Staging, Configurations, and Blocking

Staging is the art of arranging performance in space so that an audience can see, hear, and understand it, and so that the physical relationships on stage carry meaning. Directors and designers make deliberate choices about the shape of the playing space and the placement and movement of performers within it. This lesson surveys stage configurations and the principles of effective blocking.

Stage configurations

The relationship between performers and audience is set partly by the configuration of the space. The proscenium stage frames the action behind an arch, with the audience on one side, as if looking through a window; it supports illusion and pictorial composition but creates a clear separation. Thrust staging pushes the acting area out into the audience, who sit on three sides, incre