Basic Trope: Reading stage directions as if they're part of the dialogue.
- Straight: Bob is rehearsing for his part in a play. He sees the cue to leave the stage, and says "Exits" out loud.
- Exaggerated: Bob misinterprets every one of the stage directions as part of the dialogue, including the characters' names.
- Downplayed: Bob narrates the stage directions while doing them, even though he's not supposed to.
- Justified:
- Bob has never acted before, and doesn't know what stage directions are.
- The stage directions aren't adequately separated from the dialogue in the script (e.g. they're not in parenthesis or similar).
- Bob misread the script.
- Bob is The Ditz.
- Bob states the stage directions during the early rehearsals so that his coworkers can learn on what beat of the music he will perform them
- Inverted: Bob mistakes the dialogue for stage directions.
- Subverted: It turns out that "Exits" was part of the dialogue.
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob doesn't read stage directions out loud.
- Enforced: "We need to show some Bad "Bad Acting", and characters mistaking stage cues for their dialogue is a classic part of that."
- Lampshaded: "Bob, you're not supposed to read the word "exits" out loud."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Alice informs Bob that anything in parenthesis, is italicized/bolded, etc isn't part of the dialogue.
- The people in charge of casting the play realize that Bob doesn't understand stage directions, so they don't cast him.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Exits to Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud.
