tragedian
Plays sorrowful roles
A tragedian is an actor who specializes in tragic roles—the weighty, doomed characters of serious drama.
The term also applies to writers of tragedies: Sophocles and Shakespeare were tragedians.
In casual use, calling someone a tragedian suggests they're being melodramatic: Stop being such a tragedian about your parking ticket.
Art of theatrical structure
- stagecraftTheater production expertise
- declamationForceful, theatrical speaking
- projectionSomething that extends outward
- gestureCommunicative body movement
pathos · gravitas · intensity · emotional range · timing · blocking · characterization · motivation
Deep emotional distress
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- despairTotal absence of hope
lamentation · woe · melancholy · torment · affliction · heartbreak · doom · fate
Theatrical performer
- actorOne who portrays characters
- starLuminous astronomical object
- leading rolePrincipal character's part
- stage presencePerformer's commanding aura
interpretation · portrayal · repertoire · audition · rehearsal · costume · makeup · understudy
Father of tragedy
- SophoclesClassical Athenian playwright
- EuripidesGreek tragic dramatist
- SenecaStoic moralist of Rome
- chorusSingers performing together
protagonist · antagonist · catharsis · hubris · hamartia · orchestra · skene · strophe
Danish prince's revenge tragedy
- OthelloVenetian military commander
- MacbethAmbitious thane's downfall
- GlobeFamous Elizabethan theatre
- ElizabethanOf late 1500s England
King Lear · Stratford-upon-Avon · soliloquy · iambic pentameter · Booth · blank verse · aside · groundlings
dramaturgy
Art of theatrical structure
- stagecraftTheater production expertise
- declamationForceful, theatrical speaking
- projectionSomething that extends outward
gesture · pathos · gravitas · intensity · emotional range · timing · blocking · characterization · motivation · monologue
sorrow
Deep emotional distress
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
despair · lamentation · woe · melancholy · torment · affliction · heartbreak · doom · fate · downfall
thespian
Theatrical performer
- actorOne who portrays characters
- starLuminous astronomical object
- leading rolePrincipal character's part
stage presence · interpretation · portrayal · repertoire · audition · rehearsal · costume · makeup · understudy · touring
Aeschylus
Father of tragedy
chorus · protagonist · antagonist · catharsis · hubris · hamartia · orchestra · skene · strophe · antistrophe
Hamlet
Danish prince's revenge tragedy
King Lear · Elizabethan · Stratford-upon-Avon · soliloquy · iambic pentameter · Booth · blank verse · aside · groundlings
- actorsactor, actors, actresses, film actor, actress
- Greek performersactor, comedian, chorus member, chorus leader, protagonist
- Victorian TheatreHenrik Ibsen, proscenium, Oscar Wilde, footlights, backstage
- writersauthor, novelist, writer, poet, journalist
- performersactor, dancer, actress, singer, musician
tragediancomedian
Professional humor performer
comic actor · comedienne · farceur · comic · clown
- Greek tragediesAncient theatrical works of woe
- Shakespearean tragediesFatal dramatic works from Stratford