Comic relief – comic episodes in a dramatic or literary work that offset more serious sections.
Shakespeare often incorporated episodes of comic relief in his plays, even after very serious, heavy scenes.
Diction – the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
The actor’s diction, consisting of choppy words, stuttering, and terse phrases, indicated that he was playing a skittish character.
Pantomime – To act out very physically without using words; a style of acting that is most often utilized in Children’s Theatre.
To help the little students better understand Spanish, she pantomimed “el coche” by pretending she was turning an imaginary steering wheel.
Fly System: A system of rigging and ropes that is used to raise and lower scenery within on stage, operated by hand or mechanically from backstage.
“The acting was utterly mediocre compared to the way you handled that fly system,” said the New York Times reporter to me. “how did you manage to lift the curtain at such a perfect speed?”
Fourth Wall: The imaginary divide that separates the audience from the performance space.
We all gasped as the actor burst through the fourth wall and into the front row, where he boldly embraced a member of the audience.
BONUS WORD!
Pit: The area, usually below the front part of the stage, where the orchestra is set up to play the music for a live performance.
The loud, clashing sounds produced by the pit orchestra below the stage added to the intensity of the suicide scene.
You have a very interesting list of words! Your descriptions are short but also very thorough, which I think is very important. I got a very good sense of what each of your terms means. I do, however, feel that the word diction can have several meanings and is usually used to describe a style or manner of speaking, especially when dealing with a theatrical performance.
Michelle and Wesley: thanks for pointing that out. I looked it up in the thesaurus: “enunciation, articulation, elocution, locution, pronunciation, speech, intonation, inflection; delivery.” In more theatrical terms, it can be described as the way an actor chooses to pronounce his/her words, or the way he/she emphasizes certain words. Also, I like both of your definitions of “diction.” :)
Great choice of words. I appreciate the extra sixth word. I think that the definition of diction can be expanded a little further to an idea between yours and the one Michelle left in her comment. I think that diction(word choice) aids to set a style and manner of speaking or rather to set the tone and prosody of the speaker.