Glossary of Theatrical Terms | A-B

This is a glossary of theatrical, technical, lighting, video and audio terms you may hear at the Rose Theatre. And don't let the length of this list intimidate you. It is as much for us as it is for you!

Above Upstage (or Away From the Audience)

Actors crossing above a prop or piece of set are keeping it between them and the audience.

Absorption

1. A material's capability to dampen sound
2. The process of a material dampening or “absorbing” sound.

AC

See Alternating Current.

Academy Characteristic

An equalisation standard for film production and cinema sound playback developed in the 1930's designed to bring some degree of consistency of quality between the audio recording on a film and its playback in a cinema or on TV.

Acoustics

1. The science of sound.
2. The factors and characteristics of a room or space that determine the sound capabilities and properties of that room.

Act

1. What an actor does.
2. Segments of a performance, usually separated by an interval. So the first part is Act 1, the second Act 2, and so on.

Acting Area

The area of the stage setting within which the actor performs. It may include areas off the normal stage. Usually split into theoretical portions for ease of reference.

Acting Area Lights

1. Lanterns mounted in front of the proscenium arch.
2. Lanterns hung directly over the relevant acting area providing a narrow beam of light directly down.

Acting Versions

Published scripts which include notes from previous productions of the show - first appeared in England in the 18th century.

Actor's Equity

The union for actors. See CAEA.

Actor Manager

An actor who rents a theatre and runs their own company.

Ad Lib

A departure from the script in order to cover an unexpected situation or hide a lapse of memory.

Add

To fade up lighting channels not already plotted in the current state.

Additive

The mixing of colour from one or more lanterns focussed on the same point on stage to produce another colour.

Aesthetic Distance

The distancing of the audience from the action on stage so as to retain the theatrical illusion.

After Piece

A brief one act play, usually a nonsense piece, staged after the main performance has concluded. Originated as a comic antidote to the main play in England in the early 18th century. It was designed for people who arrived late due to an early curtain time (because they relied on natural light, many plays started quite early), or pressures of business.

Aiorema

Stage machinery used in ancient Greek theatre for appearances of gods. Possibly some form of mobile crane.

Alienation Effect

A Brechtian device designed to make the audience see the world without an empathetic identification with the characters in the play.

Alternating Current

(Abbreviation AC) Electrical current that “alternates’ direction in the cable. The electrical power standard used in Australia.

Ambience

The mix of background noise and other reflected sounds that make up a room's acoustic character. More recently, a generic description of new age music.

Ampère

The unit of electrical current flow. (From the French physicist Ampère, 1775 - 1836). Andrè Marie Ampère was a French physicist and mathematician, noted for his important discoveries in the field of magnetism and electricity. Ampère was once called the “Newton of electricity”.

Amphitheatre

An outdoor theatrical setting, usually with a large semicircular seating area sloping down to the stage. Sometimes a very large indoor venue. The amphitheatre was developed by the Romans to provide convenient accommodation for large numbers of spectators at exhibitions of gladiatorial combats and beast hunts. The amphitheatre was one of the earliest examples of reserved ticketing. Tickets noted which arch to enter through, and the section, row, and seat numbers. They were also big. The amphitheatre at Pompeii, built 80BC sat 20,000, while the Colosseum in Rome, built 29BC by Statilus Tauros, held an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 spectators.

Amplifier

An electronic device that amplifies sound signals to a point where they great enough to be heard through a speaker.

Angels

Financial backers of a production.

Angel Walk

A walkway across the rafters in a building's ceiling.

Ante-Pros

See Front of House Lighting.

Antagonist

The chief opponent of the protagonist in a drama.

Apotheosis

Final scene or tableau in which the characters are elevated to immortality.

Apron

A part of the stage projecting towards or into the auditorium. In proscenium stages, the part of the stage in front of the curtain. See Forestage.

Arc

1. A luminous discharge between two separate carbon ends.
2. Old type of followspot in which the light was generated by a carbon arc discharge. Inefficient and inconvenient because the carbon rod had to be continuously adjusted and replaced, even during performances.

Arena Theatre

A theatre in which the audience sits on all sides of an acting area. Originates in Roman times, when the arena was the oval space in a Roman amphitheatre where the combats and other entertainment took place.

Assistant Stage Manager

(Abbreviation ASM) According the size of the show, there may be one or more ASM's who assist the Stage Manager with properties and other activities on stage.

ASM

See Assistant Stage Manager.

At Rise

The action occurring on the stage when the curtain opens.

Attenuator

A device to reduce the level of sound or light at its source.

Auditorium

The part of the theatre designed to accommodate the audience. Auditorium can also describe the entire theatre, and has been in use as a word since the 18th century, although there were other words with the same meaning before that. Incidentally, the plural can be either auditoriums or auditoria. Also House.

Auditorium Lights

See House Lights.

Auxiliary

See Send.

Automated Light

A light that has motors and other equipment attached that allow such things as movement and colour selection to be controlled remotely. Now becoming a major force in lighting design for all types of events because it can both dramatically reduce the number of conventional lanterns needed, and produce visually very exciting effects.

Axial

See Base Down.

Azimuth

The angle between the surface of an audio tape and the tape heads.

Baby Spot

A small spotlight under 500 watts.

Back Cloth

Cloth, usually painted, suspended from the flys at the rear of the stage. Also Back Cloth.

Back Drop

See Back Cloth.

Backing

1. Cloth or solid pieces placed behind doorways and other openings on sets to conceal the stage machinery or building behind.
2. Financial support for a production.

Backstage

In proscenium theatres, the area behind the proscenium arch. The term also refers to such areas in non-proscenium theatres and to any part of the stage not in the acting area during a performance.

Baffle

1. A wall of timber or board that separates sound sources such as speakers from surfaces that might reflect sound back and thus to cancel out the sound.
2. A metal plate or strip within a lantern that stops light exiting the lantern housing through openings other than the lens, usually the cooling vents.

Balanced Line

An audio cable in which the two audio lines, positive (hot) and negative are kept electrically separate from the earth. A way of reducing hum and noise on the cable.

Ballad Opera

A musical with songs based on popular melodies or tunes e.g. THE BEGGARS OPERA.

Ballast

A means of giving stability to otherwise unstable electrical loads.

1. Resistive ballast - practice of patching a lantern onto a dimmer that is running an inductive load, for example a fan.
2. Inductive ballast is required by discharge type lanterns as part of the circuitry to control the current that is available to the lamp.

Band Call

Any orchestral rehearsal but particularly a musical rehearsal with cast and musicians without the acting movements.

Bar

Horizontally flown rod (usually metal) from which scenery, lighting, and other equipment is suspended. Also Batten (US), Barrel. Standard diameter for a bar is 48mm OD (Outside diameter). G-Clamps are made for this size.

Barre

The bar running around the wall of a dance rehearsal room used by the dancers to hold on to during some exercises in a dance class.

Barndoor

Adjustable doors attached to the front of stage lanterns to control the area of light covered by a particular beam.

Baroque Theatre

A sumptuous, spectacular form of theatre popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Noted for its ability to extend beyond the confines of the stage and involving elaborate changeable scenery.

Barrel

See Bar.

Base

See Lamp Base.

Base Down

Lantern where the bottom of the lamp is orientated down, and thus the glass envelope sits vertically. Some lanterns utilise an 'axial' orientation, where the globe sits horizontally.

Basic Situation

The fundamental premise or story line on which a play is based.

Bass

The lowest end of the audible audio frequency spectrum.

Bass Reflex Speaker

A type of speaker which, through its special design utilising the movement of air created by the speaker inside the speaker box, is particularly good at reproducing bass frequencies.

Batten

1. See Bar.
2. Piece of wood attached to, or metal pipe slipped into a sleeve at the bottom of, a flown cloth to straighten it and keep it taut.
3. Piece of wood joining two flats.
4. A group of stage lights suspended over the stage.
5. Also X-lights.

Bayonet Cap

(Abbreviation BC) The push and turn domestic light bulb fitting.

BC

See Bayonet Cap.

Beam Angle

The angle of the cone of light emitted from a lantern.

Beam Light

A lantern with no lens, using a reflector that produces a parallel beam of light. Also Beam Projector.

Beam Projector

See Beam Light.

Beginners

A call given by the stage manager to bring those actors who appear at the beginning of the play or act to the stage. Traditionally given five minutes before curtain time. Also Places Please.

Bells

Electric bell or tone sounded in all front of house areas to warn the audience that the performance is about to begin or resume.

Bifocal Spot

Spotlight with additional shutters to allow hard and soft edges.

Bio-Box

The room, usually at the rear of the auditorium, or some other good vantage point, from which the lighting and sound is controlled. Also Control Room. (From Greek 'Bios' = Way of Life)

Bio-Mechanics

When applied to theatre, means the primary focus is on the efficiency and elegance of the actor's movements.

Bi-Post

Type of lamp base with two power connection pins - some have one pin larger than another.

Black Light

Ultra Violet light.

Blackout

(Abbreviation BO) A total, sometimes sudden, extinguishing of the stage lights, often at the end of a scene or act.

Blending Light

Lighting used to smooth the join between lights covering specific stage areas to as to produce a seamless effect.

Blinders

Audience blinders - high intensity flood lights mounted to focus on the audience. Turned on to create an impact on the audience and perhaps cover a scene change.

Blind Operation

System on semi and fully computerised lighting control desks that allows the operator to adjust stored lighting states without affecting the lighting states currently on stage. The state to be altered is normally contained in a part of the lighting desk's memory called the Blind Store while the state on stage is contained in the Live Store.

Blocking

The process of roughing out the moves to be made by the actors. Also Grouping.

BO

See Blackout.

Board

Lighting or audio control panel. Also Desk.

Book

1. v. To arrange the services of actors and musicians.
2. n. Alternative term for the scripts.
3. n. The prompt copy.
4. n. The part of a musical show conducted in dialogue.

Book Flat

Two flats hinged together on the vertical. Also Two-Fold.

Booking

1. v. Closing a book flat.
2. n. An engagement of a show.

Boom

1. A vertical lighting bar.
2. A moveable arm supporting a lantern, microphone or camera.

Boom Arm

A clamp used to hang a lantern from a boom.

Boomerangs

Vertical side lighting booms fixed to the stage.

Border

Flown scenic piece or curtain designed to conceal the upper part of the stage and its machinery or lighting equipment.

Border Lights

See Battens.

Bounce

1. To bring in the House Curtain fast, then take it out again immediately.
2. Lighting term describing light beams reflected off the stage or set.

Bowline

Popular type of knot with a sailing origin, used to secure the end of a rope to a bar or other fixed object.

Box Boom

A vertical lighting bar, once fixed to the auditorium wall near the seating boxes, but now used generically to refer to any vertical lighting bar in the auditorium.

Box Set

Setting which encloses the acting area on three sides. Conventionally in imitation of a room from which the fourth wall has been removed.

Box Truss

See Truss.

Brace

See Stage Brace.

Brace

Cleat An attachment on a flat into which a stage brace can be hooked.

Brail

To pull a flying piece upstage or downstage from its natural free-hanging position by means of short rope lines attached to the ends of the fly bar.

Brake

Lever on a counterweight system that locks the rope, so stopping accidental movement.

Break A Leg

Traditional good luck greeting between cast and crew before a performance. Also Chookas, Fall Down Backward.

Breaker

See Circuit Breaker.

Breaker Board

See Distribution Board.

Breaking Character

When actors do or say something which is inconsistent with the character they are portraying.

Breakup

See Deckle.

Breast

To move a flying piece upstage or downstage from its natural free-hanging position by means of a rope line passed between fly floors and crossing the fly bar's suspension lines.

Bridge

Walkway above the stage or auditorium used to reach stage equipment.

Bring Up

To increase the intensity of the lanterns.

Briole

Wire ropes attached to chain motors used to set the correct heights for whatever is being rigged e.g. speakers.

Broadcast Quality

Term used to describe an audio or video source or recording as being of a high enough quality to broadcast on radio or television without further enhancement.

Bubble

Jargon for Lamp.

Bus Bar

Metal strip to which electrical cables are commoned together i.e. an earth link bus bar.

Business

Movements or activity used by the actors to reinforce their character.

Build

1. To increase the intensity of the lanterns.
2. To construct a scene from its different elements.

Bulb

See Lamp.

Bump-in/out

The process of moving all of a company's equipment in/out of a theatre. This includes scenery, props, lanterns, costumes and so on.

Bus And Truck

Tour designed for short stops, usually 1 to 4 nights.