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






2. All lines are sung - usually to grand classical music; Madama Butterfly (1904)






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






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






5. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






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






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






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

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9. Only cost a nickel






10. A production of British actor Charles Kean; had realistic costumes - set and props that he had researched to make sure they were historically correct

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11. 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






12. 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






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






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






15. 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






16. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






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






19. 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






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






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






22. 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)






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






24. The realism of the play is expressed through lyrical language






25. 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






26. The first modern musical; a melodrama about black magic staged in NYC in 1866






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






28. 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






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






30. The men who play female roles are called:






31. Plays without music






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






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






34. 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






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






36. Musicals with a particularly well-developed story and characters






37. 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)






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






39. Type of theatre greatly influenced by Buddhism and Shinto; originates in ritual






40. 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






41. 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






42. 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






43. 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






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






45. 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






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






47. 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)






48. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






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






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