Theatre Glossary
Whether you're stepping on stage for the first time or picking up a script to read, here's a guide to the terms you'll encounter in the world of theatre.
299 terms
Realism
A theatrical movement and style that aims to depict life on stage as authentically as possible, with truthful characters, natural dialogue, and recognisable settings. Realism emerged in the late 19th century as a reaction against the artificiality of melodrama. Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov are considered founding figures. Most contemporary drama operates within broadly realist conventions.
Genres & StylesRehearsal
A practice session in which the cast and creative team prepare a production for performance. The rehearsal process typically progresses from read-throughs and table work, through blocking and scene work, to run-throughs, technical rehearsals, and dress rehearsals. Professional rehearsal periods vary from two to six weeks depending on the complexity of the production.
Directing & ProductionRepertory
A system in which a theatre company performs several different plays in alternation over a season, rather than running a single show continuously. In a repertory (or "rep") company, actors perform different roles in different plays, often rehearsing one show during the day while performing another at night. The National Theatre and many European state theatres operate in repertory.
Industry & BusinessReprise
The return of a song or musical theme later in a show, often with altered lyrics, tempo, or emotional context that reflects how the story has progressed. Reprises create musical and dramatic cohesion—hearing a familiar melody in a new context can be deeply moving. "I Dreamed a Dream" reprised in Les Misérables and "Seasons of Love" returning in Rent are powerful examples of how reprises deepen meaning.
Musical TheatreRestoration Comedy
A style of witty, sexually frank comedy that flourished on the English stage after the theatres reopened in 1660 following the Puritan ban. Restoration comedies feature elaborate plots of seduction and intrigue among the upper classes, sharp dialogue, and satirical observation of social manners. Key playwrights include William Congreve (The Way of the World), William Wycherley, and Aphra Behn—the first professional English woman playwright.
Genres & StylesRevival
A new production of a play or musical that has been previously produced, as distinguished from a world premiere or original production. Broadway recognises revivals as a distinct category in the Tony Awards. Revivals offer fresh interpretations of classic works and can introduce them to new generations of audiences.
Industry & BusinessRevolve
A circular section of the stage floor that rotates, allowing scenes to change by spinning different set pieces into view. Revolves (or turntables) can carry entire rooms, suggest journeys, or create fluid transitions between locations. Les Misérables famously uses a revolve as a central staging element. Smaller revolves can sit on top of the main stage; larger ones are built into the floor.
Stagecraft & TechnicalRising Action
The series of events in a play that build tension and develop conflict, leading toward the climax. Rising action follows the exposition (setup) and encompasses the complications, obstacles, and escalating stakes that drive the story forward. In a well-structured play, the rising action creates a sense of inevitability—each event makes the climax feel both surprising and unavoidable.
Dramatic StructureRoyalties
Payments made to the playwright (and in musicals, the composer and lyricist) each time their work is performed. Royalties are typically calculated as a percentage of box office gross or as a flat fee per performance, collected and distributed by licensing agencies. These payments are a playwright's primary ongoing income from a produced work and are a fundamental right of dramatic authorship.
Industry & BusinessRun
The series of consecutive performances of a production, from opening night through closing. A "long run" suggests commercial success (The Mousetrap has run in London's West End since 1952). A "limited run" has a predetermined closing date. "Run-throughs" in rehearsal mean performing the show from start to finish without stopping, simulating performance conditions.
Industry & BusinessRunning Crew
The team of backstage technicians who work during performances, executing set changes, operating fly systems, managing quick costume changes, handling props, and ensuring everything moves smoothly behind the scenes. Unlike the build crew (who construct the set), the running crew's job begins at tech rehearsals and continues through every performance.
Directing & ProductionRunning Lights
Low-level backstage lighting that remains on during performances to help actors and crew navigate safely in the wings and backstage corridors without being visible to the audience. Running lights are typically small, shielded blue or red fixtures mounted at floor level. They provide just enough illumination for safe movement while preserving the darkness of the stage picture.
Stagecraft & TechnicalSatire
A dramatic form that uses humour, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule to criticise and expose human vice, folly, or social institutions. Satirical theatre has a long tradition stretching from Aristophanes' ancient Greek comedies through Molière to modern writers like Caryl Churchill and Ayad Akhtar. Effective satire entertains while provoking thought about its targets.
Genres & StylesScene
A subdivision of an act in a play, typically defined by a change in time, location, or the entrance/exit of characters. Scenes are the basic building blocks of dramatic structure. In screenplay terminology, each change of location constitutes a new scene, but theatrical scenes are often longer and more fluid.
Dramatic StructureScrim
A loosely woven fabric curtain that appears opaque when lit from the front but becomes transparent when lit from behind, revealing whatever is behind it. Scrims are used for dreamlike transitions, ghostly reveals, gauzy atmospheres, and visual effects. When painted, a scrim can serve as a backdrop that magically dissolves to reveal the scene behind it—one of theatre's most beautiful technical tricks.
Stagecraft & TechnicalScript
The written text of a play, containing dialogue, stage directions, and other information needed for production. Also called the "text" or "playtext." Scripts are both literary works and practical blueprints for performance. Published acting editions (from publishers like Samuel French or Nick Hern Books) include production notes and stage directions from notable productions.
Dramatic StructureSense Memory
An acting technique where a performer recalls specific sensory experiences (sights, sounds, smells, textures, tastes) from their own life to create truthful emotional and physical responses on stage. Developed as part of Lee Strasberg's Method, sense memory exercises train actors to access detailed sensory recall at will. For example, an actor might recall the specific coldness of a winter morning to create a truthful reaction to a blizzard scene.
Acting & PerformanceSet Design
The art of creating the physical environment in which a play takes place. Set designers (or scenic designers) conceptualise, draft, and model the visual world of the production—from realistic room interiors to abstract sculptural spaces. They work closely with the director and other designers to ensure the set supports the storytelling, allows for effective blocking, and fits within the theatre space.
DesignSet Dressing
Decorative items placed on the set to create atmosphere and detail—paintings on walls, books on shelves, flowers in vases, rugs on floors—that are not handled by actors during the performance. Set dressing transforms a bare set into a lived-in, believable environment. Unlike props, which actors interact with, set dressing is purely visual and remains in place throughout the scene.
Stagecraft & TechnicalShowstopper
A song or performance so electrifying that the audience erupts in extended applause, effectively stopping the show. True showstoppers are rare and magical—the energy in the theatre shifts, and the audience cannot contain its response. Classic showstoppers include "And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls, "The Room Where It Happens" from Hamilton, and "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl.
Musical TheatreSides
Selected pages or excerpts from a script provided to actors for audition purposes. Rather than distributing the entire script, casting directors choose key scenes that reveal character and test specific skills. Actors may receive sides in advance or at the audition for a cold read. The term dates from early theatre when actors received only their own lines and cues on separate sheets of paper.
Acting & PerformanceSightlines
The lines of vision from every seat in the auditorium to the stage, determining what each audience member can and cannot see. Good sightlines mean every seat has an unobstructed view of the essential action. Directors and designers check sightlines during technical rehearsals to ensure that key moments are visible from all angles, particularly in non-proscenium configurations.
Stagecraft & TechnicalSight Reading
The ability to sing or play music accurately when seeing it for the first time, without prior rehearsal. In musical theatre auditions, performers may be asked to sight-read a piece of music to demonstrate their musicianship. Strong sight-reading skills are particularly valued in ensemble work, where rehearsal time is limited and performers must learn new material quickly.
Acting & PerformanceSingspiel
A form of German-language musical theatre that alternates spoken dialogue with sung numbers, popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Mozart's The Magic Flute is the most famous singspiel. The form influenced the development of operetta and, through that lineage, the modern musical. Singspiel was distinguished from through-composed opera by its use of spoken scenes, making it more accessible to general audiences.
Musical Theatre