Roget's Thesaurus

#599. The Drama

Nouns

the drama, the stage, the theater, the play; film the film, movies, motion pictures, cinema, cinematography; theatricals, dramaturgy, histrionic art, buskin, sock, cothurnus, Melpomene and Thalia, Thespis. play, drama, stage play, piece [Fr.], five-act play, tragedy, comedy, opera, vaudeville, comedietta, lever de rideau [Fr.], interlude, afterpiece, exode, farce, divertissement, extravaganza, burletta, harlequinade, pantomime, burlesque, opera bouffe [Fr.], ballet, spectacle, masque, drame comedie drame [Fr.]; melodrama, melodrame; comidie larmoyante [Fr.], sensation drama; tragicomedy, farcical-comedy; monodrame monologue; duologue trilogy; charade, proverbs; mystery, miracle play; musical, musical comedy. [movies] western, horse opera; flick [Coll.]; spy film, love story, adventure film, documentary, nature film; pornographic film, smoker, skin flick, X-rated film. act, scene, tableau; induction, introduction; prologue, epilogue; libretto. performance, representation, mise en scene [Fr.], stagery, jeu de theatre [Fr.]; acting; gesture etc. 550; impersonation etc. 554; stage business, gag, buffoonery. light comedy, genteel comedy, low comedy. theater; playhouse, opera house; house; music hall; amphitheater, circus, hippodrome, theater in the round; puppet show, fantoccini; marionettes, Punch and Judy. auditory, auditorium, front of the house, stalls, boxes, pit, gallery, parquet; greenroom, coulisses [Fr.]. flat; drop, drop scene; wing, screen, side scene; transformation scene, curtain, act drop; proscenium. stage, scene, scenery, the boards; trap, mezzanine floor; flies; floats, footlights; offstage; orchestra. theatrical costume, theatrical properties. movie studio, back lot, on location. part, role, character, dramatis personae [Lat.]; repertoire. actor, thespian, player; method actor; stage player, strolling player; stager, performer; mime, mimer; artists; comedian, tragedian; tragedienne, Roscius; star, movie star, star of stage and screen, superstar, idol, sex symbol; supporting actor, supporting cast; ham, hamfatter [Slang]; masker. pantomimist, clown harlequin, buffo, buffoon, farceur, grimacer, pantaloon, columbine; punchinello; pulcinello, pulcinella; extra, bit-player, walk-on role, cameo appearance; mute, figurante, general utility; super, supernumerary. company; first tragedian, prima donna [Sp.], protagonist; jeune premier [Fr.]; debutant, debutante [Fr.]; light comedian, genteel comedian, low comedian; walking gentleman, amoroso, heavy father, ingenue [Fr.], jeune veuve [Fr.]. mummer, guiser, guisard, gysart, masque. mountebank, Jack Pudding; tumbler, posture master, acrobat; contortionist; ballet dancer, ballet girl; chorus singer; coryphee danseuse [Fr.]. property man, costumier, machinist; prompter, call boy; manager; director, stage manager, acting manager. producer, entrepreneur, impresario; backer, investor, angel [Fig.]. dramatic author, dramatic writer; play writer, playwright; dramatist, mimographer. v act, play, perform; put on the stage; personate etc. 554; mimic etc. (imitate) 19; enact; play a part, act a part, go through a part, perform a part; rehearse, spout, gag, rant; strut and fret one's hour upon a stage; tread the boards, tread the stage; come out; star it.

Adjectives

dramatic; theatric, theatrical; scenic, histrionic, comic, tragic, buskined, farcical, tragicomic, melodramatic, operatic; stagy.

Adverbs

on the stage, on the boards; on film; before the floats, before an audience; behind the scenes.

Phrases

fere totus mundus exercet histrionem [Lat.] [Petronius Arbiter]; suit the action to the word, the word to the action [Hamlet]; the play's the thing [Hamlet]; to wake the soul by tender strokes of art [Pope].