Items

• performance studies

  An interdisciplinary field examining cultural, social, and other everyday contexts and human behaviours as "performances" by applying dramaturgical lenses for analysis.
• periaktoi

  A three-sided structure built from narrow flats mounted on a rotating base. Each side is painted with different scenery, and the structure is rotated to indicate a scene or locale change / an ancient Greek technique still used in more stylistic productions and even children’s theatre.
• Phenomenology

  A philosophical and theoretical discipline focussed on studying subjective human experiences of real-world phenomena.
• Physical Theatre

  Uses movement, gesture, and the body as the primary language of storytelling rather than words.
• playwright

  The author of a play (the person who writes the script).
• point of view (POV) shot

  A camera shot that shows what a character is seeing from their perspective (in film).
• Poor Theatre

  Theorised by Jerzy Grotowski, Poor Theatre refers to a style of theatre- making and performance that privileges the performer and their body as the main means of expression and invests in the performer- audience relationship and imagination over costumes, props, décor, and theatre technology.
• popular culture

  Everyday forms of entertainment (TV, film, music, social media) studied as expressions of society’s values and identity.
• portfolio

  A collection of creative work that serves as a visual CV to showcase the talent of a person and to highlight the best of their work.
• Post-colonial theory

  A theoretical approach that attempts to disrupt the dominant discourse of colonial power.
• Post-colonialism

  Studies how colonisation and its aftermath shape stories, representation, and identity / the reclaiming of indigenous voices and perspectives.
• Postdramatic Theatre

  A postmodern style of theatre / performance that aims to move beyond the confines of "dramatic theatre" by privileging process over product and the concrete situatedness of the performance itself over its apparent representational allusions and causality.
• Postmodernism

  Late 20th-century reaction to Modernism / it rejects grand narratives, embracing irony, pastiche, deconstruction, fragmentation, intertextuality, and mixed media.
• practical

  Any object that appears to do on stage the same job it would do in real life, or any working apparatus, e.g., a desk lamp, that needs to light up on stage, is called a practical light.
• preset

  Anything that is in position before the start of a show / act / scene, e.g., props on stage before the performance, or the lighting state that is on stage as the audience enters.
• production meeting

  A meeting where the director, designers, and technical heads coordinate schedules, budget, and creative choices.
• projection (film)

  A duplication of a visual image from one screen to another using a projector.
• projection (voice)

  Using the voice so that it carries to the audience without strain and remains intelligible.
• Promenade stage

  A performance style where the audience moves from place to place, following the action as it happens in different areas instead of sitting in one fixed spot.
• prompt / prompting

  A person who feeds, and the action of feeding, an actor who has forgotten their line or cue.
• prompt desk

  It is the desk located on the left side of the stage (when looking at the audience) in the backstage area, from which the stage manager calls the show and prompts the actors. Also called the SM desk.
• prompt side

  The left-hand side of the stage from the actor’s point of view (i.e., stage left) / traditionally, this is the side where the prompt desk or stage manager’s console is located.
• promptbook

  A script annotated with cues, blocking, and technical notes used by stage managers.
• props (properties)

  Any portable object used on stage by actors (e.g., a book, a cup) to support the action and realism. Hand props are handled by actors / personal props are kept on the actor’s person (in / on costume).
• props table

  A table backstage where props are kept for easy access when an actor needs to carry them onto the stage.