The Ultimate Exit Stage Left Quiz | Theatre

Answer: His or her left

Stage directions in a play are for the benefit of the actor. From the position of facing an audience, to exit stage left means to go to the actor's left - and vice versa. These directions are quite simple once you know for whom they were written.

Answer: He speaks directly to the audience

An aside usually, but not always, is used for comedic effect. The actor directs his comments to the audience, while the other actors on stage act as though they are unaware this is happening. It's a great device for villains in melodramas to use, for example.

While wickedly twirling his moustache, the villain may hiss to the audience, "I will threaten to evict her mother into the cold, cold snow and then her lovely daughter shall throw herself on my mercy. Ahaaaa, finally she will be mine - mine I tell you!" The aside can also be used for dramatic purposes of course, but this isn't terribly effective and runs the risk of an audience laughing when comedy isn't the intent.

Answer: The opposing role to that of the main character

The antagonist in a play is the actor or actors whose role is in direct opposition to the role played by the heroic or main character in a play. Conversely, the general terms applied to the central character in the play is the protagonist. An example of this would be Shakespeare's "Othello" (circa 1603).

The heroic figure or protagonist is Othello, a Moor, who is a general in the Venetian army. His noble nature if offset by the evil behind-the-scenes machinations of the despicable Iago who plays on Othello's one fatal character weakness, jealousy, to the detriment of all concerned in the play.

This is one of Shakespeare's most ruthless tragedies, and never, for one instant, does it let go of its audience.

Answer: The presentation of the cast at the end of a play

The curtain call takes place after the conclusion of the play when the entire cast is brought on stage to take their bows to, hopefully, a wildly cheering and appreciative audience. Sometimes the cast will all hold hands and bow as one. At other times the main characters will each step forward to bow individually.

This usually can be seen, say, following the conclusion of an opera. The louder the applause the more the audience appreciated the play or the individual performer.

Answer: The subsidiary actor that enhances the character of the hero

The theatrical definition of the foil in a theatrical work is "a character who contrasts or parallels the main character". This is not the same as the antagonist, but, because of the foil's own failings or inadequacies, more to emphasise different part of the main character's character, motivation or actions.

This could be a close friend of the main character who is everything that the foil is not. The main character, for example, could be faithful in love, but his foil have the romantic fibre of a rampaging tomcat.

Answer: The invisible wall between the stage and the audience

The fourth wall in theatre terminology is the imaginary wall at the front of the stage which separates the cast and audience. The actors and actresses, unless the stage directions contravene this, always act as though the audience isn't there at all and that invisible wall actually exists.

This is quite easy to do. Oddly enough, it can be harder to speak directly to an audience during a play than otherwise. It breaks the mood, you see, and throws the actor out of his role onstage into a co-conspirator with the audience.

Answer: Yes

This stage direction seeks to present inanimate natural objects or occurrences as representing or reflecting human emotions or mood in some way. Perhaps the best description of this would be that, if the play was building up to a dramatic and unpleasant climax of some sort, then rumbling thunder and flashing lightning would be heard and seen in the background. Film makers use pathetic fallacy to perfection in many horror movies, for example.

Answer: Throw his or her voice further into the audience

In the world of stagecraft, especially before the advent of electricity and microphones etc, the art of projecting one's voice, so that everyone in an audience can hear, was one of the most valuable skills an actor could possess. The best actor in the world with a soft voice simply didn't make it. There are various techniques which can help strengthen and develop the art of voice projection. These include correct body posture, stance, placement, breath control and enunciation. These same techniques are also used in singing.

Answer: Your role will be subsidiary to those of the main characters

We would describe this role today as a co-star perhaps. The supporting role is the role on the rung beneath that of the main actor in the piece. It could, for example, be that of the main character's best friend. An example of this would be in the 1978 movie "Grease" where John Travolta plays the main male role of Danny Zuko with his main female love interest played by Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson.

A parallel but less prominent theme running through the film is the story of his best friend Kenickie, played by Jeff Conaway, and his relationship with Betty Rizzo, played by Stockard Channing.

Answer: The conclusion one way or another of the main issue

The resolution in a play is the conclusion or the solving or the denouement of the main theme or problem or story line of the work. If you could look on a play as a bell-shaped curve, the climax or main thrust of the story builds up to the highest part of the curve. It is here that the resolution moves in and takes over on the descent down the other side of that curve, leading then to the conclusion of the entire work on the bottom right hand side of the curve.

If you take Edward Albee's 1962 play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for example, the climax of the play is where George announces the death of his and Martha's child. The resolution is when the other two people in the room, Nick and Honey, realise that the child is fictional, a creation of the childless Martha, and one that George only agreed to if Martha never spoke of the fake child to anyone else. The conclusion of the play, after Nick and Honey have gone home, sees George singing "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to Martha. Her heart-rending response is "I am, George...I am."

The English writer, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) suffered acute bouts of mental illness throughout her life and ended that life by suicide.