stichomythia
A technique in drama or poetry, in which alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters, voices, or entities.
countable, uncountable
The trial in the great hall under its high vaults, dusty sunlight shafting in, full of murmurers and growlers quietened by beadles and bailiffs, with howlers in the street held back with pikes, was by way of being a play without plot or exercise in what the Senecans term stichomythia.
Where it comes from
From Latin, from Ancient Greek στιχομυθία (stikhomuthía), from στίχος (stíkhos, “line of verse”) (see sticho-) + μῦθος (mûthos, “speech”).
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry stichomythia (CC BY-SA 4.0).