Test your basic knowledge |

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. Big-time vaudeville who performed a series of lavish musical reviews on Broadway






2. History plays about major political events of the past - domestic plays about the loves and lives of merchants and townspeople - and dance-dramas about the world of spirits and animals






3. 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






4. 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






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






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






7. Writes the music






8. Characters were not individuals but types; standard roles included scholar - lover - hero - maiden - old woman - coquette - virtuous wife - and acrobatic warrior-maiden






9. Russian playwright whose play The Lower Depths (1902) took look at people living in cellar of Moscow flophouse






10. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God






11. The sung words






12. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






13. Uses rock music - the rock and roll of the 1950s (Grease) - the psychedelic rock of the 1960s (Hair) or contemporary pop and rock (Rent)






14. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






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






16. Smaller - less expensive alternative experimental theatres; flourished in lofts - basements - coffeehouses and any found space usable






17. Staged inexpensive - noncommercial productions of artistically significant plays in small - out-of-the-way theatres






18. 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






19. French philosopher and playwright; The Flies (1943) & No Exit (1944)






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






21. Most famous American expressionist playwright who won Nobel Prize for Literature (1936); A touch of the Poet (1935) - The Iceman Cometh (1939) - A Long Day's Journey into Night (1956) & A Moon for the Misbegotten (1952); The Hairy Ape (1952)

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






23. Argued that the prime function of playwrights is to expose the social and moral evils of their time






24. Writes the book






25. Used giant puppets and actors to enact parables denouncing the Vietnam War and materialism






26. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






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






29. French philosopher and playwright; The Flies (1943) & No Exit (1944)






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






31. Writers who felt science was not adequate to describe the full range of human experience - and their writings stressed instinct - intuition - and feeling






32. A sudden - striking pose (often with their eyes crossed - chin sharply turned - and big toe pointed towards the sky) in Kabuki accompanied by several powerful beats of wooden clappers






33. Form of theatre that mixed traditional African ritual theatre and Western-style drama; encouraged African nationalism - glorified Africa's past - and advanced African customs - rituals - and culture; also dealt with serious political themes and appla






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






35. 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






36. '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






37. The first modern musical; a melodrama about black magic staged in NYC in 1866






38. Known for life-like sets that used hand-painted screens and gas-powered lighting effects to stage realistic sunrises and storm clouds; invented the DAGUERREO-TYPE - which was an early form of photography






39. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






40. Elaborate geometrical designs were used for these roles which included supernatural beings - warriors - and bandits; the color of the make-up indicated the character's personality






41. Founded in 1946 by Julian Beck and Judith Malina; dedicated itself to contemporary social issues and highly political - easthetically radical plays






42. The first theatre in the world to be lit with electric lights






43. 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






44. Characterized by a light-hearted - fast-moving comic story - whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music; Guys and Dolls (1950)






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






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






47. Nigerian playwright that was executed for trying to protect the Ogoni people against encroachments of Shell oil company






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






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

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50. 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