ROLLENFACH

Rollenfach: translation

Literally, "line of business." The practice of "type-casting" performers in a play or within a production company, based upon physical and vocal characteristics, was well established in the German theater by the mid-18th century. TheFach, or specialty, usually determined the contract under which a performer was hired. At the time, they included—though were not always restricted to—theHeld(hero),Charakterdarsteller(character actor),Charakterkomiker(character comedian),Diener(servant),Raisonneur(confidant),jugendlicher Held(juvenile),Intrigant(heavy man/woman, villain/villainess),Liebhaber(lover),Naïf(ingenue),Salondame(walking lady),Bonvivant(walking gentleman),Narr(fool), andSoubrette(usually a saucy maid or attractive, lower-class brunette).