What is the difference between stage left and stage right

Stage directions can also include instructions about lighting, scenery, and sound effects, but their main purpose is to guide actors through their movements onstage. Onstage movement and positioning is called blocking. For example, stage directions may tell an actor to pace while delivering their lines, to pick up a prop at a certain moment, or to sit down while listening to another character speak.

What do they all mean? First of all, it helps to understand that stage directions are given from the perspective of an actor facing the audience. What about center stage? As you can probably guess, this is simply the middle of the stage. Speaking of which, the other main terms are upstage and downstage. Upstage refers to the part of the stage farthest from the audience. Downstage is the part of the stage closest to the audience. Your head might be level with the stage, and there would probably be people standing in front of you.

To solve this problem, stages were tilted so that the back was higher than the front, allowing the audience to see the actors at all times. As the performer looks out to the audience, the area on their right-hand side is called stage right and the area on the left is called stage left. If a performer walks towards the front of the stage, approaching the audience, this area is referred to as downstage , and the opposite area of the stage further away from the audience is called upstage.

The term downstage originates from when stages were sloped or raked downwards towards the audience to improve sightlines. The four corners of the stage space combine both the right and the left with downstage and upstage, creating:. Stage positions are used more commonly in some staging configurations than others, such as end-on , proscenium arch and thrust. Sometimes it can be too complicated to use certain stage positions.