Upstage - Theatre Etymology - Part 1

Upstage can be both a direction on the stage and a verb that means to take the attention from another actor (or group of actors). When upstage is a direction, it means the area at the back of the stage, near the backdrop. This area is known as upstage because of when stages were raked (tilted) so that the part furthest from the audience was the highest part of the stage and the part nearest the audience was the lowest part of the stage.

When upstage is a verb, the reason for this can have two different reasons for being used in this way. In this example, I'll name the actors Alex and Charles. Charles might move upstage of Alex and then in order for Alex to see him, Alex must look upstage, thus he is looking away from the audience. It seems like this was the first usage, but it is uncertain.

In the second example, Charles might move downstage of Alex. Charles now has more focus of the audience, especially if he decides to stand in front of Alex. Thus, Alex has been upstaged because he has had to move upstage. In both ways, Charles has the attention and Alex does not. Alex is either looking upstage and away from the audience or he is forced to stage upstage of Charles and not be as close to the audience.

If you enjoy my content, please consider becoming one one of my patrons through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/TheatreGeek where I will be sharing more in-depth content, answering your questions, sharing which types of software I use and how to find them, and more. By becoming my patron, you allow me to create more content about theatre and more theatrical content.