2024年3月25日发(作者：为什么电脑不显示u盘)

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 – ① in Greek drama, a group of singers and dancers who often provide exposition

and commentary on the action in the play. 歌队 ② in 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 sometimes 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 thoughts 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.

Term Definition Example

Hamlet)

(Shakespeare’s

1

Exposition背景交代

The first stage of a plot, in Denmark is haunted by the

which necessary background ghost of the late king.

information is provided

The ghost tells Hamlet that he

has been murdered by his

brother/the new king, Claudius.

The conflict between Hamlet

and Claudius develops, but

Hamlet succeeds in controlling

the course of events.

2

Rising Action剧情升温

An event, conflict or crisis or

set of conflicts and crises that

constitute the part of a play's

plot leading up to the climax.

3

Climax高潮

The point of greatest tension

in the plot of a play and the

turning point of the action in

the work.

Hamlet finds proof of

Claudius’ guilt but misses the

chance to kill him while he is

at prayer.

4

Falling Action剧情降温

This is when the events and Claudius begins to take control

complications begin to resolve and plans to kill Hamlet.

themselves and tension is

released.

5

Dénouement/Resolution

结局

The final outcome of the main Both, and others, die during a

complication in a play. fencing duel arranged by

Claudius.

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