Drama Glossary
Key theatre terms and definitions including related shows.
Relating to gender equality, often a theme or character perspective in plays that challenge patriarchal norms.
A type of interactive theatre developed by Augusto Boal that invites audience participation to propose solutions to social issues.
An early 20th-century movement embracing speed, technology, and modernity, influencing avant-garde theatrical forms.
The mass extermination of a group, portrayed in theatre to address themes of atrocity, remembrance, and moral responsibility.
The Nazi secret police, appearing in historical plays to symbolize fear, repression, and authoritarian control.
A term from Brechtian theatre combining gesture and social commentary to reveal relationships and power dynamics.
A social movement from the 1960s that inspired experimental and political theatre through ideals of peace and rebellion.
A Brechtian technique that distances the audience by placing events in a historical context to encourage critical thinking.
The genocide of Jews and others by Nazi Germany, portrayed in theatre to memorialize victims and examine human cruelty.
A 20th-century government body whose influence on censorship and blacklisting shaped theatre’s political landscape.
A technique from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed where actors create tableaux to explore social issues.
A form of street theatre where performers act out scenes in public as if real, often to provoke social awareness.