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. Built in Venice in 1637






2. Type of Islamic theatre which is created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen; the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story






3. 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






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






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






6. Studied the history of class conflict






7. A form of musical entertainment featuring bawdy songs - dancing women - and sometimes striptease






8. 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






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






10. A big production number that usually receives a torrent of applause that literally stops the show






11. 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






12. Sell over $1billion worth of tickets annually - majority of those are for musicals






13. Third part of a Noh play - the protagonist appears as a new self - and the cause of torment is resolved






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






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






16. 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






17. No spoken dialogue - entirely sung; comes from the Latin word 'work' and may have originally meant 'works in music' or 'musical works for the stage'; first operas were in Italy in late 1500s






18. First female theatre manager in London; was also an actor and singer; managed first theatre to have a box set; Olympic Theatre in London






19. One of the most well-known Muslim Playwrights - who uses her plays not only to express herself but also to prompt discussions about such topics as violence against women - religious fanaticism - and female sexual desire






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






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

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






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






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

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25. 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






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






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






28. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






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






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






31. The sung words






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






33. 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






34. Type of Islamic theatre which is created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen; the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story






35. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






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






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






38. 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)






39. 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






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

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






42. Romanian-born French playwright best categorized as a hilarious absurdist; The Bald Soprano (1949) & Rhinoceros (1959)






43. Only cost a nickel






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






45. '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






46. 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






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






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

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49. Play that takes place in a mental institution - the audience sits on the stage with the actor-patients






50. 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)