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. Musicals that feature a particular band's songs






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






3. 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






4. 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






5. 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






6. 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)






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






8. A German poet - director and playwright who challenged traditional ideas about theatre; became a communist after watching policement shoot 4 unarmed civilians; The Life of Galileo (1938) - Mother Courage and her Children (1939) & The Caucasian Chalk






9. Type of Islamic theatre which is created by lighting two-dimensional figures and casting their shadows on a screen; the audience watches the silhouettes while a narrator tells a story






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






11. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






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






13. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






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






15. Africa's greatest living playwright; born in Nigeria; plays combine symbolism - mysticism - beautiful dialogue - and they make strong political points; plays are deeply rooted in African myths - dance - and rituals but also influenced by Western dram






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






17. The men who play female roles are called:






18. 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






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






20. 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






21. Life has no purpose and they confused and antagonized audiences by refusing to adhere to a coherent set of principles - mirroring the madness of the world






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






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






24. 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'






25. 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






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






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






28. 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






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






30. Built in Venice in 1637






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






32. 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






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






34. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






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






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






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






38. The orchestrated melodies






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






40. 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






41. What western theatre is often called:






42. 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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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


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