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






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






3. 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






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






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






6. First part of a Noh Play - usually a chance meeting between two characters - introductions are made and the characters engage in a question-and-answer sequence that reveals the protagonist's concern






7. Would agitate the masses - attack the spectators' sensibilities and purge people of their destructive tendencies; wanted stylized - ritualized performances - not realism - which they felt restricted the theatre to the study of psychological problems






8. 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






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






10. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






11. In Sigmund Romberg's play the king young heir to the throne sacrifices his personal happiness for the good of the kingdom when he sorrowfully pulls himself away from his true love in order to marry a princess whom he does not love






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






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






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






15. Writes the lyrics






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






17. Three parts of a Noh play






18. 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






19. Most famous Restoration-era woman to make her living by writing plays






20. 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






21. Earliest form for photography






22. Writes the music






23. 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






24. Wrote plays about the rugged lives of Irish peasants using their dialect; Riders to the Sea (1904) & The Playboy of the Western World (1907)






25. 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






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






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






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






29. 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






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






31. Plays without music






32. Elaborate geometrical designs were used for these roles which included supernatural beings - warriors - and bandits; the color of the make-up indicated the character's personality






33. Book - music - and lyrics






34. A period of licentious gaudiness inspired by the elaborate styles that Charles II brought with him from the French Court






35. 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






36. The men who play female roles are called:






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






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






39. Known for life-like sets that used hand-painted screens and gas-powered lighting effects to stage realistic sunrises and storm clouds; invented the DAGUERREO-TYPE - which was an early form of photography






40. Instead of learning how to conjure real emotions - actors of Sanskrit drama studied for many years to learn representations of emotions through:






41. 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






42. What western theatre is often called:






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






44. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






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






46. An early form of theatre; it used theatrical techniques such as song - dance - and characterization - but it was still firmly rooted in religion






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






48. 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






49. 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






50. 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