What is this real life diorama called? Kind of like a frozen scene from a play.
May 1, 2007 8:12 PM 
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What is this 'live photograph' called? I'm forgetting what this experience/event is called. The basic idea is actors posing in a scene - they're not moving, and I believe the 'audience' can move around and through these posed people. It is kind of like a real life diorama; I believe it was from the late 19th century; the term itself may be French; I'm making myself crazy trying to find this.
I don't even really know how to explain this, but I remember reading about an 'event' or a kind of performance art, I believe from the late 1800s, where actors would pose in a kind of scene -- this may have been a response to photography, or it may have been something else altogether. It may have been a kind of parlor game; think of a frozen moment from a play, but not specifically on a stage. What is this experience or event called? Am I making this up?
posted by Addlepated at 8:20 PM on May 1, 2007