The stage remarks are the remarks of a poet, who is interspersed with the drama of a dramatic text (cf. literary genres), where he gives information about the stage design, appearance, equipment, gestures, mimicry, and the manner of speaking of the actors. In addition, such stage assignments can also describe the nature and protagonists of the protagonists, such as their tempo and behavior, where acoustic effects can also be mentioned here. Stage instructions are usually presented in italics, and are primarily intended for actors and directors to bring the respective work to the stage according to the respective poet. However, such information can also inspire the reader’s imagination.
Such stage assignments can already be found in ancient dramas (cf. Literaturepochen), which can be attributed, among others, to Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC). They are also found in a very concise form in medieval texts. In the humanistic and baroque drama, the most important are the factual and simple opera, the instructions in the 16th and 17th century are particularly marked. In classical music there are then again almost concise instructions (for example, in Goethe’s Torquato Tasso), while realism and romance once again made more extensive stage assignments.
A little later, for example, in naturalism with Arno Holz or Gerhart Hauptmann, such inserts are extremely precise in the dramatic text, and they also present trifles of the stage happening, or describe in epic breadth how the stage design is and the performers have to behave in it , In doing so, more attention is also given to the audience, who reads the dramas and does not only see them. This respect for the readership, which can be better imagined, is mainly to be found in naturalism and expressionism.
Examples of such stage instructions
The following are two examples which illustrate what has been written. The first example is mainly characterized by scarcity and can be attributed to the classic, while the second piece is more detailed in the notion on the stage and is naturalistic.
Alphons.
And if we introduce the world and posterity,
So it is not just idle to receive.
The beautiful sign, which honors the poet,
Even the hero, who always needs it,
To see him without envy round his head,
Behold, I behold your forehead’s forehead.
Pointing to Herme Virgils.
If it’s a coincidence, it’s a genius
Braided and brought? It is shown here
Not for nothing. Virgils I hear say:
What do you honor the dead? Had the
But their wages and joy as they lived;
And if you admire and adore us,
Give the living thing its part.
My marble decor is already warmed enough,
The green branch belongs to life.
Alphons beckons his sister; she takes the garland from the bust of Virgil and approaches Tasso. He steps back.
Leonore.
You refuse? See which hand the wreath,
The beautiful, unforgiving, you!
The above example originates from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Torquato Tasso (1790; UA: 16.2.1807) and is characterized above all by extremely tight stage instructions. In particular, the positioning of the actors and their direction of vision and direction of movement are specified. The following example, which describes the space shown in an enormous length. This is the beginning of the drama The Family Selicke (UA: 7.4.1890) by Arno Holz and Johannes Schlaf.
The living room of the family Selicke.
(It is moderately large and very modest furnished
On the right, a door leads to the corridor, in the
Front left one into the room Wendt’s. A little further
behind this a kitchen door with glass windows and twin-
curtains. The back wall takes on an old, cumbersome,
flowered sopha, over which, between two small,
yellowed gypsum statuettes “Schiller and Goethe”
Kaulbach’s steel engraving “Lotte, Brod cutting”.
Below, in the half-crown, arranged symmetrically, a number
family portraits. Before the Sopha an oval
Table, on which, among all sorts of coffee
burning white glass lamp with green umbrella. Right
from him a window, to the left of him a small tapestry,
which leads into a chamber. Moreover, between the
both doors on the left side wall, a table with
a canary above which a regulator ticks, and,
behind the right side wall, a bed whose head,
the auditorium by means of a screen
is covered. At the foot of the bed, near the window,
finally a small nightstand with medicine-
bottles. Between the chamber and the kitchen door an oven, chairs.
Mrs. Selicke, somewhat elderly, greedy, sitting in front of the bed
and knits. Worn clothes, purple souls warmers, horn-
glasses on the nose, now and then a little shivering. Pause.)
Frau Selicke (sighing): Oh, God, yes!
Walter (still behind the scene, in the chamber): Mamchen ?!
Short overview: The most important part of the term at a glance
The set remarks are the poetic remarks of the poet, who stand between the protagonists of the drama and provide information about the stage design, as well as the appearance, equipment, gestures, mimicry and the manner of speaking of the actors. In addition, such stage assignments can also describe the nature and protagonists of the protagonists, such as their tempo and behavior, where acoustic effects can also be mentioned here.
Accordingly, these inserts belong to the so-called secondary text of a drama. The terms “directional instructions” and “stage instructions” are identical. Nowadays, however, there are more talks about directing directors, although there was no direct direction in the present theater in the former theater. These have only existed since the 20th century.