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Theatre Basics

Subject : performing-arts
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. French philosopher and playwright; The Flies (1943) & No Exit (1944)






2. Would be removed in the box set to give audience a real life look into the scene






3. Writes the music






4. During the Enlightenment there were revolutions in: ... which had a profound effect on theatre






5. Recorded conversations of slum dwellers in Dublin and used their words verbatim in his plays

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6. The first 'talkie' movie; featured white actor Al Jolson in blackface performing in a minstrel show






7. Most famous of the absurdist playwrights; best considered a fatalist - although work is sometimes hilarious and can ask existential questions; Endgame (1957) Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961); Waiting for Godot (1953)






8. Islam's holy book - contains a warning about 'graven images' similar to the one in the Bible - prohibition applies to dolls - statues - portraits - and people playing a character






9. Musicals with a particularly well-developed story and characters






10. All lines are sung - usually to grand classical music; Madama Butterfly (1904)






11. Form of drama that dominated theatre in India for a thousand years; named for the ancient Indian language in which its plays are performed; combine the natural and the supernatural - the believable and unbelievable






12. The men who play female roles are called:






13. Most famous Restoration-era woman to make her living by writing plays






14. Proclaimed 'God is dead...and we have killed him.'; felt taht absence of God was a tragedy - but believed human beings needed to accept the tragedy and move forward in a world that was unjust and meaningless






15. Attacked the evils and restrictions of society; tried to reveal the higher reality of the unconscious mind with fantastic imagery and contradictory images; performances were often violent and cruel as they tried to shock the audience into the realiza






16. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






17. A dialogue that captures the incoherence - broken language - and pauses of modern speech; usually marked by surreal distortion and impending danger; from writing of Franz Kafka






18. One of the most famous Sanskrit dramas - a love story in seven acts written by the playwright Kalidasa






19. An early form of theatre; it used theatrical techniques such as song - dance - and characterization - but it was still firmly rooted in religion






20. Closely tied to ritual - and it uses color - dance - song - and movements to exaggerate - stylize - and symbolically represent life






21. One of the most valuable historical records of Indian theatre; an encyclopedic book of dramatic theory and practice; has 37 chapters and covers every aspect of classical Indian drama - also a treatise on dramatic theory and philosophy - states that t






22. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






23. By Swedish Playwright August Strindberg; fourteen-act play that follows the disconnected logic of a dream






24. A medley of the show's songs played as a preview; usually the beginning of a traditional musical; lets the audience know that it's time to stop talking because the performance is about to begin






25. Unstructured theatrical events on street corners - bus stops and anywhere else people gathered






26. Thought that inner truths could be hinted at only through symbols; sought to replace the specific and concrete with the suggestive and metaphorical; usually had little plot or action and tended to baffle the audience






27. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






28. A program of unrelated singing - dancing and comedy numbers






29. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






30. A repetition of the song - sometimes with new lyrics - sometimes with the same lyrics but with new meaning or subtext in order to make a dramatic point






31. Have become living traditions that are handed down from father to son

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32. Improved the daguerreotype and created modern photography; was also an English physicist






33. First black woman playwright to be producted on Broadway; Raisin in the Sun based of her actual childhood






34. An early form of theatre; it used theatrical techniques such as song - dance - and characterization - but it was still firmly rooted in religion






35. Musicals that are mostly singing and have less spoken dialogue; similar to operattas - but thier tone is often much darker and more dramatic






36. One of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment - French poet - essayist - and playwright whose writing often got him in trouble with the church; built a theatre on his own estate so he could freely present his plays






37. Attacked the evils and restrictions of society; tried to reveal the higher reality of the unconscious mind with fantastic imagery and contradictory images; performances were often violent and cruel as they tried to shock the audience into the realiza






38. Bandits discuss rival systems of goverment while waiting for an attack






39. All lines are sung - usually to grand classical music; Madama Butterfly (1904)






40. A popular form of stage entertainment from the 1880s to the 1940s; included a dozen or so slapstick comedy routines - song-and-dance numbers - magic acts and juggling or acrobatic performances






41. The first all-black show to pay at a top Broadway theatre






42. Any artist or work of art that is experimental - innovative or unconventional; some styles would be symbolism - expressionism - futurism - Dadaism - surrealism - and absurdism






43. Play by Wole Soyinka; celebrates Nigerian independence but also warns against returning to Nigeria's violent past






44. Exposed the squalid living conditions of the urban poor and explores scandalous topics like poverty - venereal disease and prostitution; 'Sordid Realism'






45. Wrote plays about the rugged lives of Irish peasants using their dialect; Riders to the Sea (1904) & The Playboy of the Western World (1907)






46. Exposed the squalid living conditions of the urban poor and explores scandalous topics like poverty - venereal disease and prostitution; 'Sordid Realism'






47. Writes the lyrics






48. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






49. People who dismissed Traditional African Theatre because it was so unlike anything they knew






50. Instead of learning how to conjure real emotions - actors of Sanskrit drama studied for many years to learn representations of emotions through:







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Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?


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