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Literature vocabulary · Drama and Theatre

Closet drama

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, closet drama means: A play written mainly to be read rather than performed on stage.

In Turkish: okunmak için yazılan oyun

How it is used

Use when discussing a play's intended reading experience, even if someone later stages it.

Example sentences

  1. The closet drama describes a landscape that changes from a desert into a sea within one speech.

    The written form allows an imagined transformation that staging would complicate.

  2. Staging the closet drama required us to turn long descriptive passages into movement.

    The production adapts material primarily designed for readers.

Common collocations

  • read a closet drama
  • stage a closet drama
  • playA piece of writing for the theatre, made up of dialogue and stage directions, that actors perform in front of an audience.
  • stage directionsInstructions in the text of a play, usually in italics or brackets, that describe the setting, the actors' movements, tone of voice or lighting.

More terms: Drama and Theatre

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