brought that ‘place’ with him or somehow signaled the place-activity he had left behind him offstage. In short, the locale did not precede the actor; rather, the actor created or signaled the locale. To specify ‘place’ in our texts (a practice still to be found in editions of Shakespeare) is then to impose a later editorial-theatrical logic upon the received texts so as to eclipse features basic to the original onstage vocabulary.

Another tricky question when dealing with stage directions is their placement in a given scene, particularly for mid-scene entrances and exits—and here is an issue where theater historians and editors may part company. In an influential essay E. A. J. Honigmann describes what he sees as Shakespeare's carelessness with stage directions: ‘He often omitted them, or left them incomplete, or inserted them in approximately but not precisely the correct place’; he argues, moreover, that some of these signals ‘were added or misplaced by scriveners, prompters, Folio editors or compositors’, to the point that the editor or reader ‘cannot avoid giving a higher authority to the “implied stage-directions” of the dialogue than to directions printed as such’ (Honigmann 1998 : 187).

Honigmann rightly calls our attention to omissions or incompleteness in the surviving stage directions, but the line between ‘carelessness’ and ‘permissiveness’ (wherein one knowledgeable theatrical professional is talking to another) is a hard one to draw. Of interest here is a recurring phenomenon: that a number of figures in the early printed texts enter one or more lines before they are noticed by those onstage. Readers of Shakespeare who do not work directly with the original quartos or the First Folio will not be aware of many of these potential anomalies (roughly one or two per play), because editors regularly move the signals so as to have them conform to normative usage. To Honigmann and many editors these odd placements represent carelessness (by the dramatist or compositor) or the result of exigencies in the printing shop or an indication of the depth of the Globe stage (so that a few lines were needed for the entering figure upstage to join a downstage group). The latter explanation (that extra lines were inserted for practical reasons) makes good sense until one asks: Why is such a special allowance granted to one entrance but not to the fifteen to thirty comparable moments in the same script?

Since I devote much of a chapter to this phenomenon (Dessen 1995 : 64–77), I will limit myself to one highly visible example, the entrance of a smiling Malvolio in yellow stockings and cross-gartered ( Twelfth Night , iii. iv). Most modern editions (here the Riverside is an exception) place that entry just before Olivia's ‘How now, Malvolio?’ (line 15), so that she and the playgoer see the entering figure at the same time. In the Folio, however, Malvolio is directed to enter two lines earlier, just after Olivia's ‘Go call him hither’, so that the only authoritative early printed text of this comedy places Malvolio onstage for her ‘I am as mad as he, | If sad and merry madness equal be’ (lines 13–14).

To some readers the difference may seem unimportant; to many editors the Folio version appears illogical or impractical. But what happens if we take this placement as seriously as any other bit of evidence in the Folio Twelfth Night ? For example, what would be the effect upon Malvolio if at his entrance he overhears Olivia talking about her own madness? Could such words reinforce in his mind the evidence gained from the letter in ii. v and therefore serve as another building block for the cross-purposes and comic delusion that follow? Or would a playgoer who sees Malvolio enter while at the same time hearing Olivia talk of her own malady be more likely to see an analogy between the two instances of comic madness or self-delusion? Again, how does one distinguish between ‘carelessness’ and a valid theatrical logic?

To puzzle over the placement or timing of stage directions is to confront a related yet different set of problems. Dealing with permissive or coded signals is regularly to encounter silences in the original manuscripts and printed texts. In contrast, provocative evidence is available about early entrances, but those signals are regularly deemed dispensable by many scholars because their placement is out of phase with our paradigms or expectations—and if an editor repositions such a signal, users of that edition will be unaware that such an option even exists. In this instance, provocative evidence may survive, but, whether because of the editorial process or because of the lenses through which today's reader views a Shakespeare play, no one is paying attention. In seeking to recover the original staging practice, the theater historian is therefore bedeviled by both the absence of evidence and the presence of seemingly anomalous signals that can easily be ignored. Both silences and anomalies, however, can be crucial if the goal is to open up a window that will reveal how Shakespeare's theatrical assumptions and practices differ from ours.

Behind my attempts to open that window lie the twin assumptions that (1) the original theatrical artists knew what they were doing but (2) their methods and working assumptions are not what we take for granted today. Shakespeare and his colleagues were not benighted primitives who lacked our superior know-how and technology, but were highly skilled professionals who for many decades sustained a repertory theater company that is the envy of any comparable group since. However, when putting quill to paper Shakespeare (or Heywood or Fletcher) was crafting his plays for players, playgoers, and playhouses that no longer exist. In reading their playscripts today we enter into the middle of a conversation—a discourse in a language we only partly understand—between a playwright and his player colleagues, a halfway stage that was completed in a performance now lost to us. Although we will never reconstitute that performance, we may be able to recover elements of that vocabulary and hence better understand that conversation, whether the pre-production concept of the playwright or the implementation by the players. Nonetheless, despite such efforts in historical recovery we remain eavesdroppers.

The collaboration that underlies this process and the conversation on which we are eavesdropping have various implications for scholars. Honigmann's argument in favor of ‘implied’ stage directions in the dialogue or ‘signals in the script’ (a term regularly invoked by Shakespeare-in-performance critics and teachers) sounds attractive, but anyone who has followed the path of theater history over the last century is aware of various false hypotheses (the postulation of an ‘inner stage’ quickly comes to mind) linked to a reader's assumptions about how X must have been staged, assumptions based upon notions of theater contemporary to that reader and often alien to the 1590s and 1600s. To deal justly with the original stage practice is to unlearn what today we know, or think we know, about how a play should or must work onstage (the absence then of anything comparable to our variable onstage illumination for night and darkness scenes remains the best example). To overcome the significant but often invisible gap between theater practice then and now, the best place to turn remains the stage directions that survive from the professional repertory theater, for to build upon those signals as evidence is to stay within the realm of the possible: what was or could have been done in the original productions.

What emerges from this scattered but nonetheless suggestive evidence is a sense of a collaborative theatrical process where the authors of the surviving stage directions took for granted the professionalism and expertise of the players. The editor or theater historian would much prefer ‘spell it all out’ signals, but the actual stage directions provided by professionals usually display a ‘leave it up to the players’ approach characterized by permissive terms, as if thinking, and a lack of specificity about gestures, costume, blocking, make-up, and hand-held properties. The abundant presence of permissive, elliptical, and coded signals highlights the collaborative nature of this theatrical enterprise and the need for editors, theater historians, and other eavesdropping readers to attend carefully to a conversation in a language we at best partly understand. The alternative is spelled out by Hermione: ‘You speak a language that I understand not’ ( The Winter's Tale , iii. ii. 80).

To streamline this essay I have drawn my examples when possible from The Riverside Shakespeare (Shakespeare 1997 b ) and from plays in The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher , ed. Arnold Glover and A. R. Waller, 10 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905–12) ; Richard Brome, Dramatic Works , ed. R. H. Shepherd (Brome 1873 ); Thomas Dekker, Dramatic Works , ed. Fredson Bowers (Dekker 1953–61 ); Nathan Field, Plays , ed. William Peery (Field 1950 ); Thomas Heywood, Dramatic Works , ed. R. H. Shepherd (Heywood 1874 ); Ben Jonson, Jonson , ed. C. H. Herford and Percy and Evelyn Simpson (Jonson 1925–52 ); and Philip Massinger, Plays and Poems , ed. Philip Edwards and Colin Gibson (Massinger 1976 ).

Also cited are Barnabe Barnes, The Devil's Charter , ed. John S. Farmer (Barnes 1913 ); Robert Greene, Alphonsus of Aragon (Greene 1926 ) and James IV , ed. A. E. H. Swaen (Greene 1921 ); Thomas Heywood, The Escapes of Jupiter , ed. Henry D. Janzen (Heywood 1978 ); Thomas Lodge, The Wounds of Civil War , ed. J. Dover Wilson (Lodge 1x910); Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus , ed. W. W. Greg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1950) ; Thomas Middleton, A Mad World My Masters , ed. Standish Henning, Regents Renaissance Drama (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965) ; The Two Merry Milkmaids , ed. John S. Farmer (Amersham: Tudor Facsimile Texts, 1914) ; John Webster, The White Devil , ed. John Russell Brown, Revels Plays (London: Methuen, 1960) ; and George Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra , ed. John S. Farmer (Whetstone 1910) .

For fuller documentation of various items, see the Dictionary of Stage Directions , Dessen and Thomson 1999 . Terms in my text for which there are dictionary entries are printed in bold italics . As is the practice in the dictionary, when citing stage directions from old-spelling editions I have modernized the spelling. Playwrights' names attached to titles are for the convenience of the reader and do not take into account multiple authorship.

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Definition of 'stage direction'

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What is Play? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples

Play definition.

A play (PLAY) is a literary work written for the theater that dramatizes events through the performance of dialogue and stage directions. The authors of plays, called playwrights, structure the performances into acts and scenes, which help build the tension and present the story in a compelling way for audiences . There are a few types of plays, such as those written for the stage, for radio (radio plays), and for television or motion pictures (screenplays).

Plays are typically divided into two main genres : dramas, which are serious in tone and often tragic, and comedies, which are lighthearted and funny. All plays, however, aim to entertain and share meaningful insights into this human experience. Even when plays are more experimental or absurdist in nature, they speak to emotional truths and inspire critical thought.

The word play , meaning a dramatic performance, originates from the early fourteenth century, with roots in the Greek paizo , meaning “to act.”

The History of Plays

The history of the modern play traces back to the dramas of antiquity. Western drama began in ancient Greece, where dramatists wrote plays to compete in national competitions honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. These plays were either comedies, tragedies, or satyr plays, a kind of bawdy burlesque. Not many survived into the modern era. The works of Aeschylus (the Oresteia , Prometheus Bound ), Euripides ( Medea , The Trojan Women ), and Sophocles ( Oedipus Rex , Electra ) are among the few that remain intact and are still performed today.

When the Roman Empire expanded into Grecian provinces, the Romans encountered the popularity of performed dramas and scattered this concept throughout the rest of Europe. A natural byproduct of this growth was that writers interpreted dramas in different ways, expanding them beyond the three basic categories of comedy, tragedy, or satyr play. Plays possessed greater nuance and sophistication, and the subjects explored were more varied and diverse.

Greco-Roman dramatist Livius Andronicus ( Achilles , Gladiolus ) and Gnaeus Naevius ( Aegisthus , Lycurgus ) were the first major playwrights of the era, though only fragments of their work have survived. They set the stage—both literally and figuratively—for the Roman dramatists to follow, including Plautus ( Casina , Mostellaria ), Lucius Accius ( Decius , Brutus ), and Seneca the Younger ( Thyestes , Phaedra ).

Plays in the Middle Ages

By the Middle Ages, plays—like much of life in the Medieval world—had largely become the domain of the church. Mystery plays focused primarily on performances of Biblical stories and events. These evolved into the morality plays of the 15th century, which were didactic dramas still heavily influenced by the Bible. Morality plays consisted of allegorical characters who teach the audience archly moral lessons through simple, plot -driven stories. Examples include the anonymously authored plays The Castle of Perseverance and Everyman .

As the Middle Ages progressed, playwrights started dabbling outside the sacred, with historical plays honoring kings of the past. Morality plays gradually declined in popularity, and by the early 16th and 17th centuries, more secular topics gained traction in the theater. English Renaissance theater of this era gave the world some of its best known plays and playwrights, like William Shakespeare ( Romeo and Juliet , A Midsummer Night’s Dream ), Christopher Marlowe ( Edward the Second , Tamburlaine the Great ), and Ben Jonson ( The Alchemist , Volpone ).

The penchant for dramatizing—and, often, celebrating—past monarchies remained strong, though plays began to deal with other, more daring subjects and storylines. By the Restoration, comedies like George Etherege’s The Man of Mode and William Wycherley’s The Country Wife were unabashedly frank and boldly sexual for the times.

Plays in the Modern Era

Most scholars consider the modern age of Western drama to have first blossomed in the 19th century. It was during this period that trailblazing plays really started to delve into realistic themes, confront real-world issues, and offer social criticisms, while also expanding the form to embrace experimentation with style and language. A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, and The House of Bernarda Alba and Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca are just a few of the pioneering works of this period.

From the late 19th to the mid-20th century, experimentation developed into its own theatrical style. A prime example is the Theatre of the Absurd, which tackled themes like existentialism and the inherent meaninglessness of human existence. Experimental playwrights played with conventional plot structure, narrative , and voice to challenge audiences and encourage social change. In addition to the works of Brecht, experimental theater included mainstays like Samuel Beckett ( Waiting for Godot , Happy Days ), Eugène Ionesco ( Rhinoceros , Exit the King ), and Harold Pinter ( The Birthday Party , The Homecoming ).

American plays came into their own in the 20th century. Playwrights centered the American experience in exciting, often risky new ways, presenting authentic portrayals of modern life: intense stories of fractured family relationships ( Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry); dramas documenting the Southern mythos and the fragility of the spirit ( The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley); raucous, boundary-pushing comedies ( Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin, Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon); biting social commentaries ( The Crucible by Arthur Miller, A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel); and plays that, for the first time, empowered marginalized communities with their own voices and histories (the Pittsburgh Cycle/Century Cycle by August Wilson , The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika by Tony Kushner).

The Elements of Plays

A typical play contains the following elements: acts and scenes, characters, dialogue, plot , setting , and stage directions.

Acts and Scenes

Playwrights break the action of their plays into larger sections called acts, with individual acts broken up into smaller sections called scenes. Each scene is essentially a vignette that presents a pivotal moment in the plot or in the development of the characters. Some plays—such as Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays —are one-act plays, where all the drama unfolds in a single act; a playwright may or may not divide them into smaller scenes.

The characters are the people whom the play is about, with the dramatic action resulting from their choices, behaviors, and relationships. Characters are central to the plot of any play because, without them, the playwright cannot tell the story. Most often, characters are their own unique identities, but, in some cases, they might be allegories or archetypes ; examples of the latter include the characters in Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder.

Dialogue is just as important as character in any play because it propels the action forward and informs the audience about what’s happening onstage, who the characters are, and their relationships to one another. Dialogue encompasses all the spoken parts of the play. This takes the form of conversations between characters or asides spoken to the audience. Ancient and classical playwrights frequently wrote dialogue in verse, but this is largely outdated, with modern dialogue and language replacing more formal rhythms and structures.

Some plays consist only of monologues , dialogue spoken by one character at a time, usually directly to the audience. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler are two popular examples. A one-person show or solo performance is a play-length monologue delivered by one performer; they may play one character or multiple characters. Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith and God Said Ha! by Julia Sweeney are both one-person shows.

The plot is the sequence of events linking the story together and presenting it in a cohesive, compelling way. Plot consists of five general elements: an introduction that introduces the characters and setting; rising action; a climactic scene or scenes; falling action; and a resolution. Many plays use this approach to tell a linear story, though some—especially those that are more experimental in nature—may jump around in time and deliberately alter the audience’s sense of reality; Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare is an example of the latter.

The setting is where the action of the play takes place. Setting can refer to both the geographic area (city, state, country) and the exact location of the action in a given scene (a specific room in a house, an office, a public space like a park or a beach, etc.). For many playwrights, setting is so critical that it almost becomes another character in the play; for instance, see the American South of Tennessee Williams, the New England of Eugene O’Neill, and the New York of Neil Simon.

Stage Directions

Stage directions are the only other text that appears in a play script. They are not spoken; instead, they function as directions to the actors, director, and other creatives producing the play. They stipulate when characters enter and exit a scene; how actors should speak or react to certain lines; what the sets should look like; and any supplemental information that enhances the experience of the play, such as specific musical selections, types of lighting to use, and sound effects to employ. Some playwrights, like William Shakespeare, include minimal stage directions, while others, like Samuel Beckett, are notorious about productions adhering strictly to the meticulous stage directions they’ve defined.

The Types of Plays

Dramas and comedies are the two main genres of plays, but you can further split these into more detailed subgenres.

A farce is a comedy with an overly ridiculous plot, buffoonish characters, and exaggerated situations. Farces rely on a sense of the lighthearted and absurd, and they’re intended to be great fun for the audience. Popular farces include The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti, and Noises Off by Michael Frayn.

Documentary Theater

Documentary theater dramatizes real-life events, often by using existing materials—interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, government records, etc.—to tell the story. Some productions will utilize multimedia footage to bring the experience more fully and realistically into the theatrical space. Fact-based dramas stretch as far back as ancient Greece, but documentary plays as their own theatrical form are largely the product of more contemporary playwrights and activists like Heinar Kipphardt, Anna Deavere Smith, and the Tectonic Theater Project.

A melodrama overemphasizes the emotions of its characters and the emotional underpinnings of the story to elicit a response from the audience. Melodramas can be soap operatic or campy, but most aim to appeal to the viewer’s emotional sensitivities. Many mystery and morality plays of the Middle Ages, Shakespeare plays, and operas are melodramatic.

Operas and Musical Theater

Operas and musical theater are plays set to music, and the actors sing some or all of the dialogue. Opera tends to be more classical in style, with sweeping musical arrangements, swelling and overly emotive voices, and lavish sets and costumes. Musical theater has a generally lighter tone; a musical theater production is likelier to include spoken dialogue between the songs, more subdued—but still impressive and often majestic—vocal stylings, and fun, engaging plotlines. Verdi’s La Traviata and Puccini’s La Bohème are two world-famous operas, while Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton are modern classics of musical theater.

There was a time when all plays were either comedies or tragedies; if all or most of the main characters were not dead by the final curtain, the play was a comedy, regardless of the tone of the rest of the play. Tragedies of the classical theater include The Bacchae by Euripides and Antigone by Sophocles. Modern tragedies may not end in mass death, but they still typically conclude with a sense of bleakness or despair; see ‘night, Mother by Marsha Norman and Bent by Martin Sherman.

The Function of Plays

Plays are, primarily, a form of entertainment. Yet, from their earliest days, plays have been a vehicle for inspiration, humor, critical thought, and transformation. Plays introduce audiences to characters, settings , and situations they might not encounter in their everyday lives; or, if they do encounter them, plays may inspire new ways of thinking about these subjects.

Plays can shed a light on the messier sides of human nature—like family and other interpersonal conflicts , the pain of social change and rebirth, and the struggles of mental illness, to name just a few—thereby illuminating our shared humanity. Many plays, even those not specifically classified as comedies, include lighter moments of levity, proving there is always time and space for laughter.

Ultimately, plays tell stories without the exposition of novels and other literary forms, and this allows the audience to connect directly with what the characters say and how they behave on stage. Plays are a remarkably straightforward and immersive art form that produce genuine, sometimes even life-changing experiences.

A Brief History of Eastern Plays

Eastern theater flourished in India in the form of Sanskrit dramas between the 1st and 10th centuries. In China, the first plays premiered during the Shang Dynasty, which began in 1600 BCE. Japanese theater emerged later, starting in the 16th and 17th centuries, with Kabuki theater combining plays, music, and dance.

All these approaches brought Eastern influences to the art of the play, with each country offering something distinct. For instance, in India, the Islamic Conquests discouraged play production, so afterwards, natives focused on creating plays about indigenous issues as a way to reassert their heritage. Colonial rule also shaped India’s plays, with great emphasis on the experience of living under the British Raj.

In China, plays honored historical figures or told morality tales with stock characters. Miming, dancing, singing, and comedic performance were common aspects of popular plays. During the reign of Empress Ming, puppeteers presented plays with shadow puppets. A changing world and Western influences dramatically impacted modern Chinese theater, though, as an art form, plays are no longer the big draw in China that they once were.

In Japan, noh was a spiritual play drawn from Buddhist and Shinto scriptures, while kyogen was a play that presented the spiritual concepts of noh in slapstick ways. Kabuki followed, with its bright colors and painstaking choreography. Bunraku introduced puppets into play performance. These were all early forms of Japanese theater. More recent developments include shingeki , launched in the early 20th century, which depicted contemporary issues and themes through natural, realistic acting. Sho-gekijo plays, which debuted in the 1980s, were plays created by amateur theater groups with one goal: to entertain the masses.

Compared to Western plays, Eastern plays are more apt to integrate music, dance, and puppetry into the finished performance. They also include themes and history unique to the countries where the plays originated.

Plays vs. Screenplays

A screenplay is a play written for the big or small screen. Screenwriters format screenplays differently than they would with a stage play. Instead of stage directions, they use industry-specific lingo that details important scene information, like location, time of day, and how one scene should transition to the next. Dialogue is centered on the page. Like stage plays, screenplays tend to follow the basic five elements of plot . 

Theatrical Superstitions

When actors perform in plays, many adhere to old superstitions reputed to ensure a successful performance. Specific plays are, in some cases, tied to specific superstitions. One of the most famous involves Macbeth by William Shakespeare , long considered a cursed play. Legend has it that if you’re an actor who says the name of the play while inside a theater, you too will be cursed. This is why many actors refer to Macbeth as “the Scottish play.”

Another theatrical superstition is that one should never wish an actor good luck before a performance. It’s not entirely known where this superstition originated, though a popular theory is that directly wishing a person luck could invoke the opposite. So, an alternate method is to say something completely different, i.e., “Break a leg.”

Whistling in a theater is also considered bad luck for actors. Again, the origins are murky, but because stage crew often communicate in whistles when moving sets and other equipment, an actor who whistles could confuse or endanger a working crewmember.

And be sure to always leave a light on in the theater. This is called a ghost light, and it’s thought that it provides company for all the ghosts that haunt the theaters on their journeys in the spirit world.

Notable Playwrights

  • Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
  • Anton Chekhov, The Seagull
  • Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit
  • Anna Deveare Smith, Fires in the Mirror
  • Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
  • Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
  • Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
  • Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
  • Lynn Nottage, Ruined
  • Eugene O’Neill, Mourning Becomes Electra
  • Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog
  • Harold Pinter, Betrayal
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • Paula Vogel, Indecent
  • Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
  • August Wilson, Fences

Examples in Literature

1. Euripides, Medea

Euripides’s Greek tragedy follows Medea as she exacts an unthinkable revenge against her wayward husband, Jason. Jason left Medea with the hopes of marrying a woman of higher class and rank. Medea follows him, with their two children in tow, and brings him back into her confidence. Once she regains his trust, she murders their two children. Jason mourns the loss of his children and any hope he had of a profitable remarriage as Medea flees in a chariot.

2. Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Shange’s 1976 choreopoem is a play comprised of a series of music- and dance-connected monologues — vignettes capturing the experiences of seven African American women, named only by the colors they wear. They each share stories of racism, sexism, anger, pain, and, ultimately, empowerment. Among the monologues are that of the Lady in Yellow, who talks about losing her virginity; the Lady in Blue, who discusses having an abortion; and the Lady in Orange, who preaches her love of dance, saying she dances to keep from crying, a sentiment with which the other ladies onstage can relate.

3. John Patrick Shanley, Doubt: A Parable

Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2004 play is a character study set at a New England Catholic school. Sister Aloysius Bouvier is the principal who rules the school with an iron fist. Sister James is a young nun and teacher still finding her place, both in the school and in the cloistered life. Father Flynn is a charismatic priest who challenges the old ways so championed by Aloysius. When Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of molesting a young African American boy, she embarks on a personal and ruthless crusade to find the truth, even if it means destroying everyone involved in the process. Ultimately, she succeeds in getting Father Flynn reassigned, but she expresses her doubts about his guilt. Shanley left the ending ambiguous to encourage audiences to come to their own conclusions about Father Flynn and the rightness, or wrongness, of Aloysius’s actions.

Further Resources on Plays

Broadway Direct does a deep-dive into 13 theater superstitions .

Learn more about Asian drama in this detailed presentation.

New York Theater breaks down the 50 best plays of the last 100 years .

Curious about how to write a play? Check out this tutorial from Playwriting 101.

Studio Binder delves into the process of formatting a screenplay .

Related Terms

  • Characterization
  • Didacticism

literature definition stage directions

literature definition stage directions

Dialogue Definition

What is dialogue? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Dialogue is the exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a book, play, or other written work. In prose writing, lines of dialogue are typically identified by the use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as "she said." In plays, lines of dialogue are preceded by the name of the person speaking. Here's a bit of dialogue from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : "Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here."

Some additional key details about dialogue:

  • Dialogue is defined in contrast to monologue , when only one person is speaking.
  • Dialogue is often critical for moving the plot of a story forward, and can be a great way of conveying key information about characters and the plot.
  • Dialogue is also a specific and ancient genre of writing, which often takes the form of a philosophical investigation carried out by two people in conversation, as in the works of Plato. This entry, however, deals with dialogue as a narrative element, not as a genre.

How to Pronounce Dialogue

Here's how to pronounce dialogue: dye -uh-log

Dialogue in Depth

Dialogue is used in all forms of writing, from novels to news articles to plays—and even in some poetry. It's a useful tool for exposition (i.e., conveying the key details and background information of a story) as well as characterization (i.e., fleshing out characters to make them seem lifelike and unique).

Dialogue as an Expository Tool

Dialogue is often a crucial expository tool for writers—which is just another way of saying that dialogue can help convey important information to the reader about the characters or the plot without requiring the narrator to state the information directly. For instance:

  • In a book with a first person narrator, the narrator might identify themselves outright (as in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , which begins "My name is Kathy H. I am thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.").
  • Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder. "What you doing, Nick?”

The above example is just one scenario in which important information might be conveyed indirectly through dialogue, allowing writers to show rather than tell their readers the most important details of the plot.

Expository Dialogue in Plays and Films

Dialogue is an especially important tool for playwrights and screenwriters, because most plays and films rely primarily on a combination of visual storytelling and dialogue to introduce the world of the story and its characters. In plays especially, the most basic information (like time of day) often needs to be conveyed through dialogue, as in the following exchange from Romeo and Juliet :

BENVOLIO Good-morrow, cousin. ROMEO Is the day so young? BENVOLIO But new struck nine. ROMEO Ay me! sad hours seem long.

Here you can see that what in prose writing might have been conveyed with a simple introductory clause like "Early the next morning..." instead has to be conveyed through dialogue.

Dialogue as a Tool for Characterization

In all forms of writing, dialogue can help writers flesh out their characters to make them more lifelike, and give readers a stronger sense of who each character is and where they come from. This can be achieved using a combination of:

  • Colloquialisms and slang: Colloquialism is the use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech. This can be used in dialogue to establish that a character is from a particular time, place, or class background. Similarly, slang can be used to associate a character with a particular social group or age group.
  • The form the dialogue takes: for instance, multiple books have now been written in the form of text messages between characters—a form which immediately gives readers some hint as to the demographic of the characters in the "dialogue."
  • The subject matter: This is the obvious one. What characters talk about can tell readers more about them than how the characters speak. What characters talk about reveals their fears and desires, their virtues and vices, their strengths and their flaws.

For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's narrator uses dialogue to introduce Mrs. and Mr. Bennet, their relationship, and their differing attitudes towards arranging marriages for their daughters:

"A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” “How so? How can it affect them?” “My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.” “Is that his design in settling here?” “Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

This conversation is an example of the use of dialogue as a tool of characterization , showing readers—without explaining it directly—that Mrs. Bennet is preoccupied with arranging marriages for her daughters, and that Mr. Bennet has a deadpan sense of humor and enjoys teasing his wife.

Recognizing Dialogue in Different Types of Writing

It's important to note that how a writer uses dialogue changes depending on the form in which they're writing, so it's useful to have a basic understanding of the form dialogue takes in prose writing (i.e., fiction and nonfiction) versus the form it takes in plays and screenplays—as well as the different functions it can serve in each. We'll cover that in greater depth in the sections that follow.

Dialogue in Prose

In prose writing, which includes fiction and nonfiction, there are certain grammatical and stylistic conventions governing the use of dialogue within a text. We won't cover all of them in detail here (we'll skip over the placement of commas and such), but here are some of the basic rules for organizing dialogue in prose:

  • Punctuation : Generally speaking, lines of dialogue are encased in double quotation marks "such as this," but they may also be encased in single quotation marks, 'such as this.' However, single quotation marks are generally reserved for quotations within a quotation, e.g., "Even when I dared him he said 'No way,' so I dropped the subject."
  • "Where did you go?" she asked .
  • I said , "Leave me alone."
  • "Answer my question," said Monica , "or I'm leaving."
  • Line breaks : Lines of dialogue spoken by different speakers are generally separated by line breaks. This is helpful for determining who is speaking when dialogue tags have been omitted.

Of course, some writers ignore these conventions entirely, choosing instead to italicize lines of dialogue, for example, or not to use quotation marks, leaving lines of dialogue undifferentiated from other text except for the occasional use of a dialogue tag. Writers that use nonstandard ways of conveying dialogue, however, usually do so in a consistent way, so it's not hard to figure out when someone is speaking, even if it doesn't look like normal dialogue.

Indirect vs. Direct Dialogue

In prose, there are two main ways for writers to convey the content of a conversation between two characters: directly, and indirectly. Here's an overview of the difference between direct and indirect dialogue:

  • This type of dialogue can often help lend credibility or verisimilitude to dialogue in a story narrated in the first-person, since it's unlikely that a real person would remember every line of dialogue that they had overheard or spoken.
  • Direct Dialogue: This is what most people are referring to when they talk about dialogue. In contrast to indirect dialogue, direct dialogue is when two people are speaking and their words are in quotations.

Of these two types of dialogue, direct dialogue is the only one that counts as dialogue strictly speaking. Indirect dialogue, by contrast, is technically considered to be part of a story's narration.

A Note on Dialogue Tags and "Said Bookisms"

It is pretty common for writers to use verbs other than "said" and "asked"  to attribute a line of dialogue to a speaker in a text. For instance, it's perfectly acceptable for someone to write:

  • Robert was beginning to get worried. "Hurry!" he shouted.
  • "I am hurrying," Nick replied.

However, depending on how it's done, substituting different verbs for "said" can be quite distracting, since it shifts the reader's attention away from the dialogue and onto the dialogue tag itself. Here's an example where the use of  non-standard dialogue tags begins to feel a bit clumsy:

  • Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she beamed .
  • "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy chimed .

Dialogue tags that use verbs other than the standard set (which is generally thought to include "said," "asked," "replied," and "shouted") are known as "said bookisms," and are generally ill-advised. But these "bookisms" can be easily avoided by using adverbs or simple descriptions in conjunction with one of the more standard dialogue tags, as in:

  • Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she said, beaming.
  • "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy replied brightly.

In the earlier version, the irregular verbs (or "said bookisms") draw attention to themselves, distracting the reader from the dialogue. By comparison, this second version reads much more smoothly.

Dialogue in Plays

Dialogue in plays (and screenplays) is easy to identify because, aside from the stage directions, dialogue is the only thing a play is made of. Here's a quick rundown of the basic rules governing dialogue in plays:

  • Names: Every line of dialogue is preceded by the name of the person speaking.
  • Mama (outraged)  : What kind of way is that to talk about your brother?
  • Line breaks: Each time someone new begins speaking, just as in prose, the new line of dialogue is separated from the previous one by a line break.

Rolling all that together, here's an example of what dialogue looks like in plays, from Edward Albee's Zoo Story:

JERRY: And what is that cross street there; that one, to the right? PETER: That? Oh, that's Seventy-fourth Street. JERRY: And the zoo is around Sixty-5th Street; so, I've been walking north. PETER: [anxious to get back to his reading] Yes; it would seem so. JERRY: Good old north. PETER: [lightly, by reflex] Ha, ha.

Dialogue Examples

The following examples are taken from all types of literature, from ancient philosophical texts to contemporary novels, showing that dialogue has always been an integral feature of many different types of writing.

Dialogue in Shakespeare's Othello

In this scene from Othello , the dialogue serves an expository purpose, as the messenger enters to deliver news about the unfolding military campaign by the Ottomites against the city of Rhodes.

First Officer Here is more news. Enter a Messenger Messenger The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet. First Senator Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess? Messenger Of thirty sail: and now they do restem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano, Your trusty and most valiant servitor, With his free duty recommends you thus, And prays you to believe him.

Dialogue in Madeleine L'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time

From the classic children's book  A Wrinkle in Time , here's a good example of dialogue that uses a description of a character's tone of voice instead of using unconventional verbiage to tag the line of dialogue. In other words, L'Engel doesn't follow Calvin's line of dialogue with a distracting tag like "Calvin barked." Rather, she simply states that his voice was unnaturally loud.

"I'm different, and I like being different." Calvin's voice was unnaturally loud. "Maybe I don't like being different," Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either."

It's also worth noting that this dialogue helps characterize Calvin as a misfit who embraces his difference from others, and Meg as someone who is concerned with fitting in.

Dialogue in A Visit From the Good Squad

This passage from Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Good Squad doesn't use dialogue tags at all. In this exchange between Alex and the unnamed woman, it's always clear who's speaking even though most of the lines of dialogue are not explicitly attributed to a speaker using tags like "he said."

Alex turns to the woman. “Where did this happen?” “In the ladies’ room. I think.” “Who else was there?” “No one.” “It was empty?” “There might have been someone, but I didn’t see her.” Alex swung around to Sasha. “You were just in the bathroom,” he said. “Did you see anyone?”

Elsewhere in the book, Egan peppers her dialogue with colloquialisms and slang to help with characterization . Here, the washed-up, alcoholic rock star Bosco says:

"I want interviews, features, you name it," Bosco went on. "Fill up my life with that shit. Let's document every fucking humiliation. This is reality, right? You don't look good anymore twenty years later, especially when you've had half your guts removed. Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?"

In this passage, Bosco's speech is littered with colloquialisms, including profanity and his use of the word "guts" to describe his liver, establishing him as a character with a unique way of speaking.

Dialogue in Plato's Meno

The following passage is excerpted from a dialogue by Plato titled Meno.  This text is one of the more well-known Socratic dialogues. The two characters speaking are Socrates (abbreviated, "Soc.") and Meno (abbreviated, "Men."). They're exploring the subject of virtue together.

Soc. Now, if there be any sort-of good which is distinct from knowledge, virtue may be that good; but if knowledge embraces all good, then we shall be right in think in that virtue is knowledge? Men. True. Soc. And virtue makes us good? Men. Yes. Soc. And if we are good, then we are profitable; for all good things are profitable? Men. Yes. Soc. Then virtue is profitable? Men. That is the only inference.

Indirect Dialogue in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

This passage from O'Brien's The Things They Carried exemplifies the use of indirect dialogue to summarize a conversation. Here, the third-person narrator tells how Kiowa recounts the death of a soldier named Ted Lavender. Notice how the summary of the dialogue is interwoven with the rest of the narrative.

They marched until dusk, then dug their holes, and that night Kiowa kept explaining how you had to be there, how fast it was, how the poor guy just dropped like so much concrete. Boom-down, he said. Like cement.

O'Brien takes liberties in his use of quotation marks and dialogue tags, making it difficult at times to distinguish between the voices of different speakers and the voice of the narrator. In the following passage, for instance, it's unclear who is the speaker of the final sentence:

The cheekbone was gone. Oh shit, Rat Kiley said, the guy's dead. The guy's dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound—the guy's dead. I mean really.

Why Do Writers Use Dialogue in Literature?

Most writers use dialogue simply because there is more than one character in their story, and dialogue is a major part of how the plot progresses and characters interact. But in addition to the fact that dialogue is virtually a necessary component of fiction, theater, and film, writers use dialogue in their work because:

  • It aids in characterization , helping to flesh out the various characters and make them feel lifelike and individual.
  • It is a useful tool of exposition , since it can help convey key information abut the world of the story and its characters.
  • It moves the plot along. Whether it takes the form of an argument, an admission of love, or the delivery of an important piece of news, the information conveyed through dialogue is often essential not only to readers' understanding of what's going on, but to generating the action that furthers the story's plot line.

Other Helpful Dialogue Resources

  • The Wikipedia Page on Dialogue: A bare-bones explanation of dialogue in writing, with one or two examples.
  • The Dictionary Definition of Dialogue: A basic definition, with a bit on the etymology of the word (it comes from the Greek meaning "through discourse."
  • Cinefix's video with their take on the 14 best dialogues of all time : A smart overview of what dialogue can accomplish in film.

The printed PDF version of the LitCharts literary term guide on Dialogue

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Definition of Setting

Setting is a literary device that allows the writer of a narrative to establish the time, location, and environment in which it takes place. This is an important element in a story , as the setting indicates to the reader when and where the action takes place. As a result, the setting of a narrative or story helps the reader picture clear and relevant details. In addition, setting enhances the development of a story’s plot and characters by providing a distinct background.

In literature, setting can be specific or general in terms of geographical location and historical time period. A specific, or integral, setting refers to an exact location and time period established by the writer. This information can be directly imparted to the reader or implied in the narrative. A backdrop setting is more general, vague, or nondescript, which makes the story more universal for readers. The setting of a literary work may also be a fictional location or world, a future time and place, or it may be unknown.

For example, the fairy tale “Cinderella” traditionally features a backdrop setting, such as long ago in a faraway kingdom. However, a modern interpretation of “Cinderella” might feature an integral setting such as New York City to enhance aspects of the story’s plot, characters, and theme .

Examples of the Importance of Setting as a Literary Device

Setting is an important literary device, as its purpose is to create a “world” in which a story takes place. Setting can also influence the plot of a story and the actions of the characters. Here are some examples of the importance of setting as a literary device:

  • helps establish the mood and/or tone of a story
  • provides context for other story elements such as plot, characters, and theme
  • reinforces the narrative by providing structure and function in the story
  • enhances individual scenes within a story’s plot

Occasionally, the “presence” of a story’s setting, in terms of a time period, geographic location, or environment, can feel to the reader like an additional character . This can make for clever use of this literary device in portraying a particular time and/or place with a personality all on its own in a story.

Common Examples of Cities Frequently Used as Setting

Certain cities are frequently used as settings in literary works. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known city, the writer can be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of the locale, including geographical characteristics, landmarks, culture, etc. This can alleviate some burdens for the writer in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of cities that are frequently used as settings in literature:

  • New York City
  • Los Angeles
  • New Orleans

Common Examples of Historical Time Periods Frequently Used as Setting

Certain historical time periods are frequently used as settings in literary works as well. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known era, the writer can also be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of the history, events, historical figures, etc. This can additionally alleviate some burdens for the writer in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of historical time periods (not in chronological order) that are frequently used as settings in literature:

  • Ancient Greece
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Middle Ages
  • Renaissance
  • Age of Exploration
  • Classical Era
  • Turn of the century
  • Roaring ’20s
  • World War I
  • Westward Expansion
  • World War II
  • Victorian Age
  • Contemporary

Common Examples of Environments Frequently Used as Setting

Certain types of environments are frequently used as settings in literary works in addition to specific geographical locations. By setting a narrative or story in a well-known environment, the writer can be relatively certain that the reader will have a general sense and understanding of that environment’s characteristics, such as terrain, climate, culture, etc. This can alleviate some burdens for the writer as well in terms of description and allow for the focus to remain on the story’s plot and characters.

Here are some common examples of environments that are frequently used as settings in literature:

  • outer space
  • rural/farmland
  • countryside
  • Southern plantation
  • ship at sea

How to Understand and Describe Setting in Writing

The idea of understanding the setting depends on the storyline, characters, and events. These three are important elements that define a setting. It is because every setting has some specific qualities where certain people live and interact. Also, setting impacts them and their actions which define their lives. Some other less significant elements of setting are landscape, type of land, climate, weather, social conventions, and cultural surroundings. When writers and readers understand all these elements, it becomes easy for them to write about setting and describe it in words.

Backdrop and Integral Setting

Although the backdrop and integral setting sound the same, they are different. An integral setting is a specific place associated with some specific characters, having a specific role to play in the events of the story, a backdrop setting is general. It is could be any town given in a story without any specific quality and feature. An integral setting has all the necessary elements that define a setting, a backdrop setting has only common elements given through generic names.

Five Elements of Setting or Aspects of Setting

A setting within a piece of literature must have five elements or aspects. Although there are several other aspects that are necessary, the following five are fundamental elements of a setting. The first one is locale which means the country or the region. The second is the time which also includes the timing which means day, night , or month of the year. The third is climate, the fourth is geographical features and the fifth is population, society, and culture.

Fictional and Non-Fictional Settings

A fictional setting is a type of setting that exists only in imagination and there is no connection of this setting with reality. The non-fictional setting is a type of setting that exists in reality. For example, Eldorado does not exist nor do some cities mentioned in various novels. However, Paris and London do exist and they are real cities mentioned in several novels and short stories as the settings of the storylines. This difference, however, evaporates when some real place is mentioned in connection with fictional characters.

Setting and Exposition

As the term shows, exposition means detailed descriptions of the characters, settings, and the storyline in the beginning of the novels or short stories, setting is part of the exposition. The exposition just explains settings, giving its details. It also shows how events are going to unfold. However, the setting only shows characters having certain relationships with the land, geographical location, social fabric, and flora and fauna.

Difference between Temporal and Spatial Setting

Spatial refers to space that means the place, its geography, its location, its social fabric, its flora, and fauna, etc. Temporal, on the other hand, refers to a time that means the specific time of the year or the month, or the day when the event in question takes place. Whereas spatial setting shows the location and the place, the temporal setting shows when the events have taken place in that specific place. Both settings are used interactively and in conjunction with each other. No one can be used interchangeably or exclusively.

Examples of Setting in Literature

In literature, setting provides the reader an image and idea of time and place that frames the action of a story and can reveal aspects of its characters. By using the setting as a literary device, the writer can help the reader visualize the action of the work, which adds credibility and authenticity to the story. In addition, a setting can create and sustain the illusion of imaginary places and worlds in fiction as well as time periods in the future or prehistoric past. Without an indication of the setting, a story would lack significant context for the reader, potentially reducing their enjoyment and/or understanding of the work.

Here are some examples of setting in well-known works of literature:

Example 1:  Harrison Bergeron  by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

In Vonnegut’s short story , the narrator reveals the setting at the outset. This establishes a significant amount of information for the reader before the action of the story even begins. The narrator stipulates the year, which indicates to the reader that the time period of the story is in the future but not terribly distant. In addition, the story is clearly set in the United States as indicated by the mention of the constitutional amendments.

As well as directly establishing the time and location of the story, Vonnegut also utilizes setting as a literary device to impart to the reader a sense of the story’s environment. In this case, there is a strong refrain of mandated equality in terms of the physical and intellectual characteristics of this future population that is further enforced by a national agency. As a result, the reader is able to instantly picture the background in which the events of the story and the movement of the characters will take place.

Example 2:  As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

That’s the one trouble with this country: everything, weather, all, hangs on too long. Like our rivers, our land: opaque, slow, violent; shaping and creating the life of man in its implacable and brooding image.

Faulkner created his own fictional county in Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha County, in which to set nearly all of his novels and numerous short stories. Yoknapatawpha was inspired by and based on Lafayette County in Oxford, Mississippi, with which Faulkner was familiar. Faulkner himself considered Yoknapatawpha County as apocryphal in the sense that many of his readers believe it to be a real place. In fact, his novel   Absalom, Absalom! includes a map of the fictional country that was drawn by Faulkner.

By creating this realistic yet fictional Mississippi county, Faulkner was able to incorporate several aspects of this setting across many of his works. In this passage from his novel As I Lay Dying , for example, the atmosphere of Yoknapatawpha is as much a presence as the characters, and Faulkner underscores the reciprocal influence and shaping of the novel’s setting and characters. In addition, by using Yoknapatawpha to set so many of his literary works, Faulkner’s readers find familiarity with and understanding of the physical location and environment in which the narrative takes place. This allows readers to focus on the action and characters of the story.

Example 3:  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

And now there came both mist and snow , And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!

In Coleridge’s poem , he juxtaposes two very different and distinct settings. At the outset of the poem, the setting is a wedding in which the guests are joyful, merrily dancing, eating, and drinking. This celebratory environment is in stark contrast to the setting of the mariner’s story within the poem, which he relays to a wedding guest outside the venue.

This passage of the poem indicates the setting of the Mariner’s tale, as the boat travels to the icy Antarctic. The oppressive presence and noise of the ice create a barren environment that is cold to the existence of living things. This emphasis on the environmental setting in Coleridge’s poem not only draws the reader away from the warmth and life-affirming nature of the wedding, but it also reflects for the reader the danger and isolation faced by sailors at sea. In fact, the reader becomes part of the setting described by the mariner just as the wedding guest becomes part of the mariner’s story through the poet’s description of the setting and events. This allows for a stronger connection between the poem and the reader.

Synonyms of Setting

The distant synonyms for setting are as follows: position, situation, background, backdrop, milieu, environs, habitat, place, location, spot, locale, context, frame, area, neighborhood, locus, district, and region.

Related posts:

  • Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
  • Once More unto the Breach
  • Hamlet Act-I, Scene-I Study Guide

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COMMENTS

  1. Stage Directions

    At their basic definition, stage directions are instructions in a playtext that tell performers what to do, where to go, what should be onstage, etc. On the surface, this may seem like a simple function: instructors from a playwright or director to actors in a performance. However, stage directions hold a lot of meaning when we analyze a play.

  2. Stage direction Definition & Meaning

    stage direction noun : a description (as of a character or setting) or direction (as to indicate stage business) provided in the text of a play Examples of stage direction in a Sentence Recent Examples on the Web But the new chamber opera's libretto and some of the stage direction were disappointing.

  3. Stage Directions

    Stage directions are non-spoken texts that convey a wide variety of information to the actors, designers, and directors. This information can include where the scene is set, what the setting...

  4. Stage Directions for Actors: The Basics

    Stage directions are written from the perspective of the actor facing the audience. An actor who turns to his or her right is moving stage right, while an actor who turns to his or her left is moving stage left. The front of the stage, called downstage, is the end closest to the audience.

  5. Stage direction

    /steɪʤ dəˈrɛkʃən/ IPA guide Other forms: stage directions The part of a play that explains how actors should move their bodies is a stage direction. If the stage directions read "Enter, stage left," be sure not to come in from the wrong side!

  6. Stage Directions (An Actor's Guide)

    Stage directions are instructions in a play for technical aspects of the production, such as lighting, sound, costume, scenery or props and, most importantly, the movement of actors onstage. It is the stage directions that tell you what a character looks like, where they travel in the space and what the space looks and sounds like.

  7. Stage directions and drama terms

    Stage directions are instructions in the script of a play that tell actors how to enter, where to stand, when to move, also information about the lighting, scenery, props, and sound effects. Stage directions give vital information for the action and relationships between people, things and places inside the play script.

  8. STAGE DIRECTION Definition & Usage Examples

    noun an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements. the art or technique of a stage director. Mac McClung on defending his dunk contest title, facing off against Jaylen Brown Mac McClung on defending his dunk contest title, facing off against Jaylen Brown NOW PLAYING

  9. Shakespeare's Stage Directions: How To Read & Understand

    Stage directions are simply directions to the company performing a play as to what's happening around the drama, who's on the stage and who isn't, when they arrive, when they leave, where they are on the stage, when music should be played, bugles sounded, and so on.

  10. A FUNCTIONAL STYLISTIC APPROACH TO STAGE DIRECTIONS

    the historical development of stage directions and argued for their significance in the play script not just as literary text but as, in actuality, a "blueprint for production" (Aston & Savona, 1991, p. 75). It is the stage directions that gives the play script its duality of text as literature and text as performance. Theatre philosophers ...

  11. PDF Reading Shakespeare's Stage Directions

    To read the stage directions is not always to occupy a privileged narrative position. If stage directions are taken as fragments of narrative to be read, in many cases they respond to the kind of close or 'literary' reading that we are used to applying to the lines spoken by the plays' characters.

  12. Stage directions Literary Devices

    Stage directions The stage remarks are the remarks of a poet, who are interspersed between the prose of a dramatic text (cf. literary genres) and give information about the stage design or appearance, equipment, gestures, mimicry, and the manner of speaking of the actors.

  13. Writing Stage Directions in a Screenplay: The ULTIMATE Lowdown

    Another formatting detail to employ in your stage directions is to capitalize an un-introduced character's name, followed by their age. This capitalization only occurs the first time the character is mentioned in the screenplay. Then after this, their name can be written in lowercase.

  14. 30 Stage Directions and the Theater Historian

    This article considers various concepts related to stage direction, including traffic control (getting actors and properties on and off the stage), signals linked to the placement of the actors on the stage (an equivalent to the so-called blocking), and mid-scene entrances and exits.

  15. STAGE DIRECTION definition in American English

    1. an instruction in the script of a play, directing the movements of the actors, the arrangement of scenery, etc. 2. the art or practice of directing the production of a play Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Word Frequency stage direction in American English

  16. Play in Literature: Definition & Examples

    Play Definition. A play (PLAY) is a literary work written for the theater that dramatizes events through the performance of dialogue and stage directions. The authors of plays, called playwrights, structure the performances into acts and scenes, which help build the tension and present the story in a compelling way for audiences. There are a ...

  17. Why are stage directions used in King Lear?

    Stage directions also help actors know what should be done with the various stage properties (e.g., sword), what sort of gestures they should make (e.g., pointing, waving), how they should speak ...

  18. Language The stage directions A Streetcar Named Desire: A Level

    Study focus: The stage directions. It is important that you can discuss the poetic language of the stage directions - and the fact that it is far more detailed than would be strictly necessary (see Visual and sound effects ), ensuring that the sets evoke the right atmosphere. However, they are also remarkable for another reason: they are ...

  19. Stage Directions: A Guide for Actors (with Examples)

    The primary purpose of stage directions is to describe what a character is doing—plus how and where they are doing it—between lines of dialogue. Action lines can be simple, like, "He picks up...

  20. Dialogue

    Dialogue is the exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a book, play, or other written work. In prose writing, lines of dialogue are typically identified by the use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as "she said." In plays, lines of dialogue are preceded by the name of the person speaking.

  21. history of literature

    1 Answer. Sorted by: 7. TL;DR: The history of the texts makes it impossible to be sure when stage directions, or even attributions to speakers, were added to Classical Greek plays. A possible (but doubtful) early candidate for stage directions that were original to the playwright are the noises of the Erinyes in Aeschylus' The Eumenides (458 ...

  22. Dramatic literature

    melodrama. dramatic literature, the texts of plays that can be read, as distinct from being seen and heard in performance. The term dramatic literature implies a contradiction in that literature originally meant something written and drama meant something performed. Most of the problems, and much of the interest, in the study of dramatic ...

  23. Setting

    Definition of Setting. Setting is a literary device that allows the writer of a narrative to establish the time, location, and environment in which it takes place. This is an important element in a story, as the setting indicates to the reader when and where the action takes place.As a result, the setting of a narrative or story helps the reader picture clear and relevant details.

  24. The PRISMA statement in enviropreneurship study: A systematic

    As environmental awareness takes centre stage in business, entrepreneurship research has established a dedicated subfield for sustainability-driven ventures. The growing emphasis on sustainable business practices has led entrepreneurship research to identify entrepreneurship-related sustainability as a critical subfield. However, the inconsistent terminology used, such as "green ...