When dramatic action holds up side by side different, generally contrasting, ideas or characters; the power of juxtaposition lies in its capacity to allow an audience to draw conclusions, to explore dramatic irony; juxtaposition is frequently more than the sum of the individual parts; juxtaposition uses contrast and dislocation to provoke fresh understanding and dramatic impact.
Form or style of theatre that focuses on the irrational and illogical aspects of human life and interaction to highlight a sense of helplessness and the inadequacy of rationalistic approach. Theatre of the Absurd has been a powerful mid Twentieth Century influence.
While often funny in a serious or unusual way, absurdist drama is not to be confused with other forms of comedy. Nor should the term be used indiscriminately for dramatic material that is confusing, contradictory, or obscure.
System of acting derived from Stanislavski and popularised in the USA by Group Theatre, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Elia Kazan and Boleslavsky amongst others. There are various interpretations of method acting.
There is a focus on creating life-like realistic performances with actors drawing on their own emotions, memories and experiences. Based on the sense or emotional memory process, method acting focuses on actors fully immersing themselves in their characters in order to sense all of the experiences the character would sense.
Well suited to film and realistic acting, Method Acting has been highly popular and also highly criticised for over indulgent focus on internalised emotion and excess.
A nihilistic art movement, which began during the First World War and thrived in France, Switzerland, Germany and The USA. The movement developed from disgust and despair over the war and was founded on theories of irrationality, anarchy and cynicism as well as a rejection of the cultural standards of art from the past. Dadaist theatre and art is often referred to as anti-art.
The three principles of dramatic structure.
Unity of time: action in drama takes place in “real” or actual elapsed time; in some traditions, unity of time means that dramatic action takes place within 24 hours.
Unity of place: action takes place in one location.
Unity of action: Drama is focused through one plot with no subsidiary plots or subplots.
Sometimes referred to as the social gest, gestus is a theatrical technique created by Brecht, which combines gesture and social meaning in one movement, stance or vocal display. It is the embodiment of an attitude or aspect of a character, it is never cliché but very specific and can only come out of a deep exploration of character, context and story. In performance it serves to alienate the audience in order to show them the bigger picture.
The Feldenkrais Method, originated by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (1904 - 1984) is an educational movement system designed to facilitate greater awareness of the body; particularly posture, movement, co-ordination and flexibility. It is used in actor training to build mindfulness of the body so that it can be accessed to create character.
Popular broad comedy focusing on sexually compromising situations, mistaken identités and bedrooms. As with all farce, authority, order; and morality are at risk and apparently ordinary people are caught up in extraordinary goings on. Involves much comic stage business. Originated in France though elements can be found in Roman comedies.
Phrase coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe the conscious acceptance of the illusion or unreality of drama by audiences; although it is clearly an actor on a performance space, members of audences suspend or hold at bay their scepticism or sense of reality in favour of believing the imagined dramatic action.
Neutral costuming (usually, though not always, black in colour) designed for rehearsing; not specific period costume but suggestive of any period or style; sometimes used in workshop performances.
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