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 lyrics






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






3. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






4. 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






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






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






7. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






8. Grew up in poverty and put himself through medical school and set up free clinics in Russia to help the poor; The Seagull (1896) - Uncle Vanya (1899) Three Sisters (1901) & The Cherry Orchard (1904); placed on stage the lazy chaos of lives crushed by






9. Showed middle-class characters finding happiness and true love (Enlightenment)






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






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






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






14. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






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






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






19. Where more experts agree that human beings came into existence






20. 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






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






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






23. The men who play female roles are called:






24. 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






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






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






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






28. One of the most famous Sanskrit dramas - a love story in seven acts written by the playwright Kalidasa






29. 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






30. '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






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






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






33. A popular form of stage entertainment from the 1880s to the 1940s; included a dozen or so slapstick comedy routines - song-and-dance numbers - magic acts and juggling or acrobatic performances






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

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

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36. Said that the free enterprise system is seriously flawed and is a cause of great human misery because it exploits the poor






37. 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






38. 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






39. 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






40. Showed middle-class characters finding happiness and true love (Enlightenment)






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






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






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






44. 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






45. Type of Islamic theatre - religious drama of Iran which allowed for actors - both professional and amateur - and has been performed in open-air playing spaces and on some occasions in specially constructed indoor stages for hundreds of years

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






47. Three parts of a Noh play






48. Third part of a Noh play - the protagonist appears as a new self - and the cause of torment is resolved






49. Filled with characters who cannot resist an argument about social issues; no character is exempt from talking politics and theorizing about moral - artistic or religious reform






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