常用戏剧术语1. Drama–The form of composition designed for performance in the theater, in which act0rs take the roles of the characters, perform the indicated action, and utter the written dialogue. The common alternative name for a dramatic composition is a play. A person who writes a play is a dramatist/playwright剧作家The first dramas to be written for the express purpose of being performed were created by the Greeks. Many modern drama terms derive from Greek origins. (1) Forms of drama:Poetic drama - written in verse诗剧Closet drama - plays initially meant to be performed or recited at small gatherings or read in private. Example: Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound ( 1820 ) 文房剧Screenplay电影剧本, for movies, have more complex and strict rules for formatting.(2) Types of drama:Comedy–In the Greek sense, a play that doesn’t end in death. In modern usage, refers to a play that is humorous. 喜剧Tragedy–In the Greek sense, a play that ends with the death of at least one of the main characters. In modern usage, refers to a play that doesn’t have a happy ending. 悲剧Tragicomedy - the term used to describe a drama that incorporates both tragic and comedic elements. This hybrid form was popularized in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Plays written in this mode often featured tragic conflicts that resolve happily through unexpected--sometimes improbable--plot twists. Example: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice悲喜剧2. Script– the written text of a play. Usually includes a list of characters that appear in the play with a brief description of what the character is like (Dramatis Personae剧中人物表), brief descriptions of the sets or setting背景/布景, and the lines台词the characters will speak. 剧本Act– A major section of a play, similar to a chapter in a book; an act is usually made up of several scenes. The five-act structure was originally introduced in Roman times and became the convention in Shakespeare’s period. In the 19th century this was reduced to four acts and 20th century drama tends to favor three acts. 幕Scene–a subdivision of an act; usually, a scene indicates a specific location or time, and changes if another location or time is supposed to be presented. 场Stage direction– a description (as of a character or setting) or direction (as to indicate stage business) provided in the text of a play, usually indicated with italics and/or parentheses. It may indicate where the scene takes place, what a character is supposed to do, or how a character should deliver certain lines. 舞台指示Enter– A stage direction –tells the character(s) to come onto the stage. Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional information about how characters are to enter the scene. 登场Exit/Exeunt (pl.)– A stage direction – tells the character(s) to leave the stage and the scene. Often includes a direction (left or right) or additional information about how characters are to leave the scene. Example: Exeunt soldiers and townspeople. 退场3. Character- An imaginary person that inhabits a literary work. Dramatic characters may be major主要or minor次要, static (unchanging静态) or dynamic (capable of change动态), round (with psychological depth丰满的) or flat (a stock character模式化人物or simplified stereotype平面的). Example: In Shakespeare's Othello, Desdemona is a major character, but one who is static. Othello is a major character who is dynamic, exhibiting an ability to change.人物Protagonist主人公--Antagonist对立角色Hero/Heroine男女主角--Villain反面角色Foil - A character in a work who, by sharp contrast, serves to stress and highlight the distinctive temperament of the protagonist. Example: in Pride and Prejudice, the gentle and compliant Jane Bennet serves as a foil to/for her strong-willed sister Elizabeth. 陪衬Chorus–①in Greek drama, a group of singers and dancers who often provide exposition and commentary on the action in the play. 歌队②in Shakespeare’s plays, a character who speaks the prologue and epilogue and comments on the action. 致辞者Extra–a minor character who doesn’t have many or any lines; usually, extras don’t have names, but are identified by what they do (“servant,” “boy,” “policeman”) and some times a number if there are more than one of that type of extra. 临时演员Characterization– the means by which an author reveals the personality of a character人物塑造4. Lines– words spoken by a character. 台词Dialogue– the lines spoken by the actors; in the script, preceded by the name of the character that is to speak the words. 对白Monologue– A speech given by a single character while that character is alone on stage; also called a soliloquy. 独白Soliloquy–In drama (especially Elizabethan [Shakespearean]), an extended speech by a solitary character expressing inner thoughts aloud to him-or herself and to the audience; a monologue. 独白Aside–A monologue performed by a character while other characters are on stage; the information in an aside is not heard by the other characters on stage, even though they may be standing very close by; it is intended to convey the character’s private thought s to the audience. Other characters on stage at that time may freeze, to show that the words being said are not being overheard; other times, the other characters will go about their business but ignore the character giving the aside. 旁白（比较：画外音voice-over，叙事人narrator）Subtext– unspoken but implied text; for an actor, the internal motivations or responses never explicitly stated in the dialogue, but understood either by the audience or the characters themselves. 潜台词5. Plot– The sequence of events that make up a story. 情节(1) Types of plot:Double plots双重情节(main plot and subplot)Subplot- A subsidiary or subordinate or parallel plot that coexists with the main plot. Example: the Gloucester story in King Lear.次要情节(2) Plot devices:Conflict - There is no drama without conflict. The conflict between opposing forces in a play can be external(between characters)外部or internal(within a character)内心and is usually resolved by the end of the play. 冲突Suspense - A lack of certainty, on the part of a concerned reader, about what is going to happen,especially to characters with whom the reader has established a bond of sympathy.悬念(twist情节上的转折，Surprise ending意外结局)play within a play, or story within a story, usually used to relate to the main plot. Example: Shakespeare’s Hamlet 戏中戏deus ex machine - in for "a god from a machine." It describes the practice of some Greek playwrights (especially Euripides) to end a drama with a god, lowered to the stage by a mechanical apparatus, who by his judgment and commands resolved the dilemmas of the human characters. The phrase is now used for any forced and improbable device -- a telltale birthmark , an unexpected inheritance, the discovery of a lost will or letter-- by which a hard-pressed author resolves a plot. Conspicuous examples occur even in major novels like Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist. “天外救星”Flashback- An interruption of a play's chronology (timeline) to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time-frame of the play's action. Example: In Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello recalls how he courted Desdemona. 插叙Foreshadowing- a literary technique that introduces an apparently irrelevant element early in the story, but its significance becomes clear later in the play. 伏笔Irony– general name for moments in literature that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions. 反讽Dramatic irony – a contradiction between what the character thinks and what the audience or reader knows to be true. 戏剧性反讽(Satire: a form of comedy that relies on wit and irony to offer social commentary through imitation and ridicule of its subject. 讽刺作品) (3) Plot structure: Freytag’s Pyramid, a pattern mainly designed to analyze ancient Greek drama and Shakespeare’s plays; often not applicable to modern drama, but the terms are frequently used.6. Theme- the abstract message or concept that a playwright wishes to convey by uniting the dramaturgical construction of the play with specific actions and images. 主题7. Staging/production上演:Props - short for "properties," the articles or objects that appear on stage during a play. 道具Stage/sound/visual effect舞台/声音/视觉效果Stage layout舞台布局: upstage舞台后部, downstage舞台前部, stage left（面向观众）舞台左侧, stage right舞台右侧。
