Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.
Class IV. Words Relating to the Intellectual FacultiesDivision (II) Communication of Ideas
Section III. Means of Communicating Ideas
3. Written Language
599. The Drama.
NOUN:THE DRAMA, the stage, the theater or theatre, the play; theatricals, dramaturgy, histrionic art, mimography, buskin, sock, cothurnus, Melpomene and Thalia, Thespis.PLAY, drama, stageplay, piece, five-act play, tragedy, comedy, opera, vaudeville, comedietta, lever de rideau [F.], curtain raiser, interlude, afterpiece, exode [Rom. antiq.], farce, divertissement [F.], extravaganza, burletta, harlequinade, pantomime, burlesque, opéra bouffe [F.], ballet, spectacle, masque, drame [F.], comédie drame [F.]; melodrama; comédie larmoyante [F.]; emotional -drama, – play; sensation drama; tragi-comedy; light -, genteel -, low -, farce- comedy, comedy of manners, farcical-comedy; monodrama, monodram or monodrame, monologue, duologue, dialogue; trilogy; charade, proverbe [F.]; mystery, miracle play, morality play.
ACT, scene, tableau, curtain; introduction, induction [archaic], exposition, expository scenes; prologue, epilogue; libretto, book, text, prompter’s copy.
PERFORMANCE, representation, show [colloq.], mise en scène [F.], stage setting, stagery [obs.], stagecraft, jeu de théâtre [F.]; acting; gesture [See Indication]; impersonation [See Representation]; stage business, gag, patter, slap-stick [slang], buffoonery.
THEATER or theatre, playhouse, opera house; music hall; amphitheater or amphitheatre, circus, hippodrome; moving-picture theater, moving pictures, movies [colloq.], cinematograph or cinema [colloq., Brit.]; puppet show, fantoccini; marionettes, Punch and Judy.
AUDITORY, auditorium, front of the house, front [colloq. and professional], stalls [chiefly Eng.], orchestra seats or orchestra, pit [chiefly Eng.], parquet, orchestra circle, boxes, balcony, gallery, peanut gallery [slang]; dressing rooms, greenroom.
SCENERY; back scene, flat; drop, drop scene; wing, screen, coulisse, side scene, transformation scene, curtain, act drop; proscenium; fire curtain, asbestos curtain.
STAGE, movable stage, scene, the boards; trap, mezzanine floor; flies; floats, footlights; limelight, spotlight, colored light; orchestra.
theatrical costume, theatrical properties, props [theat. cant].
CAST, dramatis personœ [L.], persons in the play; rôle, part, character; repertoire, repertory, répertoire [F.].
ACTOR, player; stage -, strolling- player; barnstormer, stager [rare], old stager; masker, masquer [rare], mime, mimer, mimic, mimester [rare]; artiste [F.], performer, star, headliner; comedian, tragedian, tragédienne [F.], Thespian, Roscius, ham [slang], hamfatter [slang]; utility, general utility, utility man.
BUFFOON, pantomimist, clown, farceur [F.], buffo (pl. buffi) [It.], grimacer, pantaloon, harlequin, columbine; punch, punchinello, pulcinella [It.].
mummer, guiser [Eng. & Scot.], guisard [Scot.], gysart [obs.], masque [obs.], mask.
mountebank, Jack Pudding; tumbler, posture master, acrobat; contortionist; ballet dancer, ballet girl; coryphée [F.], danseuse [F.]; chorus girl, chorus singer.
COMPANY; first tragedian, prima donna, leading lady; lead; leading man, protagonist; jeune premier [F.], débutant (fem. débutante) [F.]; light -, genteel -, low- comedian; walking gentleman or lady [obsoles.], amoroso [It.], juvenile lead, juvenile; heavy lead, heavy; heavy father, ingénue [F.], jeune veuve [F.], soubrette, farceur (fem. farceuse) [F.].
MUTE, figurant, figurante, walking part, supernumerary, super [theat. cant], supe [theat. cant].
manager; stage -, actor -, acting- manager; entrepreneur [F.], impresario; angel [slang].
[THEATER STAFF] property man, prop [theat. cant]; costumer, costumier, wigmaker, make-up artist; sceneshifter, grip [U. S.], stage hand, stage carpenter, machinist, electrician, chief electrician; prompter, call boy; advance agent, publicity agent.
DRAMATIST, playwright, playwriter; dramatic -author, – writer; mimographer, mimist [obs.]; dramatic critic.
AUDIENCE, auditory, house; orchestra &c. n.; gallery, the gods [colloq.], gallery gods [colloq.].
VERB:ACT, play, perform; put on the stage, dramatize, stage, produce, set; personate [See Representation]; mimic (imitate) [See Imitation]; enact; play -, act -, go through -, perform- a part; rehearse, spout, gag [slang], patter [slang], rant; strut and fret one’s hour upon the stage; tread the -stage, – boards; make one’s début, take a part, come out; star; supe [slang].
ADJECTIVE:DRAMATIC; theatric or theatrical; scenic, histrionic, comic, tragic, buskined, cothurned; farcical, tragi-comic, melodramatic, operatic; stagy or stagey; spectacular, stellar, all-star [cant]; stagestruck.
ADVERB:ON THE STAGE, on the boards; in the limelight, in the spotlight; before the floats, before the footlights, before the curtain, before an audience; behind the scenes.
QUOTATIONS:
- Fere totus mundus exercet histrionem.—Petronius Arbiter
- Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.—Hamlet
- The play’s the thing.—Hamlet
- Is there no play, To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?—Midsummer Night’s Dream
- If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ’tis true that a good play needs no epilogue.—As You Like It
- Come, sit down, every mother’s son, and rehearse your parts.—Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Let gorgeous Tragedy In sceptred pall come sweeping by.—Milton
- There’s a dearth of wit in this dull town, While silly plays so savourily go down.—Dryden
- Thus they jog on, still tricking, never thriving, And murd’ring plays, which still they call reviving.—Dryden
- The monuments of vanished minds.—Dryden
- To wake the soul by tender strokes of art.—Pope
- For we that live to please must please to live.—Johnson
- The players are my pictures and their scenes my territories.—Steele
- ‘The world’s a stage,’—as Shakespeare said one day; The stage a world—was what he meant to say.—Holmes