stage business

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noun

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

Origin of stage business

First recorded in 1815–25

Brown and Barnard don’t meld as seamlessly with their characters as Horne does with his, and once in a while they make bits of stage business look contrived instead of spontaneous.
‘My Children! My Africa!’ still resonates in expected and unexpected ways|Celia wren|November 19, 2021|Washington Post
The cast also engages in meaning-heightening stage business, as when a grappled-with door becomes a barrier or a table.
The park setting of ‘In the Middle of the Fields’ is compelling but can’t make up for the sliver of a plot|Celia Wren|May 27, 2021|Washington Post
I always knew what actors should say to each other and how they should look, and I always understood stage business.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview|Alex Belth|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In 1820 he quit tavern keeping, and confined himself to mail contracting and the stage business.
The Old Pike|Thomas B. Searight

The children's acting, in the sense of gesture and stage-business, is very likely to be stiff and artificial.
Literature in the Elementary School|Porter Lander MacClintock
We have no record how they managed the stage business at Clieveden, but it must have presented some difficulty.
Dr. Arne and Rule, Britannia|William Hayman Cummings
I at once set to work and showed him the stage business in the drawing-room, requesting Mdme.
The Mapleson Memoirs, vol I|James H. Mapleson
For purposes of indicating the pantomimic action of the play, the dramatist resorts to stage-business and stage-direction.
Contemporary One-Act Plays|Sir James M. Barrie