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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. 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






2. Three parts of a Noh play






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






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






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






6. 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






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






8. 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






9. The orchestrated melodies






10. 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






11. 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






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






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






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






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






16. One of the most popular Kabuki and Bunraku playwrights - who - like Shakespeare - wrote crowd-pleasing plays that combined poetry and prose in dramatic tales of comedy - tragedy - love - and war






17. Developed from the dance-prayers of Buddhist priests; has five possible subjects: the deities - the deeds of heroic samurai - women - insanity - and famous legends






18. Earliest form for photography






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






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






21. The men who play female roles are called:






22. One of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment - French poet - essayist - and playwright whose writing often got him in trouble with the church; built a theatre on his own estate so he could freely present his plays






23. French physicist - mathematician - and philosopher - expressed the essence of Romanticism






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






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






26. Writes the book






27. The want for more 'genuine' sets - more 'honest' acting - and dialogue to be modeled after everyday speech - influenced by ideas of CHarles Darwin - Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx






28. 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)






29. A robust and spectacular version of Noh; named after the characters for 'song' - 'dance' - and 'skill'; created by a woman named Okuni - owner of a brothel






30. 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






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






32. Most famous English actress - born into poverty - started out singing in taverns and selling oranges in theatres - became the King's mistress






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






34. 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






35. 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






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






37. 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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38. 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






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






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. 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)






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






43. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






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






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






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






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

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48. Wooden clappers used in Kabuki






49. 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






50. 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