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






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






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






4. 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






5. Kabuki borrowed many of these movements to make Kabuki acting highly stylized and almost puppet-like






6. '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






7. 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






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






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






10. First black woman playwright to be producted on Broadway; Raisin in the Sun based of her actual childhood






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






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






13. Book - music - and lyrics






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






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. 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






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






18. The men who play female roles are called:






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

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20. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






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






22. Contemporary form of Sanskrit Theatre - dramatized version of the Hindu epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata






23. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






24. 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






25. Type of theatre that grew out of ritual - incorporated acting - music - storytelling - poetry - dance - costumes - and lots of masks to create a theatre that combined ritual and ceremony with drama






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






27. Type of Islamic theatre - religious drama of Iran which allowed for actors - both professional and amateur - and has been performed in open-air playing spaces and on some occasions in specially constructed indoor stages for hundreds of years

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28. 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






29. 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






30. Writes the lyrics






31. 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)






32. Earliest form for photography






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

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35. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






36. 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)






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






38. The audience remains alienated from the performance so they could critically consider the play's themes






39. 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)






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






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






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






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






44. Writes the music






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






46. Writes the book






47. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






48. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






49. Musicals that are mostly singing and have less spoken dialogue; similar to operattas - but thier tone is often much darker and more dramatic






50. 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