U-W

Unities [of action, time and place]

A doctrine invented by the theorists of neoclassicism, who considered "the three unities" an essential rule of proper tragedy. It stipulates that the plot, the span of time it represents, and the amount of physical terrain it covers must together approximate the true unity of real space/time conditions (i.e., the single location and continuous two-hour time-period that prevails on stage during performance, during which one can realistically represent only so much action and no more). The concept was based on a misreading of Aristotle and was soon ridiculed almost out of existence by writers such as G.E. Lessing and Samuel Johnson. But it did succeed in determining the form taken by tragedy during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It also ensured that the un-unified plays of Shakespeare would remain beneath the contempt of many for over a hundred years. Despite the unities' poor grounding in ancient theatre practice and the rigidity with which their (mostly French) advocates enforced them, the unities remain a useful concept in drama. Works of theatrical realism and Naturalism, for example, tend to observe them instinctively.

Vomitorium

In theatrical contexts, used to describe a ramp or raked hallway under the seats of the auditorium that allows spectators to ascend to their seats, or actors to the playing area, from below. The ancient Romans, who built their poured-concrete theatres on flat ground rather than nestled into naturally occurring hillsides, were the first to use "voms."

Weimar Classicism

The style of playwriting, acting, and scenography associated with the Weimar Court Theatre during the late eighteenth century, when Schiller and Goethe were playwrights-in-residence and artistic directors there. Following their Sturm und Drang periods, both adopted an approach to writing and staging plays that was noted for its greater fidelity to Classical Greek culture than was common in neoclassicism. See also antiquarianism.

Word-Scenery

The use of language alone, when spoken by actors on stage, to convey the locations depicted in a play without the help of sets, lighting, or other theatrical effects. It is typical of bare-stage traditions such as those of Shakespeare. Superb examples of the effectiveness of word-scenery can be found in Shakespeare's Prologue text annotation indicator to Henry V.

Working-Class Tragedy

A tragedy whose protagonist is drawn from the "proletarian" or working class. The genre does not appear until the nineteenth century (see Büchner's Woyzeck in Volume II), and it is based on an implicit rejection of the traditional, Aristotelian assumption that only the "best" of a society's citizens were suitable for serious dramatic treatment.

Workshop

The process of developing and improving a play through a collaboration between a playwright and a group of theatre artists, with the goal of producing a script deemed ready for performance.