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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. Plays about the issues of the day that were in Manhattan neighborhoods






2. Greatest of the Sturm und Drang playwrights; was also a critic - journalist - painter - biologist - statesman - poet - novelist - philosopher - scientist - and the manager of the Duke of Weimar's playhouse






3. The audience remains alienated from the performance so they could critically consider the play's themes






4. Light opera - differs from 'grand opera' because it has a frivolous - comic theme - some spoken dialogue - a melodramatic story - and usually a little dancing; The Mikado (1885)






5. One of the most popular Kabuki and Bunraku playwrights - who - like Shakespeare - wrote crowd-pleasing plays that combined poetry and prose in dramatic tales of comedy - tragedy - love - and war






6. Most popular type of theatre during the Restoration; often featured great wit and wordplay and told stories about sexual gratification - bedroom escapades - and humankind's unrefined nature when it comes to sex






7. More serious plot and theme; West Side Story (1957)






8. First part of a Noh Play - usually a chance meeting between two characters - introductions are made and the characters engage in a question-and-answer sequence that reveals the protagonist's concern






9. 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






10. Writes the music






11. Sigmund Freud's book which analyzes the character of Oedipus and Hamlet






12. 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






13. Set out to break all the neoclassical rules - attacked the three unities






14. Africa's greatest living playwright; born in Nigeria; plays combine symbolism - mysticism - beautiful dialogue - and they make strong political points; plays are deeply rooted in African myths - dance - and rituals but also influenced by Western dram






15. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






16. Where more experts agree that human beings came into existence






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






18. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






19. Book - music - and lyrics






20. 'The Father of Realism'; was initially a Romantic writer and his early plays were verse dramas largely based on Norwegian history and folk literature; plays presented complex - sometimes distrubing - views of human society; A Doll's House (1879) - Gh






21. A period of licentious gaudiness inspired by the elaborate styles that Charles II brought with him from the French Court






22. Term used to describe performances that mix theatre - visual arts - music - dance - gesture and rituals; often use multimedia effects - sounds and lighting effects to make a point and allow the audience to understand its deeper implications; often re






23. Contemporary form of Sanskrit Theatre - dramatized version of the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata






24. French physicist - mathematician - and philosopher - expressed the essence of Romanticism






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






26. Plays without music






27. 1. theatre has an actor who plays a character - theatre is artificial - and 2. theatre usually has a story with a conflict - conflict is key to all drama






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

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29. One of the most important French philosophers of the Age of Reason - wrote and edited the first encyclopedia; was also a dramatist who penned books on the techniques of acting; authored The Paradox of Acting - a book that attached the pompous declama






30. A production of British actor Charles Kean; had realistic costumes - set and props that he had researched to make sure they were historically correct

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31. Included comic scenes - dance interludes and sentimental ballads all based on white stereotypes of black life in the South






32. An extreme form of realism; an acurate 'documentary' of everyday life - including its seamy side






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






34. Where more experts agree that human beings came into existence






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






36. Life has no purpose and they confused and antagonized audiences by refusing to adhere to a coherent set of principles - mirroring the madness of the world






37. French director who stage play The Butchers (1888) with real sides of beef infested with maggots






38. The time period that glorified humans' power to reason and analyze - a period of great philosophical - scientific - technological - political - and religious revolutions






39. Type of theatre greatly influenced by Buddhism and Shinto; originates in ritual






40. Suggests we are trapped in an irrational universe where even basic communication is impossible






41. Result of western influence - a toned down version of Kabuki - told stories of everyday life - particularly those of women - women played women's parts (whereas Kabuki was all male)






42. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






43. What western theatre is often called:






44. 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






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






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






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






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






49. 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






50. The German equivalent to Diderot; was a playwright - critic - and Enlightenment philosopher Who wrote tragedies and comedies about the middle-class; his greatest play was Nathan the Wise






Can you answer 50 questions in 15 minutes?



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