stage business
Scripted physical action
Stage business refers to the physical actions performers execute during a scene—handling props, adjusting clothing, pouring drinks, lighting cigarettes.
These movements fill pauses, reveal character, and make dialogue feel natural.
Good stage business gives actors something to do with their hands and bodies while speaking or listening: She delivered the line while fussing with the teacups.
- byplayIncidental dramatic action
- performingExecuting an action
- schtickTrademark comedic routine
- actingTemporarily holding position
- blockingImpeding forward progress
character work · mime · mimicry · pantomime · silent film · body language · gesture · physical comedy · bits · physicality · mugging · props · facial expressions · sight gag · playing · movement · comic timing · timing
- commedia dell'arteHarlequin, Pierrot, Scaramouche, stock characters, commedia
- stage movementmovement, gesture, walk, turn, entrance
- body languagegestures, facial expressions, hand gestures, posture, nodding
- stagecraftwings, wing, proscenium, forestage, thrust
- theater historyGreek tragedy, vaudeville, William Shakespeare, Drury Lane, Christopher Marlowe
- dramaturgydramaturgy, dramaturg, dramatic structure, dramatic technique, dramatic form
stage businessdialogue
Spoken exchange between parties
lines · speech · monologue · soliloquy · recitation
stage, business, stages, staged, staging, stager, upstage, downstage, backstage