Stage Directions
Throughout the stage combat chapters I’ll be using the common stage terminology in order to explain relative actor positions for these moves. Most of you know all of this, but I just want to make sure that we’re all on the same page here, so I’ll very briefly run through the ones I’ll use.
Stage Right – relative to the actor when on stage looking out towards the audience, the right side of the performance area. (Also known as house left)
Stage Left – relative to the actor when on stage looking out towards the audience, the left side of the performance area. (Also known as house right)
Up Stage – towards the back of the performance area, away from the audience.
Down Stage – towards the audience, approaching the front of the performance area.
Those are the terms that describe where the actor should be or move to, but there also exist terms used to describe which way the actor should turn his/her body. Full front is the actor standing with his/her body placement completely open to the audience, whereas full back of course is the opposite. When the actor turns 90 degrees toward stage right it is called profile right or half right, (which is ironic because the audience is then looking at the actor’s left profile), and the mid-positions between those are called quarter right and three-quarter right. And then of course all of these have corresponding positions when facing stage left.
I’ll also be using some anatomical terms that have a colloquial meaning but are not technically correct, such as solar plexus and stomach. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll continue to use the common meanings.