Stage Direction

The stage direction (remarka) is an authorial indication in the text of a dramatic work that does not enter into the speech of the characters and contains explanations of the place and time of the action, the setting, and the appearance, behavior, gestures, and intonations of the characters. Stage directions are the 'voice of the author' in drama — the only direct means by which the playwright governs the stage embodiment and conveys his design, since drama in general is deprived of the narrative speech of a narrator. One distinguishes staging directions (the description of scenery and setting) and intra-scenic ones (the marking of actions, movements, and psychological states). In modern drama stage directions often acquire an independent artistic value, becoming extensive, poetic, and philosophical. A vivid example is the detailed, poetic stage directions in Lesia Ukrainka's The Forest Song, which paint the living, spiritualized world of Volhynian nature and possess an independent lyric beauty. The stage direction is an essential component of the artistic integrity of a dramatic work.