...stupid question (NAC)

[Brett Dikeman]

At 3:03 AM -0400 6/29/02, Robert Myers wrote:
>At 01:06 AM 6/29/02, you wrote:
>>Ah yes, but it is amazing how many people get Stage Left/Stage
>>Right wrong :-)
>>
>>For bonus points, which direction is Stage Left, folks?
>
>The audience's left or the actor's right when the actor is facing
>the audience.


Stage Left/Right are relative to an actor, facing the audience.
HOUSE left/right is relative to an audience member facing the stage.
"Exit stage left" would be off to the right for the audience.

All of this becomes moot when you're doing theater in the
round...round stage, audience -all- around you :-)  It is a nightmare
for almost everyone involved, but when done well, very neat for the
audience.


>
>>For -extra- bonus points, which direction is upstage,
>
>Closer to the audience.

Nope!

>
>>-and- why...ie,
>>what's the meaning/origin behind the word?(and hence the origin of
>>the alternate use of "upstage")
>
>Don't upstage me = don't get between me and the audience (so as to
>obscure their view of me, the star).

This is what everyone thinks :-)

   Upstage = towards the back of the stage, away from the audience.
The terms upstage/downstage as directions originated from when stages
were sloped; the back of the stage was sloped up to allow the
audience a better view of things.  Some of the first "theaters" were
nothing more than hills.

The act of "upstaging" actually means that someone in back has stolen
the audience's attention from what's going on right in front of them;
presumably, the action right smack in front of the audience is more
important than what is going on way (up) in the back.  I suppose it
could also be interpreted as meaning that someone has jumped in front
of the main action, thus "moving" the main action upstage.

Not to say that nothing should ever go on behind the main scene...my
old high school director used to always stage side scenes, and I'd
light them darker than the main downstage scene, but still quite
visible to the audience.

>
>Now, what did I win?  :-)

The booby prize ;-)

Anyway, for some actual Audi content, I always try to refer to
driver's side/passenger side, rather than left/right; it is
particularly safe when talking about a 200q20v, which was never
offered RHD(hence its extreme rarity in the UK.)  I usually make note
of the sender's domain before giving such, and qualify the
directions("for us LHD folk").

Brett
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