Backcloth

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large cloth or curtain used as the background on a theater stage to set the scene
2. A fabric backdrop hung behind actors in a play to represent scenery or atmosphere
3. A painted or plain textile hung at the rear of a stage to provide visual context for a performance

Etymology: A backcloth is, quite literally, a cloth at the back. The compound is simply "back" joined to "cloth", and its sense on the stage came from the physical arrangement: a textile hung behind the performers to close off the rear of the playing space and suggest a setting. Long before theatre adopted the term, the plain combination described any cloth placed behind something, and the stage use grew naturally out of that spatial sense. The word's power lies in how transparent it is. Its two parts still do all the work, so a reader meeting it for the first time can reconstruct its meaning without any specialist knowledge. Few theatre terms are so directly descriptive, which is why it has stayed in use for scenery that was once painted on canvas and is now often a projected image.

Synonyms: background, canvas, screen, backdrop, cloth