stage left
8
3.9
- noun
- Specialized
:
izquierda del escenario
- During the rehearsal, she walked stage left to position herself for the next scene.
- exit stage left
- enter stage left
- move stage left
And there there would be signs like stand here or like exit stage left.
- And there there would be signs like stand here or like exit stage left.
Examples
-
Yeah, I know, but I said stage left, which is your left, my right.
-
Enter, from stage left in the living room, Mrs. Greene, for her weekly cup of tea and her fight.
Fiction book (1994) -
And you cross stage left, Peter.
-
Back to stage left, please.
-
Do you want the nursery set stage left or stage right?
-
Frank moves off toward the stage left wings.
Fiction book (1992) -
An actor entered stage left and walked to center stage, deep in thought and oblivious to the audience.
Fiction book (1998) -
At far stage left is a podium or lectern at which Ben will speak his monologues throughout the play.
Fiction book (1995) -
The chorus comes in stage left... and there's a lovely little bit with the piano... and that's where I come in from upstage.
-
The actor made his entrance from stage left just as the spotlight turned on.
Synonyms
The part of the stage on an actor's left when facing the audience
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the part of a stage to the actor's left' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'stage' (performance platform) with 'left' (the left side), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the left side of the stage. The only specialised detail is the theatrical convention (left from the actor's perspective), but this is a contextual convention rather than an idiomatic meaning, so the expression remains transparent.
Etymology
Stage left comes from theater directions. The side called left is the left side for the 'actor' when they face the 'audience', so stage left means the part of the stage on the actor's left.