P/OP : SL/SR : Other

[mac.calder]

I personally use the terms P and OP, especially in my blocking notations, and when directing crew to do something - a lighting designer I work with uses and loves that method too, but the SM I learnt from hates it.

 

The worst thing is that in Am theatre, a lot of them don't know their stage lefts/rights or their prompts/op's.... in fact I was amazed when I had an actor ask to see my blocking when she said "OP? 2OP? What's that mean?" to which I responded "2 steps towards OP", which of course confused the poor girl. After saying stage right, she was still confused... in the end I just said "That way" and pointed....

 

Anothing thing.... when taking blocking, do you do it in relation to objects (ie a typical piece of blocking for me)

 

AS 2usopt1

 

Which in this case was "Alison Skinner, 2 steps towards the up stage, off prompt corner of table 1". My ASM took blocking one day for me, and used "AS 2dsr" which was Alison Skinner, 2 steps down stage right. Both described the same thing, but it's the whole "Hit by a bus" thing.... So I want consensus Relative or Absolute, .

 

I like doing it in relation to an object, cos then I can say "AS x&sit usopt1", meaning AS crosses and sites on the upstage, off prompt corner of table 1 and it looking at previous blocking I can easily tell roughly where she is. ie she does not move from the dsp corner of table 1 to sit on that corner.

 

Mac

[Tomo]

I've always gone with SL/SR, because it's fairly easy to teach the turns -

"Stand on stage facing the middle of the audience. Left is Stage Left, right is Stage Right. Got it? Good!"

 

Also covers where we don't have a prompt - turns would get confused about referring to something that isn't there!

 

As I mostly do lighting I generally don't need full blocking, but record it during rehearsal to help with the focussing. I nearly always record it relative to objects, because that makes life easier during the focus - mark off or set the object, and there you've got a nice thing to focus at.

[Bryson]

Stage Left and Right seem more intuative and easier to understand to me - if there's a "bastard prompt" (lets see if the rude word filter gets that one) it can get very confusing using PS and OP.

[andy_s]

I generally use SL and SR, meaning of course Actors right and left. I've never needed to work fully in the round, so there's always been a reference point to orientate these terms from. Don't know what I'd do in the round, possibly set a datum point and use "north south east west" - this is how we're currently describing our under-construction Studio space.

 

OP stands for "Opposite Prompt", not "Off Prompt". Also, as I was taught many years ago, PS/OP and SL/SR are (or should be if used correctly) entirely interchangeable, as PS is always SL, and OP = SR. In theatres where the prompting (or more accurately these days) show-calling position is on the SR side of the stage, it is called (as Bryson points out rudely) a "Bastard Prompt". However the side of the stage it is located on is still referred to as SR or OP.

 

There is absolutely NO point in having names for things if the names move around....

 

signed Uncle Grumpy (as I am known to my sister's kids)

[gareth]

The whole subject of stage directions has been covered extensively in this topic just a few weeks ago.

 

To sum up .....

PS = Prompt Side = Stage Left = House Right.

OP = Opposite Prompt = Stage Right = House Left.

In this country, these are the expressions that have served us well for many, many years - any other variations are simply unnecessary and potentially confusing.

 

The only situation where there might be a need for some other system of blocking/direction might be if a production is playing in traverse or in-the-round, or with some other 'non-standard' seating/stage configuration. In instances like those, most SMs that I know try to establish a system of stage direction which works for the space and is clearly understood - something like North/South/East/West, with a clearly-defined North.

 

As Andy said, even if there's a bastard prompt, that side of the stage is still referred to as OP or Stage Right - the fact that the show might be being called from there makes no difference to which way round the directions go!

[bruce]

To sum up .....

PS = Prompt Side = Stage Left = House Right.

OP = Opposite Prompt = Stage Right = House Left.

In this country, these are the expressions that have served us well for many, many years - any other variations are simply unnecessary and potentially confusing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

even these have the potential for ambiguity, if someone referes to simply "left" or "right"....

 

If we were redesigning the whole thing from scratch, and developing a new language, then "port" and "starboard" would make sense, as they remove the ambiguity. Maybe :)

 

Bruce.

[Bryson]

I can tell you that even on a ship where there is a real Port and Starboard, I don't use them on the Stage. I use Stage Left and Right, just like always.

[andy_s]

To sum up .....

PS = Prompt Side = Stage Left = House Right.

OP = Opposite Prompt = Stage Right = House Left.

In this country, these are the expressions that have served us well for many, many years - any other variations are simply unnecessary and potentially confusing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

even these have the potential for ambiguity, if someone referes to simply "left" or "right"....

 

If we were redesigning the whole thing from scratch, and developing a new language, then "port" and "starboard" would make sense, as they remove the ambiguity. Maybe :)

 

Bruce.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There's no ambiguity if it is understood that "left" and "right" are simply shorthand for Stage Left and Stage Right. I personally never use House Right or left, for precisely this reason.

 

As Gareth says - the conventions are there for a reason. There is no point in reinventing the wheel on a daily basis.

 

further to the above - blame the whole thing on sound engineers - not only can they not count higher than 2, they have no sense of direction either.....

 

(no offence meant to anybody - it's just that I realised that the one time I might break my own rule is if I'm plugging up the sound desk)

[sam.henderson]

In use Stage Left and Right with Downstage, Centre Stage and Upstage prefixes as appropriate! I have found that these are the ones most directors and actors prefer so it makes life easier to use them. It also throws you if you end up with a bastard prompt ('specialy if touring and the prompt position always changes in each venue). I also find that there is an often an option to cue from the box in smaller studio and so there is actually no physical prompt desk stage left or stage right.

 

I only ever use House Left or House Right if I am discussing lighting situated over the auditorium or areas of the auditorium.

 

Sam

[gareth]

It also throws you if you end up with a bastard prompt ('specialy if touring and the prompt position always changes in each venue). I also find that there is an often an option to cue from the box in smaller studio and so there is actually no physical prompt desk stage left or stage right.

Re-read the last bit of my post, Sam. The position of the DSM makes no difference to anybody apart from the DSM. Stage left is still stage left. PS is still PS. The fact that you might have a bastard prompt is totally immaterial when it comes to stage geography.

 

I have no idea why younger (I hesitate to use the expression 'less experienced', lest I be accused of discrimination) members of the technical community place so much importance on which side of the stage the prompt desk happens to be on. IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!

[sam.henderson]

I appreciate that Gareth however I don't think you understand my post! I know the side doesn't change no matter what when describing a position on stage or a stage direction however it still makes you think twice sometimes and can sometimes temporarily confuse me no doubt others as well, let alone amateur actors, dancers what ever!! Sorry if I could have made my initial post clearer however I don't see the need for you to go into a massive rant about the whole thing!!

 

Thanks,

 

Sam

[gareth]

Sorry, it wasn't meant to be a 'rant' as such. It's just that we seem to be going around in circles - I, and several other people, have explained in what I thought was a pretty concise and unambiguous kind of way about the way that the terminology of stage geography works. The fact that people keep bringing up the location of the prompt desk is only serving to muddy the waters even further, it seems - it has no bearing on which side is SL/SR/PS/OP when giving stage directions, and I thought that, with the OP having specifically asked about blocking notation, that's what we were talking about in this topic.

 

Perhaps it's just a lack of vision on my part, but I just can't quite see what's difficult about understanding the correlation between PS/OP and left/right from an on-stage-looking-outwards point of view. Even the most intellectually-challenged of turns seems to be able to get their heads around it (although it does sometimes take a little explaining if they're of the amatuer variety!).

 

"Never mind which side the person with the headset is sitting. When you're facing the big room with all the seats in it, your left-hand-side is stage left, and your right-hand-side is stage right." I'd imagine that even a dancer could cope with something like that! :)

[andy_s]

I appreciate that Gareth however I don't think you understand my post! I know the side doesn't change no matter what when describing a position on stage or a stage direction however it still makes you think twice sometimes and can sometimes temporarily confuse me no doubt others as well, let alone amateur actors, dancers what ever!! Sorry if I  could have made my initial post clearer however I don't see the need for you to go into a  massive rant about the whole thing!!

 

Thanks,

 

Sam

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm with Gareth all the way on this.

 

I haven't had a lot to do with amateur practitioners in the last few years, but when I did regularly have dealings with them, I found that they took great pride in being "as professional as the professionals" when it came to using the appropriate terminology. Similarly, in 20 odd years of working professionally (by which I mean making my living at this job), I have difficulty in recalling any specific incident where the professional dancers, actors, opera singers, stage managers have failed to grasp the concept of "Stage Left" and Stage Right". It's pretty basic, after all. Frankly, I find the suggestion that some of my colleagues, amateur or professional, may be too thick to take this on board pretty patronising.

 

And if that sounds like a rant, it's meant to.

[bruce]

I'm not arguing with any of the above, but I do know of one venue - not a theatre, but it does have a stage - where the client asked for some sockets to be installed "on the left-hand-side of the stage". It was a verbal instruction, given by phone, and of course there was a 50-50 chance that the electricians got it wrong. Which they did.

 

There's no ambiguity to your ears, but there may be to others :)

 

Bruce.

[Tomo]

If we were redesigning the whole thing from scratch, and developing a new language, then  "port" and "starboard" would make sense, as they remove the ambiguity. Maybe :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Which would cause serious confusion on board ship!

 

On most ships the theatre is at the front, with the stage facing aft - so Stage Left is on the Starboard side, and Stage Right on the Port side...

 

Joy.