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. Comic operas that mixed popular songs of the day with spoken dialogue






2. 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






3. 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)


4. Earliest form for photography






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






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


7. 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






8. A true-to-life interior containing a room or rooms with the fourth wall removed so that the audience has the feeling of looking in on the characters' private lives






9. Grew out of the theatre of Thespis in Ancient Greece; passed from the Athenians to the Romans to the medieval Europeans






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






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






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






13. 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






14. 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






15. Most famous surrealist and was a French writer and director; studied Asian religions - mysticism - and ancient cultures; declared theatre should should wake the nerves and heart; argued that proscenium arch theatres create a barrier between the audie






16. Comic operas that mixed popular songs of the day with spoken dialogue






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






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






19. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






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






21. 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






22. 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)






23. By Swedish Playwright August Strindberg; fourteen-act play that follows the disconnected logic of a dream






24. Filled with characters who cannot resist an argument about social issues; no character is exempt from talking politics and theorizing about moral - artistic or religious reform






25. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






26. 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)






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






28. Elmer Rice; about a man named Mr. Zero Who is fired from his job and replaced by an adding machine






29. The men who play female roles are called:






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






31. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






32. Six characters take on life of their own when the playwright fails to complete the play in which they were supposed to appear






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






34. Writes the music






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. 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






37. '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






38. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






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






40. 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






41. The orchestrated melodies






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






43. 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






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






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






46. Named new 'photographic' realism NATURALISM and his phrase 'slice of life' is quoted description of it






47. A German poet - director and playwright who challenged traditional ideas about theatre; became a communist after watching policement shoot 4 unarmed civilians; The Life of Galileo (1938) - Mother Courage and her Children (1939) & The Caucasian Chalk






48. 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






49. 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






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