What does afterpiece mean?
An afterpiece is a short play or entertainment performed after the main attraction at a theatre. The term flourished from the late seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, when English playhouses commonly paired a serious drama with a brief comic afterpiece — often a farce or burletta — to send audiences home in good humour. The convention was so entrenched that playwrights sometimes wrote afterpieces to showcase favourite comedians, and spectators would remain seated specifically to watch them. Today the word survives mainly in theatre history and criticism, where it describes both these historical entertainments and, more loosely, any light item tacked onto the end of a programme. Its counterpart is the curtain-raiser, the short piece performed before the main play. Knowing the term is useful for anyone reading about the repertory stage, Restoration and Georgian theatre, or the programming habits of older playbills.
nounA short, often light or farcical play performed after the main play at a theatrical performance.
- A short play, typically comic or farcical, presented after the main theatrical performance.
"The audience stayed in their seats for the afterpiece, a brief farce that sent everyone home laughing."
"The evening's programme closed with a lively afterpiece that had the gallery roaring."
"Critics dismissed the tragedy but praised the afterpiece as the true highlight of the night."
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple such entertainments, e.g. across a season's bills.
"The theatre's archive lists dozens of afterpieces staged during the 1780s."
In 18th-century London theatres, some audiences came as much for the afterpiece — a comic mini-play after the main drama — as for the headliner itself.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of afterpiece
Afterpiece derives from the English noun 'piece', borrowed from Old French 'piece', combined with 'after' to mean a piece following the main one. The compound arose in English theatrical usage in the late seventeenth century, when it became standard to append a short entertainment to the evening's principal play. It shares its root with other 'piece' compounds such as masterpiece and earpiece.
How afterpiece is actually used
The word belongs chiefly to theatrical history and criticism; it is most natural when discussing 17th- to 19th-century stage practice, though it can describe any short follow-on entertainment after a main show.
Easily confused with afterpiece
An epilogue is a concluding section of the main work itself, whereas an afterpiece is a separate short entertainment staged after the main play has ended.
A curtain-raiser is a short piece performed before the main play, while an afterpiece follows it.