I want to know some words related to the theatre, I have found some in the archive. Can any one offer me other words.
I would like to know the word describing a balcony viewing that protrudes from a wall in some theaters?
Some words from the archive:
Impresario (im-pruh-SAR-ee-o) noun
1. An organizer, promoter, or manager of public entertainments, such as
A ballet, opera, concert, or theater company.
2. Any manager or director.
Buskin (BUS-kin) noun
1. A thick-soled, laced boot, reaching to knee or calf, worn by actors
of ancient Greek and Roman tragedies. Also known as cothurnus.
2. A tragic drama.
Dramaturg (DRAM-uh-turj) noun, also dramaturge or dramaturgist
1. A playwright, especially one affiliated with a specific theater
company.
2. A member of a theater company staff who selects, edits, and adapts
plays for performance, and writes program notes.
Proscenium (pro-SEE-nee-uhm) noun
The part of the stage that is in front of the curtain.
Odeum (oh-DEE-uhm) noun, plural odea
1. A theater or concert hall.
2. A roofed building in ancient Greece and Rome used for theatrical
performances.
Hmmmm. I THINK the word you want is "loge" - from the Canadian Oxford:
loge (n) 1. a seating area in a theatre, usu. eleveated above the orchestra level and on the side. 2. a private box or enclosure in the theatre.
"I think we're in da loges!" (Kiss Me Kate)
welcome to the board - hope you enjoy it! (sure you will!
)
>"loge" - from the Canadian Oxford
Commonly know in the UK at least as a box. One of them is usually set aside as the Royal Box. I always feel sorry for them, they are amongst the worst seats in the house.
>usu. elevated above the orchestra level
In the UK this level is called the orchestra stalls but is generally known as the stalls. In the USA I noticed that this is usually called the orchestra.
In the UK the seating names do vary but in a traditional theatre, if there are several levels, they are commonly called:
Stalls (lowest level), Circle, Dress Circle or Royal Circle (1st level looking down), Upper Circle or Grand Circle (2nd level looking down) and Balcony (right at the top), although there are exceptions.
There are sometimes boxes at the back of the stalls, at the side and further forward than the dress circle, similarly with the grand circle.
The site for London's Globe Theatre has some interesting theatre history. The construction of the the theatre, with space for the groundlings, was quite different to modern theatre.
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/
My dictionary says a loge is;
the forward section of a mezzanine or balcony in a theater, set off by an aisle or railing
I think that seats in the loge are purchased as a block, ordinarily for VIPs/
Another term for the highest level of seating in theatres in NZ is "the gods". I've always rather liked it!
Welcome masa969!
Here's a look at the terms used for seating sections from a theatrical site:
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/rialto/past/1999/8_5_99.html Because auditorium and ticket terminology varies from one theatre to another, it is not surprising that many customers are confused when it comes to ordering tickets. How, then, should the various sections of a theatre be labeled? Some terms are preferred because they may sound more elegant than others: "terrace" instead of "first balcony," "family circle" instead of "second balcony." While the fancy labels may be desirable for some theatres, more accurate terms are probably a better choice in most cases. Almost any box office treasurer will attest that a surprising number of ticket buyers don't even understand the term "orchestra." Suffice it to say that theatregoing should be made as easy as possible. The following are the most commonly used seating terms:
Front Auditorium: Orchestra or Stalls (England)
Middle Auditorium: Mezzanine, Dress Circle, Front Balcony, First Balcony, Boxes, Side Terrace, Side Balcony, Loge, Parterre, Galleries (England), and First Tier
Rear Auditorium: Balcony, Rear Orchestra, Family Circle, Second Balcony, Rear Balcony, The Gods (England), Second Tier, and Second Terrace In the US there's also a slang term for the furthest, and highest, seats in the back of the theatre or auditorium, notoriously the worst seats in the house:
the nosebleeds.
>Galleries (England)
Funny, I used to work in a West End Box Office and can't think of anywhere with Galleries, except the Globe.
See this list of theatres:
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/lashmars/price.htmThe Gods is a term used here. You can go to the box office and ask for a seat in the Gods but you would never see it printed as a seating section in a brochure.
I like the sound of "nosebleeds". I used to go to the theatre two or three times a week (London, esp in the Gods always was much, much cheaper than Broadway) and remember some bad experiences with cheap tickets whilst eight months+ pregant - nosebleeds would have been the right name. Mind you, it was running for the bus afterwards that laid me up in the end.
the nosebleeds
I should have mentioned that the term is usually used in this phrase: We were sitting up in the nosebleeds; up in the nosebleeds; or way up in the nosebleeds.
Can any one offer me other words.
If the Juliet is facing the audience:
stage left- to her left
stage right- to her right
center stage- where she is standing in the middle of the stage
upstage- the stage behind her
downstage- the stage in front of her
"Nosebleed section" is a term frequently used herebouts for the highest tier of the bleachers at the ballpark. (And that is very high up. At Camden Yards, if you're in the nosebleeds, you can't see what direction a hit ball is going -- you have to watch which way the fielders are running. You are so high up the perspective is skewed.)
Almost any box office treasurer will attest that a surprising number of ticket buyers don't even understand the term "orchestra."Ahhh, so true. I used to work in the box office at the Stratford Festival of Canada. How vividly I remember the strange questions and requests...including the one patron who asked for "orchestra seats in the balcony." Gotta choose one or 'tother, lady.
Then there were the patrons who asked for seats facing the stage.....because we sold so many seats facing the back wall, I suppose.
Then there were the patrons who asked for seats facing the stage.....because we sold so many seats facing the back wall, I suppose.
I was supposed to ask for front facing seats? No wonder I saw so much of the rest of the theater!
To continue with Drow's work on supplying you with words:
- Proscenium - the arch at the front of the stage which defines the limit of the stage and its action
- Drop - a piece of scenery, usually in the back of a set, in which case it's called a backdrop, which is suspended from a metal bar and is raised and lowered.
- Scrim - a gauze curtain which is semi-transparent or can be nearly opaque depending on how it is lit. Nearly always hung from a rail, like a drop. It has to be weighted with pipe in the hem at the bottom to keep it hanging straight without wrinkles. The effect of a scrim is to cancel perspective -- anything you see behind it, you see in a flat plane.
- traveler - a curtain which is in two parts and which opens and closes sideways, the two halves going offstage to left and right.
- fly - v., to raise [a drop or curtain hung from a rail] off the stage. n. a curtain which rises in this manner
May I suggest the follow link for a well-organized glossary of theatrical terms: http://www.theatrecrafts.com/glossary/glossary.shtml
Here are some excerpts:
LOGE
Seating area in traditional proscenium arch venues. Exact location varies according to the venue, but is usually a "box" position at the dress circle level. (From the French Logè)
GREEN ROOM
Room close to the stage (i.e. the green) for the actors to meet and relax.
GODS
Colloquial term for the Upper Circle of the auditorium.
BLACK BOX
A kind of studio theatre where the audience and actors are in the same room, surrounded by black tabs (curtains). Doesn't necessarily describe the audience layout.
CIRCLE
The balcony with tiered seating above the stalls. Also known as Dress Circle or Grand Circle. See also UPPER CIRCLE.
THRUST
Form of stage which projects into the auditorium so that the audience are seated on at least two sides of the extended piece. See also END ON, IN THE ROUND.
THUNDER RUN
Long channel down which a cannonball is rolled to give a realistic thunder rumble effect. Built into the roof of some older theatres, but mostly now unused (for safety reasons).
UPPER CIRCLE
Highest balcony in the auditorium. Also known as the GODS. Normally has a very steep view down to the stage, and highly raked seating.
>Gotta choose one or 'tother, lady.
not according to this, from above:
Front Auditorium: Orchestra or Stalls (England)
Middle Auditorium: Mezzanine, Dress Circle, Front Balcony, First Balcony, Boxes, Side
Terrace, Side Balcony, Loge, Parterre, Galleries (England), and First Tier
Rear Auditorium: Balcony, Rear Orchestra, Family Circle, Second Balcony, Rear Balcony, The Gods (England), Second Tier, and Second Terrace
(color me confused)
Rear Orchestra...that's up where the pigeons roost? Good grief. That's news to me.
Went to a play up at Ithaca rescently and the actors performed on the same level as the audience in a huge rehearsal room. "Chicago." Saw half of it due to an orchestra performance conflict.
Anyway, sitting there on the same level as the actors proved to be a big bother. I couldn't see a lot of the action because the actors weren't elevated--but their performance was spiritually elevating, so I sorely felt the loss of getting to see more of their movement across the floor. Too bad some kind of temporary platforms weren't used to elevate the actors just a bit.
Was this comparable to the "black box" type of performance area I read about in one of the above posts--even though there weren't any black curtains--just that rehearsal room with the orchestra elevated in back of the actors?
Best regards,
DubbedDubious
That sounds like a sort of black box approach, although a more typical black box theatrical production would be a play with a small cast of characters and not a lot of emphasis on scenery, something like "Waiting For Godot" for example. It is hard to imagine why a musical like "Chicago" would be done in such a setting, where you couldn't appreciate the choreography in the musical numbers.
here's a typical seating chart including "rear orchestra":
http://www.statetheatre.com/events/seatch.html(first floor, not quite the nosebleeds)
Dear tsuwm,
Well, thanks! That rear orchestra area in the illustration makes sense.
In one of Richmond's old concert halls, which used to be called "The Mosque" until some folks decided it was an offensive term, the nosebleeds were the best seats in the house accoustically, even though the musicians looked like itchy, scratching ants on stage.
Beat regards,
doobydoobydubdub
>That sounds like a sort of black box approach, although a more typical black box theatrical production would be a play with a small cast of characters
Yes, more a design concept than a seating layout. The emphasis is on the performer and the piece not the props and costumes.
Some of my favourite theatres (eg the Donmar Warehouse in London) tend to have the performers on the floor and the audience on three sides around them. It is a well known fact that more than three rows on the level is a waste of time - they should have used rostra to elevate the audience, no more than two rows on each successive level.
Did we include "props" on the list? "Properties" movable items used by the performers in the course of action.