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. Named new 'photographic' realism NATURALISM and his phrase 'slice of life' is quoted description of it






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






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






4. Earliest form for photography






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






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






7. 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






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. 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






10. 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)






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






12. Attacked the evils and restrictions of society; tried to reveal the higher reality of the unconscious mind with fantastic imagery and contradictory images; performances were often violent and cruel as they tried to shock the audience into the realiza






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






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






15. Built in Venice in 1637






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






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






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






19. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






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






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






22. Writes the lyrics






23. Studied the history of class conflict






24. More serious plot and theme; West Side Story (1957)






25. Spoken lines of dialogue as well as the plot






26. 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






27. The men who play female roles are called:






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






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






30. Most famous of the absurdist playwrights; best considered a fatalist - although work is sometimes hilarious and can ask existential questions; Endgame (1957) Krapp's Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1961); Waiting for Godot (1953)






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






32. 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






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






34. A program of sketches - singing - dancing and songs pulled from previous sources






35. 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






36. Writes the music






37. 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






38. 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






39. 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






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






41. 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






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






43. Plays without music






44. 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






45. Including operetta - developed out of intermezzi






46. Included comic scenes - dance interludes and sentimental ballads all based on white stereotypes of black life in the South






47. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






48. 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






49. Only cost a nickel






50. 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