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. 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






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






3. The men who play female roles are called:






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






5. 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






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






7. Wrote 'high comedies' which were cerebral socially relevant plays that had an intellectual scope so vast they forced audiences to reassess their values; Man and Superman (1903) & The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891)






8. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2005); The Dumb Waiter (1957)






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






10. 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






11. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






12. Told stories about common people who felt grand emotions and suffered devastating consequences (Enlightenment)






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






14. Comedies forced Victorian society to reexamine its hypocrisies; Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) - A WOman of No Importance (1893) - An Ideal Husband (1894); advocated 'art for art's sake'; The Importance of Being Ernest






15. 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)






16. Composed and produced by Bob Cole - lyrics by Billy Johnson; story of a con man and used minstrel stereotypes and spoofed Chinatown; in one scene a young black man sings about he and his date were denied entry to a nightclub cuz He was black and this






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






18. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






20. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






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. Sarcastic label of Scribe's plays; the sympathetic protagonist suffers at the hands of an evil antagonist in the course of intense action - suspense - and contrived play devices; ending is always happy and the loose ends are neatly tied up






23. A blend of melody and drama and refers to the background music often played during these performances






24. Would agitate the masses - attack the spectators' sensibilities and purge people of their destructive tendencies; wanted stylized - ritualized performances - not realism - which they felt restricted the theatre to the study of psychological problems






25. Built in Venice in 1637






26. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






27. 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






28. The sung words






29. 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)






30. Theatre was not seen as being of value to society - so plays were not an important part of:






31. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






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






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






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






35. 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






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






37. Three parts of a Noh play






38. The artist imposes his own internal state onto the outside world itself; expressionism is a subjective account of an objective perception; expressionist plays use deliberate set distortion






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






40. A synthesis of music - dance - acting - and acrobatics; it was first performed by strolling players in markets - temples - courtyards - and the streets






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






42. 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






43. 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






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






45. 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






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






47. The artist imposes his own internal state onto the outside world itself; expressionism is a subjective account of an objective perception; expressionist plays use deliberate set distortion






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






49. Writes the music






50. No protagonist; deals with a family of characters who tell many stories at once; the fact that characters on stage take no action may inspire audience members to be motivated for the opposite in real life