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. Writes the book






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






3. 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






4. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God






5. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






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. People who dismissed Traditional African Theatre because it was so unlike anything they knew






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






9. 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






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






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






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






13. Based off the idea that before a problem can be solved - society must first understand that the problem exists; 'attack the message - not the messenger'






14. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






15. Told stories about common people who felt grand emotions and suffered devastating consequences (Enlightenment)






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






18. Proclaimed 'God is dead...and we have killed him.'; felt taht absence of God was a tragedy - but believed human beings needed to accept the tragedy and move forward in a world that was unjust and meaningless






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






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

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21. '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






22. Elmer Rice; about a man named Mr. Zero Who is fired from his job and replaced by an adding machine






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

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24. Thought that inner truths could be hinted at only through symbols; sought to replace the specific and concrete with the suggestive and metaphorical; usually had little plot or action and tended to baffle the audience






25. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






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






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






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






29. 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)






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






31. Earliest form for photography






32. Writes the lyrics






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






34. The men who play female roles are called:






35. 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






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






37. 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






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






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






40. French Enlightenment playwright; was an inventor and thinker who spent countless hours at the leading intellectual salons of France; most famous plays are The Barber of Seville - and The Marriage of Figaro - his plays reflect the attitudes of the Enl






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






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






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






44. Plays without music






45. 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






46. Sarcastic label of Scribe's plays; the sympathetic protagonist suffers at the hands of an evil antagonist in the course of intense action - suspense - and contrived play devices; ending is always happy and the loose ends are neatly tied up






47. 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






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






49. 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






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