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






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






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






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






5. First female theatre manager in London; was also an actor and singer; managed first theatre to have a box set; Olympic Theatre in London






6. 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






7. Goethe's most famous Romantic play






8. 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






9. This happened for the first time during the Restoration






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






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






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






13. 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






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

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/basicversity.com/show_quiz.php on line 183


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






16. 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






17. Three parts of a Noh play






18. No protagonist; deals with a family of characters who tell many stories at once; the fact that characters on stage take no action may inspire audience members to be motivated for the opposite in real life






19. Big-time vaudeville who performed a series of lavish musical reviews on Broadway






20. Type of theatre greatly influenced by Buddhism and Shinto; originates in ritual






21. 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






22. What western theatre is often called:






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






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






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






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






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






28. Comic interludes performed during the intermissions of opera






29. 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






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. French Enlightenment playwright; was an inventor and thinker who spent countless hours at the leading intellectual salons of France; most famous plays are The Barber of Seville - and The Marriage of Figaro - his plays reflect the attitudes of the Enl






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






33. Writes the book






34. 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






35. Book - music - and lyrics






36. Holds that human beings are naturally alone - without purpose or mission - in a universe that has no God






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






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






39. Divided into fatalist - hilarious and existentialist






40. 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






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






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






43. First black woman playwright to be producted on Broadway; Raisin in the Sun based of her actual childhood






44. History plays about major political events of the past - domestic plays about the loves and lives of merchants and townspeople - and dance-dramas about the world of spirits and animals






45. Studied the history of class conflict






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






47. 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)






48. 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'






49. 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






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