The imaginary wall between the stage and the audience.

[From the idea of a stage as a box open on one side through which the audience sees the action. The term is also used as a metaphor for the boundary between fiction and reality.]

This week’s theme: words from theater.

breeches part (BRICH-iz part) noun

A male part played by an actress.

[After breeches (knee-length trousers worn by men in the past),
from breech (the lower part of the body).]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

“Mary Robinson supported her family by going on the stage, aged 14.
She must have been gorgeous, especially with her legs on show in the
breeches parts so common in Shakespeare.”
Edwina Currie; Tart history; New Statesman (London, UK); Nov 15, 2004.

“All the world’s a stage, / And the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts.” So wrote our friend Bill Shakespeare some 400 years ago in one of his most profound observations on the human condition.

Yet, we often treat this life as if we really are the people we’re playing.

Imagine how few troubles we might have if we remember it’s only a role we are playing. All we need do is play it as best we can and then gracefully exit the stage.

This week AWAD features words from the world of theater.

deuteragonist (doo-tuh-RAG-uh-nist, dyoo-) noun

The second most important part in a play.

[From Greek deutero- (second) + agonistes (contestant, actor).]
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PS: This reminds me of “The Denial Twist.” http://tinyurl.com/ytsoss

PPS: The conversation is the relationship … and here I am talking to myself. LOL!