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






2. Writes the book






3. Brought Western-style theatre to Africa to dramatize Bible stories in order to win converts






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






5. 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






6. Grew up in poverty and put himself through medical school and set up free clinics in Russia to help the poor; The Seagull (1896) - Uncle Vanya (1899) Three Sisters (1901) & The Cherry Orchard (1904); placed on stage the lazy chaos of lives crushed by






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






8. French philosopher often called the Father of the Romantic movement; argued that people could find happiness in a 'state of nature' and that they should learn from nature rather than the artificial and corrupted teachings of society






9. 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






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






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






12. Grew up in poverty and put himself through medical school and set up free clinics in Russia to help the poor; The Seagull (1896) - Uncle Vanya (1899) Three Sisters (1901) & The Cherry Orchard (1904); placed on stage the lazy chaos of lives crushed by






13. 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






14. 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






15. 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






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






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






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






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






20. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






21. Writes the lyrics






22. A program of sketches - singing - dancing and songs pulled from previous sources






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






24. 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)






25. The men who play female roles are called:






26. 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






27. 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






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






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






30. 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






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

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


32. 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






33. 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






34. 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






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






36. 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






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






38. Said that the free enterprise system is seriously flawed and is a cause of great human misery because it exploits the poor






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






40. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God; not a negative - for without God humans can create their own existences - purpose and meaning






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






42. Built in Venice in 1637






43. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






44. 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






45. Showed middle-class characters finding happiness and true love (Enlightenment)






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






47. Earliest form for photography






48. French Enlightenment playwright; was an inventor and thinker who spent countless hours at the leading intellectual salons of France; most famous plays are The Barber of Seville - and The Marriage of Figaro - his plays reflect the attitudes of the Enl






49. The sung words






50. A permanent - professional theatre outside NYC; founded in 1947 by Margo Jones; stage new plays alongside commercial hits and historical plays; appeal to the intellectual audiences that Hollywood seldom serves