Theatre Module 1 Test
An event or interaction that increases the complications or intensity of the central conflict.
An event or interaction that increased the complications or intensity of the central conflict is the protagonist. The protagonist causes everything to occur that happens in the timeframe of the play. This character drives the action of the play. Their interactions cause the increase of complications and intensity of the central conflict/root conflict. Because of the protagonist's decisions and actions, the central conflict will occur and this will lead to sub conflicts and cause the rest of the characters to respond to the protagonist. Without the protagonist, the central conflict would not exist and the play would not move forward.
According to this author of The Poetics, Oedipus the King was considered a great tragedy .
Aristotle is the author of The Poetics. In this, Aristotle outlined his five beliefs at what makes a good tradgedy. These five elements are action, suspense, believability, fluidity, and compression. The action moves the play forward while toying with the audience's physical and psychological thought. This includes the crucial events that occur in the play. Suspense includes all the wonder, surprises, and discoveries that the characters uncover in the play. These three elements cause the audience to engage in what is happening in front of them. Believability is to accept the world of the play while it is happening. The audience will view the struggles, failures, and successes of the characters, as well as the truth behind the story and the reveal of the character's true personalities. Fluidity is to show how the events run smoothly and how the script becomes a "roadmap" to follow. Lastly, compression is to show the audience the events that matter. All the details are cut down to make the audience focus on the aspect that will hold the most important later. Oedipus the King is considered a great tragedy because of these elements along with the character himself and the tragic fight for the truth.
Theatre experience is a collective response. Gives some specific examples from your own theatre going experience to show how this collective response may have affected your reaction to the theatrical performance. (4 points)
As from the textbook, a suggested activity for participating in collective response is to make plans to see a production, get a meal beforehand, and to drink coffee after to talk. A collective response is seeing a production and observe it. In addition, all audience members should follow the correct and proper theatre etiquette such as turning off cell phones. Specific examples from my theatre-going experience to show how collective response may have affected my reaction to a theatrical performance can be witnessed when I see anything with my boyfriend. My boyfriend and I have opposite tastes in films and plays. For example, at first, I did not enjoy the remake of Disney's Aladdin, but after hearing him expressing how much he loved the new adaptation, I changed my mind. Another example is witnessing my school's productions. Students are quick to hate on high-school level theatre, especially when there are technical difficulties. I know that I have been a part of collective responsibility in making people change their own minds about their opinion of the plays they have witnessed.
The structure of M. Butterfly is called:
Episodic
It is acceptable to discretely take a picture or record a theatre performance.
False
The following information, "A prison cell in contemporary France in which a former diplomat convicted of treason is incarcerated," identifies which element of structure in M. Butterfly?"
Given Circumstances
In character analysis, what two elements help us understand who a character is?
Given circumstances and values
The keeper of the African concept of collective living memory of people is called _________.
Griot/Griotte
The elements required to realize ideas on stage are:
Imagination, drive and impulse.
In general, media does not incorporate conventions.
In general, media does not incorporate conventions.
When did theatre begin?
More than 2500 years ago
According to Natya Shastra, by this author, theatre was a gift from Brahmin.
Natya Sastra is also known as Bharata's Cannons of Dance and Drama. Natya Sastra is the fourth theory from the origins of theatre. Natya Sastra is traditionally seen in Asian theatre and dance. Brahmin was believed to have commanded and put on the first production of drama. A Hindu man and theorist, Bharata, was told the secrets from Brahmin. This is what formed stepping out, and dialogue was created. The dialogue is between the speaker and the community. The order of events is as follows: dithyramb lead to the dialogue. The Divine Gift was a gift from the gods, specifically Brahma, which passed his secrets to Bharata and this lead to the creation of Natya Sastra.
Any act that is repeated over and over in a very specific way is called a ______.
Ritual
Bharata's Cannons of Dance and Drama is better known as ______.
Natya Sastra
According to anthropologist Joseph Campbell, the source of mythology is _______.
Need
Which of the following is not considered theatre?
practicing a monologue for class.
In general, we should assume that every choice a playwright makes has a reason.
true
Which of the following can change an actor's performance?
A cell phone ringing from the audience. The audience itself. Unwrapping candy. Another actor. All of these choices
Which of the following is an example of stylization?
A play about a monster making friends with the moon.
Theatre's most basic elements are:
Actor, audience, space and story.
The space within the proscenium arch that we pretend is there onstage is called the ______ wall.
fourth
The "opposite" of aesthetic distance is ______.
suspension of disbelief
What is the Abydos Passion Play?
the first recorded drama
A dithyramb involved a very large chorus singing songs and reciting words in unison in honor of Dionysus
true
An unbroken speech in a play usually directed to the audience is called.
monologue
Dramatic action always occurs in what tense?
present
"What happened?", "What was the central conflict?", and "What was the primary emotional mode?" are all questions concerning _______.
story
Those pieces of the puzzle in the play that combine to communicate the author's meaning are called
structural elements
The Sanskrit term for the director and trainer of traditional Indian dance theatre is
sutradhara
In a commercial play, who picks the name of the piece?
the playwright
What type of mood assumes the world is thrown out of order?
Tragic
A play's predominant attitude, which is particularly comic or tragic, is called its mood.
true
The first choice any artist makes is the medium they will use.
true
The more committed to seeing a play, the higher your anticipation will be.
true
All dramatic action involves conflict.
True
Choosing to think, for a time, that the actors are real people experiencing real life is called:
Suspension of disbelief.
Who or what is Thespis?
The Greek actor who stepped forward from the dithyramb and created dialogue.
This author of The Dramatic Imagination theorized that theatre started when the storyteller decided to show the community story.
The author of The Dramatic Imagination is Robert Edmund Jones and was written in 1941. Jones theorized that theatre started when the storyteller decided to show the community a story because of spontaneous inspiration. Jone's theory is that the tribe leader decided to show the lion hunt rather than tell the story of the lion hunt. It is possible the idea of creating theatre is present in each of us and has inspired each of our ancestors.
What is The Poetics?
The first known western analysis of dramatic literature.
The moment of peak emotional excitement, where the central conflict of the play is decided one way or the other.
The moment of peak emotional excitement, where the central conflict of the play is decided one way or the other is the climax. The climax happens just after the turning point. The turning point makes the climax happen. Once the play reaches this point, nothing will stop the climax from occurring. The tension in the play will build up in layers because of how it will be written. Eventually, something must happen to let these layers go. The tension is too much, the characters must let the climax occur. This will be what is known as the "moment of truth." For example, in All My Sons, the turning point was when Kate let the cat out of the bag that Joe had not been sick in fifteen years. This showed the characters who were truly guilty. The climax is the moment in the play when the root conflict ends. Here, in most tragedies, the protagonist dies. This is when the new world of the play is shown to the audience. The only part that must occur in the climax is that the root conflict must end.
What is "personal theatre?"
Theatrical elements of your own life.
The universal symbol for theatre is _________.
Two masks: one comic and one tragic
Conditions of make-believe that demand our willing suspension of disbelief are called _____.
conventions
According to this scholar, one of the origins of theatre is found in the human tendency to create myth and rituals out of life's crises and mysteries.
couldn't copy in time.
In The Glass Menagerie this element is given by the narrator, Tom.
couldn't copy in time.
The element of structure that begins the action of the play, making "this day different from any other."
couldn't copy in time.
The element of structure that occurs after the climax of the play, usually tying together loose ends and showing the results of the central conflict.
couldn't copy in time.
