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 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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3. A blend of melody and drama and refers to the background music often played during these performances






4. 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






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






6. The artist imposes his own internal state onto the outside world itself; expressionism is a subjective account of an objective perception; expressionist plays use deliberate set distortion






7. 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






8. 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






9. 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






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






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






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






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

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14. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






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






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. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






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






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






21. 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






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






23. 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






24. 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






25. Earliest form for photography






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






27. During the Enlightenment there were revolutions in: ... which had a profound effect on theatre






28. The men who play female roles are called:






29. One of the most valuable historical records of Indian theatre; an encyclopedic book of dramatic theory and practice; has 37 chapters and covers every aspect of classical Indian drama - also a treatise on dramatic theory and philosophy - states that t






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






31. Records of this type of theatre are fragmentary - but we do know that it grew out of regional religious rituals related to Confucianism - Taoism - and Buddhism - and ritual dances performed during the Shang dynasty






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






33. 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)






34. 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)






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






36. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






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. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






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






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






41. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






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






43. 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)

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






45. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2005); The Dumb Waiter (1957)






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

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47. Includes all other forms of drama - from the ancient ritual theatre of Africa to the traditional theatre of Asia to the shadow and puppet theatre of Muslim lands






48. 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






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






50. Only cost a nickel