stage direction
3
3.9
- noun
- /steɪdʒ dɪˈrɛkʃən/
- Specialized
:
dirección escénica
- Despite roles assigned and stage directions to follow, dancers express their voice in every movement the body makes.
- stage directions describe
- play's stage directions
The dialogue, the stage directions, all of that stuff.
- The dialogue, the stage directions, all of that stuff.
Examples
-
The Golden Age play, typical of its period, limits stage directions essentially to exit and enter.
Academic text (1992) -
The stage directions were lucid.
-
I could almost say the same thing about the stage directions.
Blog text (21) -
The dialogue, the stage directions, all of that stuff.
-
According to the stage directions, they must fall down to the ground when speaking after every rigorous motion they perform.
Academic text (1997) -
Throughout the play, the stage directions that indicate "the mirror" denote those moments when actors are speaking directly to the audience.
Fiction book (1997) -
Thus, at the end of the play, a paradox emerges from the tension between the text and the stage directions.
Academic text (1998) -
In fact, Ibsen's stage directions describe Irene as a living statue.
Academic text (2000) -
Stage directions underscore the shifting moods, ranging from farcical to erotic to violent, through carefully selected musical motifs.
Academic text (1994) -
When reading a play aloud, it's important to have someone read the stage directions.
How Detailed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'stage' (performance area) + 'direction' (an instruction) yields instructions pertaining to the stage. This straightforward noun+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and matches the dictionary sense (movement, position, tone, lighting), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Stage direction comes from the theatre: it is a short note in a play that tells actors where to stand on the stage and gives a small direction about movement, how to speak, or the lights. These notes 'direct' the action, so today the phrase means the 'instructions' in a script about movement, sound, or lighting.