Backstage (stage)
Backstage ( English 'behind the stage'; also: 'Back of House', abbreviated BoH or BOH) is a term for the operational area of a stage that is not visible to the audience and is usually not accessible, in contrast to Front of House . Often the main curtain or proscenium is mentioned as the boundary between the areas.
In German there is the expression "behind the scenes " for backstage .
At Backstage although everything belongs outside the stage area, for example, the entire stage machinery , but fans of artists or artists usually mean the common area, such as dressing rooms, as well as any care and preparation that takes place behind the stage - be it during rehearsals or even during a performance.
Because of the distinction between “publicly accessible” and “private” space, the “look behind the scenes” appears particularly interesting because the non-public area appears more authentic: as “reality” as opposed to “theatrical appearance”. Many theater companies and film studios therefore offer backstage tours; For some events there are “backstage passes”, be it for a surcharge or for otherwise privileged visitors.
Other meanings
Backstage is also the name of a popular genre in theater and film, in which stage productions are made the subject and part of the action takes place behind the scenes. There are backstage plays like Noises off! (1982) by Michael Frayn , backstage musicals like A Chorus Line (1975) and backstage films like 42nd Street (1933).
The sociologist Erving Goffman has transferred the distinction between front and backstage to everyday behavior ( The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , 1959): According to this, people who do not feel they are being observed fall out of the role .
literature
- Wilfred Granville (Ed.): The Theater Dictionary: British and American Terms in Drama, Opera, and Ballet, Citadel, New York 1970. ISBN 978-0-8065-3637-8 .
- The Methuen Drama. Dictionary of the Theater, Bloomsbury, New York, London 2011, p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4081-3147-3 .