Meaning & use
stage direction
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablespecialist
A note in a play script that tells actors how to move, speak, or how the stage should look.
Grammar: Countable: a stage direction, several stage directions; usually printed in italics or brackets.
Patterns
- a stage direction in a play
- follow the stage directions
- write stage directions
The stage direction says she enters from the left, carrying a lamp.
Actors do not speak the stage directions aloud; they only follow them.
The playwright added a stage direction telling the lights to go down slowly.
noununcountablespecialist
The practice or job of guiding actors' movements and positions in a play.
Grammar: Uncountable when it means the activity: 'she is good at stage direction'.
Patterns
- be responsible for stage direction
He is responsible for stage direction as well as set design.
Her stage direction kept the whole cast moving naturally.
Word forms
| plural | stage directions |
|---|
Common combinations
- follow a stage direction
- The young actor followed every stage direction in the margin.
- a stage direction in the script
- There is a stage direction in the script that calls for thunder.
- write stage directions
- Modern playwrights often write fewer stage directions than older ones did.
- ignore a stage direction
- The director chose to ignore one stage direction and kept the actor seated.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stage business
- Stage business means small actions an actor performs, such as lighting a pipe; a stage direction is the written instruction itself.
- director's note
- A director's note is advice from the director, not part of the printed play text like a stage direction.
Word family
Commonly confused: stage direction or director's cut?
stage direction vs director's cut
A director's cut is a version of a film chosen by its director; it has nothing to do with written notes in a play.
Practice
What is a stage direction?
Choose one answer.
A stage direction is printed in the script and tells actors how to move or how the scene should look. Option 3 describes a soliloquy or aside, which is spoken text, not an instruction.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stage direction”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.