Live Theatre Production: Language

Understanding Language as a Performance Element

Language is a fundamental aspect of any theatrical production, encompassing both dialogue and non-verbal communication.
It is the primary method through which storylines, characters, and themes are communicated to the audience.
It’s crucial to consider the use of language, style of delivery, and its impact on the audience’s understanding of the production.

Use of Dialogue

The language used in the dialogue can provide insights into a character’s personality, background, and emotions.
Playwrights often use specific dialects, sociolects, idioms or vocabulary to depict character’s social status, geographic location or time period.
Pacing, rhythm, and pause in the dialogue can greatly impact the tension, drama and comedic timing in a scene.

Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication complements the spoken dialogue and can drastically alter the meaning of a spoken line.
Types of non-verbal communication include facial expressions, body language, gestures, and physical contact.
This form of language can often convey subtext, tension, relationships and mood without needing to say anything directly.

Language and Theme

A consistent language style can help establish the theme and mood of a production. For example, extravagant, poetic language might be used in a Shakespearean tragedy, while a modern drama may use colloquial, everyday language.
Symbolic language or recurring phrases can be used to emphasise certain themes or motifs throughout a production.

Language and Audience Connection

The choice and delivery of language connects audiences to the performance, informing their emotional and intellectual response to the work.
It allows spectators to engage with the themes and characters on stage, and can make the plot more accessible, especially in complex or abstract plays.

Recognise that the power of language in live theatre production is not limited to the words spoken out loud - it’s also about how they are delivered and what isn’t said. Language, effectively utilised, can be a potent tool in conveying the essence of a play to an audience.