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. 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






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






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






4. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






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






6. Writes the music






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






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






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






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






11. Earliest form for photography






12. 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






13. Russian playwright whose play The Lower Depths (1902) took look at people living in cellar of Moscow flophouse






14. A form of musical entertainment featuring bawdy songs - dancing women - and sometimes striptease






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

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16. 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






17. Only cost a nickel






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






19. Earliest form for photography






20. 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






21. A sudden - striking pose (often with their eyes crossed - chin sharply turned - and big toe pointed towards the sky) in Kabuki accompanied by several powerful beats of wooden clappers






22. 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






23. What western theatre is often called:






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






25. 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






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






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






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






29. 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






30. Characterized by a light-hearted - fast-moving comic story - whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music; Guys and Dolls (1950)






31. Highlights the insanity of life in a comical way






32. 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'






33. 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






34. Estrangement; essentially the alienation effect






35. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God; not a negative - for without God humans can create their own existences - purpose and meaning






36. Three parts of a Noh play






37. The time period that glorified humans' power to reason and analyze - a period of great philosophical - scientific - technological - political - and religious revolutions






38. 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






39. Two types of traditional Japanese theatre






40. 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






41. The orchestrated melodies






42. 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






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






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






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






46. Composed and produced by Bob Cole - lyrics by Billy Johnson; story of a con man and used minstrel stereotypes and spoofed Chinatown; in one scene a young black man sings about he and his date were denied entry to a nightclub cuz He was black and this






47. 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






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






49. 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






50. Set out to break all the neoclassical rules - attacked the three unities