Technical Language Related to Theater

- Notion = ‫مفهوم‬
- Dimension = ‫ بعد‬: Verbal (verb) and paraverbal

In the theater, the ‫ نص‬is the basic (ases)

‫في البدئ كان الكلمة والكلمة صار جسد‬

‫الجسد‬: is everything not related to the words or all theater components: (Scenography, clothes, makeup,
music, audio, lighting (PARAVERBAL)

To be or not to be: Paraverbal

The words have no sense without Paraverbal.

Grades:

Midterm will constitute of questions about definitions, and open ended questions (analysis). Ex: Realism
vs Naturalism.

The whole course is based on: Le Dictionnaire du Theatre Patrice Pavis (see if available in English)
 Terminology
(Terms)
Logy: Science

Verbal
Verb ‫الكلمة‬
‫النص والخصائص‬
Paraverbal
Etymology: The origin of the word
Theater: Theatron (where people are seated to watch) it is now shifted to the meaning
of the play or something we are watching.
Dramatic Arts: ‫الفن المسرحي‬
Dram: Dran is the action ‫الفعل‬
Something taking place in the active way.
Visual is very important in Theater.
- By definition, the theater is an ACT. ‫الفعل يعطي الصراع‬
- Dramatic Art is the theater
- Dramatic text Play (Read/ Watch) ‫نص المسرحي‬
Dramatic Text vs Novel
A dramatic text, gives the space for readers to imagine the characters, place, and setting
the way they see it. The novel is more descriptive, and can help the reader shape their
imagination according to what is written.

Je lie une piece de theatre

Je voi le spectacle
Playwright: ‫الكاتب المسرحي‬
 1- Characters (Personnages) ‫الشخصية المسرحية‬
The psychological profile of character
2- Didascalia: The directives, notes, remarks, information, suggestions of the
playwright. Are usually in italic
(Directives given by the playwright)
Texts
Monologue: one-character speaking
Dialogue: two characters speaking
Trilogue: three characters speaking
Polylogue: more than three characters speaking

A: …
B: …
C: …
D: …
- Three points are the replies. Reply is any phrase said by a character not only
answer to a question.
- Tirade: Long Reply
- Dialogue: Set of replies between two characters
- Monologue: Tirade said by one character
- Monologue (addressing second entity) can also be one person speaking,
physically the actor is alone. However deeply there is a conflict happening
between two sides. The play never consists of someone speaking alone without
another side (idea) tackling the conflict.
- Solilogue: many characters on stage but only one speaking.
 The Characteristics of the Structure of a Play
Hic et nunc: (Ici + maintenant)
‫المسرح هو فعل عمبيصير‬
1- Le dit et le non dit
What is said and not said (hidden)
‫النص هو رأس الهرم‬
The theater is harder than the novel. The theater gives space for imagination.
The inspiration of the text for the director can take his imagination.
Situation 1: Is the relation between the specific characters at a specific moment of the
play. In theater, we are constantly evolving/ shifting from one situation to another.
How do we shift from one situation to another?
ACTION: ALFE3EL
This helps us evolve from one situation to another.
Scene: Every scene should have an action that changes the whole story. Kel mashhad
lezem ykoun fiyo fe3el.
The actions could have different natures:
1- Physical
2- Verbal
3- Emotional
‫بنية النص الدرامي‬
a) Scenes ‫مشاهد‬
Every time a character goes in our outside the stage, the scene changes. (for
order and tonzim)
b) Act ‫فصول‬
Every time we have a change in the space or time, or both we have a different
act.
What is Speech Act?
Azione parlata
Notion that came up with: Piratello Italian playwright
“‫”ال فعل هو فعل بحد ذاتو‬
Action is also not doing anything
The most important questions we can ask ourselves while watching/ reading the play is:
What is evolving?
Where’s the action?
During the play, we cannot describe the actions of the actors will talk about the
character.
What is the difference between Action and Speech Act?
There is no difference
- The notion proposed by piotello Italian playwright in which he says that every
single word on stage should accomplish an action/ should be an action.
To speak is to act in theater. To speak, is to accomplish an action.
‫تفاقم المشاعر والعالقات‬
Every action should take me from 7ale to 7ale: every word/ act bada to develop

We have desires, actions, objectives, dreams and emotions. (we all do things to reach
our desires.
- Dramatic Conflict: is the result of the antagonistic forces of the play.
Whenever you have a subject with a specific object.
Conflict ‫صراع‬: When the desires, aspirations, goals, targets of a character contradict
those of another character the conflict is generated.
“Action mertekze 3al Raghabet”
Situation-action-situation-action-situation-action Crise(fo2)
When the conflicts are being more intense, they are heading to a crisis.
 - The crisis is the moment/ phase that announces or prepares the knot (‫)العقده‬. The
conflicts are all to the maximum (boiling) intensified.
In classical theater, it is called catastrophe.
- Catastrophe: (etiologically) is the fourth and last part of the dramatic piece (play).
With time, the word shifted and started to be referred by the major action in
order to un-knot the knot. ‫فك العقده‬
- Knot: Moment where the conflicts, desires are explicitly expressed and where
because of that, the situation is strongly blocked/stuck.
In order to de-block it, a major action is required.
Chronological Axe: Chrono is the God of Time
(Situation, action, conflict, crisis, knot) action parlee

- Unraveling: In the classical theater, end of the play shows the destiny where
every character is going, and conflicts are being eliminated.
- In contemporary theater, the unraveling is not always there
Watch closer: movie for Julia Roberts
Final resolution: Fact of knowing. It is the state, of each character, what will d. what
price they will pay, they will fly, die, be happy, sad..etc

Text Fond
Personnages Situation
Dialogue Action/ action parlee
Monologue Conflict
Solilogue Crisis
… Knot
Didascalie Catastrophe
Acte-> Scene Unravelling
Final Resolution
The action (alfe3el) comes from conflict, and conflict comes from desires.
The conflict cannot necessarily be a character with another. The conflict can be be with
myself.
Some people live in their knot their whole life.
- Verbal Scenery: When a character describes a scenography (decoration/ related
to décor) that is not visually represented/ present on stage. Ex: tree of shoes
- Teichoscopie: To see through a wall
(etymologically): scopie- vision
Teicho: wall
It is when a character narrates/ reports an action that is happening outside the
stage/ in the backstage (‫)خارج عن الفضاء المسرحي‬
Its importance is that it enlarges/ widens the imagination of the spectator.

It is a big challenge to the actor. He has to be honest and narrate his actions
through his reactions/ emotions. It widens the theatrical space.

- Aside: The aside is a short reply (replique) which is said by a character that is
intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the
play. (the character not actor). Ka2an 3am bi faker 3a sot 3ale bayno w ben halo,
it is also an opportunity to change the rhythm of the play (ika3).

“Art is Suspense” ‫الفن هو خيال المتلقي‬

Imagine the theater as a table, each leg table represents: Writer, director, actor, and the
audience.

- Coup de theatre: It is an unpredicted action and non- prepared action which

changes suddenly the course of the action (theater play). It is always considered a
weak point: it could be an event. (It is a weak point in the dramaturgical
structure).
- Deus- ex- Machina: Dieu- ‫خارج‬- machine
Ethimologically: In the ancient greek theater a character of a God was brought on
stage through a machine which carried him in a sort of a basket. The arrival of
this character solves all the problems ‫شخصية مسرحية‬
It didn’t used to be a weak point.
Nowadays, when we say Deus Ex Machina means a character who suddenly
appears to solve all problems out of nowhere to solve the problems. (weak point)
 Deus ex machina can be a coup de theatre.
A coup de theatre is not always a deus ex machine. Could be a letter, a picture ..

In theater, we are here to ask questions not to give the answers, to be put
conflicts that are homogeneous ‫متجانسين‬.

- Actant ‫ عنصر الفعل‬action: It is that who accomplishes an action or falls under the
action. A tick can be an actant. ‫يفعل أو يقع عليه الفعل‬
Actant:
abstract ‫ مجرد‬:
concrete ‫محسوس‬
Example: ‫ جسد‬-‫ كلمة‬: ‫– مسرح‬
Musical instrument – string instrument - Guitar
Example 2: On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco
Nyoukhin: Abstract and Concrete are relative.
Not everything I see is actant. The wife is not there during the play, however she
is an actant. The director can concretize her on stage in a sound, picture, silent
actors using the creativity.
Sensibility is an actant for Nyukhin.
Everything we see cannot necessarily be an actant, but everything we cannot see
could be an actant.

- Actantial Model: Is to bring out the actants of text and find the correlation
(concrete or abstract) and then only we can incarnate them. ‫نحدد عناصر الفعل‬
Its importance is:
1- Doesn’t separate the character from its character from its character traits /
psychological profile/ actions.
2- It clarifies the dramatic situations, causes, motives
3- It explains how the conflict was has been resolved, why the conflict happened
(causality) ‫سببية‬
4- The dramaturgic work necessary vital for each staging
- Dramaturge: Playwright
In French literary circles, “Dramaturge” is a playwright
A dramaturge is a literary expert who analyses a dramatic text in order to stage it.
It is the analysis that supports the director in the staging. He is not necessarily a
staging director. However, a stage director is always a dramaturge. Dramaturge is
not always a stage director.
- Stage Director: is a dramaturge/ literary expert who attends all the rehearsals of
a collective creation (brainstorm/ merging two texts) and creates a final text out
of all the propositions/ proposals
Understands the soul of the text
He is a literary expert that brings out preexisting texts to generate new ones
Also, concretizes the concept (mother killing her children ‫) عبر العصور‬: Jogging
play is the example of the theatralization of reports, TV, Newspapers, legal files.
- Intertextuality: Use/ Go back to a text to have a better understanding to the
text. It is to search in older/ different texts and have a better understanding of a
specific initial text.
Ex: Hamlet sometimes it would mean merging texts together. It could be a part of
a dramaturge combining texts like jogging- by Hanane Hajj Ali.
- Adaptation:
1- Is the transfer from one genre to another. Transform a poem to a play, a play
to a movie, or a novel to a movie.
2- When you create a text from two different texts is also an adaptation.
Omitting specific parts/adding generating a new text, in order to show it at a
different point of view. Inspired by the original text “win through actions, not
through arguments”. Creativity is reshaping what already exists.
3- Adaptation could also be translation
- Dramatization: When you adapt a text that is not theatrical and make its
theatrical piece, the text is restructured in a way it gives the characteristic of the
dramatic text.
Characters, situation, conflict, actions, actions, evolution
Dramatization-> creating dramaturgy
Dramatization is a part of theatralization
- Theatralizing an event/ text is to represent it on stage while using the visual
elements of the stage and the rest of the theatrical characteristics, imposing new
theatrical elements.
Also, it is possible to theatralize a non- theatrical space. Give it an identity- ‫نمسرح‬
‫الفضاء‬
 Theatralization: Dramatization + characteristic Scenique(actor-character-conflict)
Know your audience- the sign of what I represent.
- Tyranny of the Tirade: Staying in the same monotonous state. Always one single
emotion or rhythm angry/sad/ happy throughout all the monologue. Tempo
ruling over the whole tirade. It is when the tirade becomes monotone because of
one emotion ruling it.
- Plot (‫)الحبكة‬: Different events/actions/conflict that are intertwined into the
suspense. The total of many situations how they are linked/ presented together.
“‫”الهدف هو نتيجة‬
- Decoupage Prosodic (‫)تقطيع‬: can be exclamation, interrogation, affirmative (info)
Slash /: Silence
//: bade tawel el S
Accent: fi ouwe
Suring the monologue, always ask: What am I aiming for in the monologue? ‫الفعل‬

- Comic Relief: A reply/ action which happens just after a tensed scene. Which
makes the audience laugh and release the tension.
- Actualization: Is when you take a text which is written in a precious era, and to
adopt it into a contemporary/ modern era. To put modern clothes on the actors,
is not actualization nor creating a modern set is actualization.
Giving the spectator tools for better understanding of the core of the play.

- If you are sitting in the audience, you are reading Jesus Christ. JC
Cote Jardin -> Left audience
Cote Court-> Right audience
- Identification: In theater happens on two levels
1- Actor and the character: he is hunted and completely taken by the emotions,
hopes, fears, and desires of the character. This is important to move to the
second level of identification
2- Audience and Character: The audience feels the emotions the character is
living.
Freud considers that the pleasure in theater is the result of identification because
identification is leads to catharsis.
- Catharsis: Is the purification of negative emotions. Aristotle spoke of Catharsis.
Freud explained the process.
You get the catharsis because you observe the character that moves freely on
stage. They do on stage what they can’t do in real life ‫فشت خلق‬
 Pleasure comes from identification.

- Denegation: is the opposite of identification and by denegation we mean the

psychological process that makes us feel at ease for not being the character, And
this denegation gives relief and resemblance between me and the character. The
character gives gratification for not resembling the character.

- Distanciation: Notion proposed by Brecht in his epic theater in his epic theater.
By which the identification is broken with the character, the actor becomes
himself.

- The 4th wall: Is the invisible imaginary wall separating the actors from the
audience/ spectators by Stanislavski. (Ta ma nfout bel show off). To play with
more authenticity and realism.

- Address au publique: Address to the audience is when an actor or a character

breaks the 4th wall and adds issues speaking to the audience directly. It is one of
the tools used in comedies: comedia de l’arte and any theater that gives
possibility for improv.

Difference between: Naturalism and Realism

- Naturalism: The reality ‫ الواقع كما هو‬- ‫( الطبيعية‬copy paste)
- Réalisme: ‫الواقعية‬
Dynamic, ‫الجوهرة‬, Make the audience become experts- choosing the signs that are
relevant.
- Stylization: A process by which I present reality in a simplified way, in its essence
without details. In its essential form.
- Meyerhold: We create realistic theater in a stylized way.
- Realism is a Stylized reality
Example: Realism is the raisins; stylization is the wine.
- Mime and Pantomime: In both cases a story is told without a verbal text
Pantomime: Replacing words with gestures (gestures that refer directly to
words). ‫بالعاب الكالم بالجسم‬
- Mime: More poetic/ creative. Leaving the imagination to create. Gestures are
more poetic, and give the urge of imagination to the audience.
The difference and despite both arts are physical and use gestures, pantomime
replaces a verbal text/ replaces words with gestures, which makes it simple and
more understandable.
While mime is more poetic and more creative. The quality of gestures in mime are
less related to reality. Mime enhances the imagination of the audience and requires
creativity from the actor. Both arts require high physical skills and precision.
- Mise en Abyme: Embedding is when you find a work of art, a reflection of what it
is. (work of art reduplicates) watching tv, person watching tv
- (Specular Reduplication)/ Play with a play: Embedding revolved around theater: a
play within a play. Theater play speaks/ reports/ carries/ characteristics of
another play.
- Gestuality: Neologism which designates the specific properties of a gesture.
Meaning that which distinguishes gestures from other system of communication.
(Pay attention of every gesture I make onstage.
Verbal system of communication: visual, heard, and written
- Gestuelle (system of gestures): Specific way in which a character/ actor moves
(based on the type of the play).
- Gestusse: It is in general, the attitude towards someone else. Thus creates a
social connotation. However, used in two ways:
Gestusse: In reference to Meyerhold (position pose) / in relation to Brecht
(Gestus Social)