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. Peking Opera was dramatically altered when:






2. Book - music - and lyrics






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






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






5. 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






6. 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






7. Three parts of a Noh play






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






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






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






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






12. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






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






14. 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






15. 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)






16. 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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17. 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






18. 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






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






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






21. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






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






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






24. 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)






25. Plays about the issues of the day that were in Manhattan neighborhoods






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






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






28. Includes all other forms of drama - from the ancient ritual theatre of Africa to the traditional theatre of Asia to the shadow and puppet theatre of Muslim lands






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






30. 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






31. First part had musical numbers with little comic dialogue; second part was full of songs - dance and standup routines; third part featured a one-act play






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






33. Feature the work of a director-choreographer






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






35. 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






36. Most famous surrealist and was a French writer and director; studied Asian religions - mysticism - and ancient cultures; declared theatre should should wake the nerves and heart; argued that proscenium arch theatres create a barrier between the audie






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






38. The first all-black show to pay at a top Broadway theatre






39. Second part of a Noh play - protagonist performs a dance that expresses his or her concern






40. Nigerian playwright that was executed for trying to protect the Ogoni people against encroachments of Shell oil company






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






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






43. Earliest form for photography






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






45. 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






46. 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






47. 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






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






49. 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






50. 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