Stage directions

A stage direction is part of a drama text that gives recommendations for the scenic implementation. Mostly, stage directions are inserted into the dialogues in brackets and / or italics , so they are part of the “secondary text” of the drama.

The characterization of the setting at the beginning of a picture is just as much part of the stage directions as the appearances and exits . Also explanations for understanding text passages (such as the instructions “ aside ” or “jokingly”). - In addition, numerous other properties of the staging can be specified by stage directions, such as detailed descriptions of rooms or corridors in naturalistic drama. It is at the discretion of the director to what extent the instructions in the template are followed.

Up until the end of the 19th century, the publishers also distributed detailed descriptions of the premiere together with the plays , which were usually reproduced because there was still no direction in the current sense. With the emergence of the director's profession in the first third of the 20th century, these stage directions have become superfluous. The US musical , on the other hand, is still in an older tradition : The stage directions in the text are followed exactly, which is also regulated by license agreements.

literature

• Peter W. Marx: stage instructions / scene instructions , in: Ders. (Ed.): Handbuch Drama , Metzler, Stuttgart 2012, pp. 144–146. ISBN 978-3-476-02348-3
• Roman Ingarden: The literary work of art , Tübingen: Niemayer 1972.