KS3 Drama Key Terms & Vocabulary
Every key term and definition you need for KS3 Drama, organised by topic. 84 definitions across 7 topics, free to read and practise with spaced-repetition flashcards.
Devising
Practise Devising →- Devising
- creating original theatre collaboratively, rather than performing a published script.
- Effective feedback
- specific and constructive, noting what worked and what could be improved.
- Freeze frame
- a pose held completely still to capture a single moment.
- Improvisation
- creating scenes without a script, making them up as you go.
- Run-through
- performing the piece without stopping.
- Still image
- a motionless frozen scene held by the performers.
- Stimulus
- a starting point — an image, object, piece of music or text — that sparks ideas for a devised piece.
- In forum theatre the audience can stop a scene and try different choices to change its outcome.
- In hot-seating, one person sits in role while others ask them questions to develop the character.
- Hot-seating puts a performer in the "hot seat" to answer questions in character.
- A role on the wall is a character outline the group fills with facts and feelings about that character.
- Role on the wall helps performers understand a character's thoughts, feelings and how others see them.
- Thought-tracking pauses an improvisation so a character speaks their inner thoughts aloud.
- In thought-tracking a performer freezes and speaks their character's unspoken thoughts aloud.
- Warm-up games at the start of a rehearsal focus the group and prepare the voice and body for work.
- Working in role means staying in character and responding as that character would throughout an activity.
Performance Skills
Practise Performance Skills →- Diction
- the clarity with which you pronounce each word.
- Gesture
- the use of hands and arms to add meaning to a performance.
- Pace
- the vocal skill that controls how fast or slowly you speak.
- Pitch
- how high or low the voice sounds.
- Projection
- sending the voice out clearly so it reaches the whole audience.
- Proxemics
- an actor's use of space and distance from others on stage.
- Stillness
- staying completely still at a key moment for dramatic impact.
- Tone
- the feeling or emotion conveyed by the way you speak.
- Volume
- the vocal skill that controls how loud or quiet the voice is.
- A performer uses a specific accent to suggest where their character is from.
- Eye contact between characters signals focus, connection, power or tension.
- Facial expression shows the audience how a character is feeling without words.
- Performers vary levels (crouching, standing, raised) to create visual contrast and show status, power or emotional relationships.
- A deliberate pause creates tension or gives the audience time to think.
- Posture communicates a character's confidence, status, mood or physical condition.
- Two characters standing very close can read as intimacy, tension or a power dynamic.
Production Design
Practise Production Design →- Backdrop
- a large painted or projected background used on stage.
- Blackout
- turning all the stage lights off, not on at full brightness.
- Diegetic sound
- sound that the characters in the scene can hear.
- Follow spot
- a spotlight operated by a person to follow a moving performer.
- Non-diegetic sound
- sound that the characters in the scene cannot hear (only the audience hears it).
- Prop
- an object handled by the actors; the set is the environment that surrounds them.
- Set design
- the visual design of the physical environment on stage.
- Using levels
- placing performers at different heights to create visual interest.
- From the performer's view, downstage is the direction towards the audience.
- A floodlight casts a broad wash of light over the stage.
- Warm lighting colours feel hopeful; cool colours feel sad or mysterious.
- A minimalist set uses very few pieces, leaving much to the audience's imagination.
- A sound effect represents a real-world sound; music creates atmosphere or emotion.
- A spotlight focuses a narrow beam of light on one area or person.
- "Stage left" means the performer's left as they face the audience.
- From the performer's view, upstage is the direction away from the audience (not towards it).
Performance Spaces
Practise Performance Spaces →- Auditorium
- the area where the audience sits in a theatre.
- Backstage
- the area hidden from the audience behind the performance space.
- Site-specific theatre
- performed in an unusual, non-theatre location chosen to fit the story.
- Traverse stage
- a long, narrow stage with the audience seated on two opposite sides.
- In the round, the audience feels close to the action and surrounded by the performance.
- In theatre in the round the audience sits all around the stage.
- A disadvantage of in the round is that large sets and backdrops block some audience members' views.
- In a proscenium arch theatre the audience sits directly in front of the stage.
- The choice of performance space changes how close the audience feels to the action.
- A thrust stage extends into the audience on three sides, not seating the audience on only one side behind a frame.
Theatre Practitioners
Practise Theatre Practitioners →- Stanislavski
- the practitioner known for naturalism — acting as truthfully as possible.
- Artaud used theatre to shock, challenge and disturb audiences.
- Brecht wanted audiences to think critically about the story and its message rather than just feel emotions.
- During his productions Brecht wanted audiences to think critically, not to be emotionally absorbed or overwhelmed.
- A theatre director guides the whole cast and creative team.
- A playwright writes the script; a director guides the performers.
- A theatre practitioner's ideas shape the look, feel and meaning of a production.
- A set designer creates the stage environment — scenery, furniture and layout.
- Stanislavski developed truthful, realistic acting — not a deliberately unrealistic, exaggerated style.
- A touring theatre company travels and performs in different venues across the country.
Drama Vocabulary
Practise Drama Vocabulary →- Comedy
- a genre that uses humour, misunderstandings and a happy ending.
- Conflict
- a struggle between or within characters that drives the story forward.
- Resolution
- how the conflict is resolved at the end of the play.
- Status
- a character's level of power or importance relative to other characters.
- Subtext
- the meaning beneath a character's words — not the literal meaning of what is said aloud.
- Theme
- a recurring big idea explored by the play.
- Tragedy
- a genre in which the main character faces serious downfall or loss.
- The plot of a play is the sequence of events.
Script and Text
Practise Script and Text →- Dialogue
- the spoken words exchanged between two or more characters.
- Dramatic irony
- when the audience knows something the characters do not.
- Monologue
- a long speech by one character — not a fast exchange between several characters (that is dialogue).
- Character's motivation
- the reason behind their actions — what they want.
- Act
- a major section of a play; a scene is a smaller unit within an act.
- Soliloquy
- a character thinking aloud alone, sharing their thoughts with the audience.
- Stage directions
- written instructions in a script telling actors how to move.
- Tension in drama is suspense or dramatic uncertainty about what will happen.
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