| Above the title |
In advertisements, when the performer's name appears before the
title of the show or play. Reserved for the big stars! |
| Amplifier |
Sound term. A piece of equipment which ampilifies or increases the sound
captured by a microphone or replayed from record, CD or tape. Each loudspeaker
needs a separate amplifier. |
| Apron |
In a traditional theatre, the part of the stage which projects in front of
the curtain. In many theatres this can be extended, sometimes by building out
over the pit (qv). |
| Assistant Director |
Assists the Director (qv) by taking notes on all moves and other decisions
and keeping them together in one copy of the script (the Prompt Copy (qv)). In
some companies this is done by the Stage Manager (qv), because there is no
assistant. |
| Assistant Stage Manager |
(ASM) Another name for stage crew (usually, in the professional theatre,
also an understudy for one of the minor roles who is, in turn, also
understudying a major role). The lowest rung on the professional theatre
ladder. |
| Auditorium |
The part of the theatre in which the audience sits. Also known as the
House. |
| Backing Flat |
A flat (qv) which stands behind a window or door in the set (qv). |
| Banjo |
Not the musical instrument! A rail along which a curtain runs. |
| Bar |
An aluminium pipe suspended over the stage on which lanterns are hung. Also
the place where you will find actors after the show - the stage crew will still
be working! |
| Barn Door |
An arrangement of four metal leaves placed in front of the lenses of
certain kinds of spotlight to control the shape of the light beam. |
| Battern |
A long row of floodlights (qv), wired as three or four circuits. |
| Beamlight |
Lighting term: a type of lanetrn which produces a parallel beam of light.
In construction rather like a car headlamp, being a sealed-beam unit. Also
known as a PARCAN or PARBLAZER. |
| Beam Spread |
Lighting term: the area that a given lantern covers. It is usually
expressed as the angle that the beam subtends at the focal plane: the smaller
the angle, the narrower the beam. |
| Beginners |
Those members of the cast who are on-stage when the curtain goes up. The
call (qv) "Overture and beginners" is a signal to the orchestra to
start the introductory music and to the cast to get into position on-stage.
|
| Blackout |
Lighting term: switching all lights out at once, leaving the stage in
complete darkness. See also DBO. |
| Blacklight |
Ultra-violet light. Can be in bulb or, more usually, tube form. |
| Blacks |
Black curtains at the back and sides of the stage. |
| Blocking |
The setting of the actors' positions and moves at the beginning of
rehearsals. Occasionally known as plotting, but this term is usually reserved
for use in lighting. |
| Board |
Another name for a control desk, either lighting (most usually) or sound.
|
| Book (The) |
A copy of the script, kept by the Stage Manager, which includes all cues
(qv) and notes. Also known, usually in amateur theatre, as the "prompt
copy." |
| Box Office |
The place where the tickets are sold. Also used colloquially to mean the
size of the audience ("What's the box office like tonight?") |
| Box Set |
A set (qv) which consists of three walls, around a proscenium arch (qv)
stage. The proscenium opening is the fourth wall. Also known as a "room
set". |
| Call |
Generally, some sort of instruction to the company: a rehearsal call is an
instruction to attend a rehearsal at a particular time; time calls are given
just before each performance ("Ladies and gentlemen, this is your thirty
minute call"); treasury call is pay day in the professional theatre.
Note that time calls are all related to the "Beginniners" call,
not to the actual time of starting the show. In other words, the 30 minute call
is given 30 minutes before "Orchestra & Beginners" is called, or
35 minutes before the curtain goes up. |
| Cans |
Headphones |
| Cast |
The list of characters in a play and the actors who play them. Also, as a
verb, to allocate parts to members of a company. |
| Cheat |
To make an action on stage look realistic without actually doing what you
seem to be doing; e.g. an actor looking towards the audience in the general
direction of the person he is talking to, is cheating. |
| Check |
Lighting term: to lower the brightness of a lantern (qv) to zero. |
| Chief Electrician |
(Usually abbreviated to Chief LX) He is head of the department which is
responsible for the maintenance and rigging of the lighting, and the operation
of the lighting plot. In act, he is usually responsible for the maintenance and
repair of anything electrical in the theatre, from the stage lighting to the
light in the gent's toilet! His crew are variously known as LX, electrical
daymen, electrics crew, etc.. |
| Choreographer |
Devises and rehearses the dance routines, following the concept laid down
by the Director (qv). |
| Cinemoid |
A (now discontinued) brand name for a lighting gel or filter. Still used by
old-timers (like me!) generically. |
| Cloth |
Backdrop scenery painted on fabric. Cloths can be on a banjo (usually in
the amateur theatre), can be rolled up, or can be flown (qv). |
| Colour Changer |
A remotely controlled means of changing a coloured filter over the lens of
a lantern. There are three kinds: a wheel, a semaphore (like the old- fashioned
railway signals) and a scroller which uses continuous, usually dichroic,
filters. Scrollers are the preferred option in the modern theatre. |
| Colour Frame |
A frame which fits over the front of a lantern to held a coloured filter or
gel. They can be made from metal (preferred) or a kind of cardboard. |
| Come down |
In the theatre, a show does not finish; it comes down, i.e. the curtain
"comes down" to end the show. |
| Company Manager |
The person in charge of a touring company when it is on the road. |
| Corner |
Short for the "prompt corner"; the place from which the Stage
Manager controls the show. From here he has communication links to all parts of
the the theatre and gives cues (qv) to all departments. The corner can be on
either side of the stage but traditionally it is on the left (i.e. the prompt)
side. Perversely some theatres have the prompt corner on the "opposite
prompt" (OP) side of the stage! The person who is operating the corner is
sometimes said to be "in the corner" and sometimes "on the
book". |
| Corpse |
Not a dead body in a thriller! An actor who gets an unintended and
uncontrollable fit of laughter on stage is said to "corpse". |
| Cross Fade |
Lighting term: fading one lantern (or group of lanterns) up while fading
another down. |
| CSI |
Compact Source Iodide: a type of discharge lamp, usually used in
follow-spots, which, although very small (often no bigger than a finger nail),
gives a very bright, white light. A 2K CSI lamp will give the same power as a
5K tungsten. These are, needless to say, very expensive. |
| Cue |
An instruction given by the Stage Manager to one of the technical
departments to take some action; e.g. LX cue 7 is the seventh instruction in
the play to the lighting department. Also used in the sense of the point at
which an actor must enter or speak. |
| Curtain Call |
Taking a bow in front of the audience at the end of a show. Usually
abbreviated to "curtain". |
| Cut-out |
A free-standing piece of scenery, e.g.a tree, cut out of board into the
correct shape and painted. |
| Cyclorama |
Also known as a cyc. A very large piece of white fabric, tensioned on two
or more sides, which covers the entire back wall of the stage. It can be lit in
various colours or have slides or gobos projected onto it. |
