Test Questions & Answers Ch17 The Modern Theatre Realism

Theatre, Brief, 12e (Cohen)

Chapter 17 The Modern Theatre: Realism

1) Romanticism emphasized all of the following, EXCEPT

A) free-form picaresque stories.

B) minimal, claustrophobic settings.

C) exotic locales.

D) grotesque heroes.

2) Realist theatre has its roots in

A) the refinement and elaboration of neoclassical elements.

B) a nostalgic return to the Ancients such as Greek aesthetics.

C) audiences' desire for more variety in theatre.

D) a revolt against the intentional artifice of neoclassicism and dramatic conventions.

3) Besides an aesthetic overhaul, the realist theatre carried another agenda?

A) a rebellion against the contrived manners of the Royal era and the creation of a theatre with a distinctly democratic, anti-Royalist air

B) to hire more actors

C) the reinstatement of the Gods as fully-empowered characters so as to confer metaphysical significance to humanity's otherwise meaningless existence

D) to embarrass modern audiences

4) Which movement, whose development paralleled but was essentially independent of realism, based its aesthetics on humanity's place in the natural environment?

A) naturalism

B) scientism

C) romanticism

D) mesmerism

5) What sensibility did romantic drama embody?

A) There must be an attempt to reactivate passion, which, critics argued, had been dormant since Shakespeare.

B) Reason and order must prevail.

C) The "dream state" of hypnotism should subsume all elements of reason and passion.

D) Moral education and lecturing is of paramount importance.

6) Which is a characteristic of realist drama?

A) prettified settings and contrived endings

B) characters drawn true to life and subjected to their social states

C) a return to classical conventions portrayal of Gods

D) deliberately incorrect historical costumes and performances to wake up audiences

7) One convention of the realist theatre is that dialogue

A) is very one-sided.

B) is conversation.

C) questions the cosmos.

D) contains frivolous.

8) Which of the following does NOT characterize realist drama?

A) Genres were blended, climaxes flattened, and there was life between the lines.

B) Scenery depicted ordinary living environments that were as messy as their real-life counterparts.

C) Characters were drawn from everyday life.

D) The playwrights renewed the heightened rhetoric of Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Aeschylus.

9) The new hero of realist drama was

A) unquestioningly confident in his or her own might, no matter how great the opposing forces.

B) perplexed and inarticulate in the face of myriad forces, fighting for control of his or her soul and identity.

C) passionate and triumphant in his or her quest for idealist causes.

D) overly concerned about sexual issues.

10) How was the proscenium stage of the romantic theatre modified to accommodate realist drama?

A) The acting area was huge with little area backstage to store scenic elements.

B) Box sets were made exactly to scale with full-dimension walls and real bookcases, windows, and fireplaces; in some instances, the proscenium arch was removed.

C) The audience sat on stage with the actors to feel like they were actually "in the scene" with all the actors.

D) The stage was physically raised and curtains were eliminated to reinforce the realist view that drama was "life on a pedestal."

11) The "theatre of the fourth wall removed" refers to the central convention of realism that

A) the stage was conceived to be the same as life in a real-world setting except that, in the case of the stage, one wall—the proscenium opening—had been removed.

B) the human animal is seen to be like a rat in a maze, bound by the strictures of four symbolic walls: society, family, or economics.

C) the "fourth wall" of the mind creates a frame around human experience just as a fourth wall completes a room.

D) the three walls of Marxist economics, Darwinian biological determinism, and Freudian psychological determinism leave the fourth wall of political oppression absent.

12) The founding playwright of the realist era was

A) Henrik Ibsen.

B) August Strindberg.

C) Mario Tinburgen.

D) Wendy Wasserstein.

13) Which of the following is NOT a favorite theme of realist drama?

A) man's ignorance, failure, and isolation in an uncaring cosmos

B) human confusion in a complicated world

C) the nobility of loving all things materialistic

D) human ignorance and failure

14) Which of the following is true of the relationship between naturalism and realism?

A) One came from one playwright's idea and the other one came from a director's.

B) Naturalism existed parallel to but independent of realism and sought to eliminate every vestige of dramatic convention.

C) Naturalism is a word applied to the success of the performance; realism refers to the dramatic style.

D) Naturalism refers to a historical period concerned with plant life, that followed the age of being concerned with humanity.

15) The subject matter of naturalistic plays was largely comprised of

A) plant and animal life.

B) conflicts among nations.

C) slice-of-life drama.

D) contrived behaviors due to out of control emotions and relationships that are not in conflict.

16) The high point of stylistic realism, in terms of the depth of characterization, is best exemplified by

A) Anton Chekhov.

B) August Strindberg.

C) Henrik Ibsen.

D) Molière.

17) In Chekhov, the pauses, repetitions, and vagueness all show

A) the absence of intellectual commitment to ideas.

B) the rhythms and muddled inanities of natural speech, which are sometimes contrasted by the characters' actions.

C) the absurdity of the universe in which language is just noise without any real meaning.

D) the grammatical problems in the original handwritten script.

18) What is the significance of the samovar that Tchebutykin presents to Irina for her birthday?

A) A samovar was a typical wedding present and he betrays his unconscious desires to marry Irina.

B) A samovar was brought out only on the occasion of funerals and Tchebutykin foreshadows his impending death.

C) A samovar was a silver anniversary present and inappropriate for a young lady's twentieth birthday gift.

D) A silver samovar was an object permitted only to members of the Tsarist family, and Tchebutykin betrays his class by this gift.

19) How did Stanislavsky contribute to realist theatre?

A) He brought realist acting to realist plots.

B) He introduced body doubles in scenes of passion.

C) He refused to work with new material.

D) He was a great musician.

20) How do everyday objects contribute to Chekhovian realism?

A) Objects like the samovar show the realistic accessories of the living room and bedroom.

B) Objects are peripheral to the lives of the characters.

C) The objects convey qualities of action and character.

D) Objects become weapons and projectiles.

21) America's theatre tradition is inspired mainly by

A) English and French models.

B) Greek tragedies.

C) Roman theatre.

D) morality plays of the Middle Ages.

22) America's first master dramatist was

A) Lope de Vega.

B) Eugene O'Neill.

C) Arthur Miller.

D) Congreve.

23) Mourning Becomes Electra is

A) a rewriting of the Orestian trilogy in a puritanical New England setting with Freudian motivation replacing Greek fates.

B) a rewriting of the Homer's Odyssey with Hades symbolized by economic and spiritual bankruptcy.

C) a contemporary upbeat comedy which uses the satirical mask of Electra as its central theme.

D) a family romance in which characters and their Jungian archetypes act out symbolic segments adapted from Homer.

24) Which of the following is true of Chekhov's style?

A) Chekhov's eloquence comes in part through his use of dramatic understatement, as in Tusenbach's closing line before his death, "I didn't have any coffee this morning."

B) Chekhov never used irony, subtext, or understatement in his plays.

C) Chekhov never put monologues into any of his plays.

D) Chekhov used elaborate alliteration, as in the Commandant's statement, "I am the very model of a modern major general." and in general, used silly statements.

25) Which play by the American realist Arthur Miller deals with the broken "American dream" of financial success?

A) Death of a Salesman

B) The Crucible

C) A View from the Bridge

D) After the Fall

26) The free-form picaresque stories, exotic locales, grotesque heroics, and sprawling dramatic structure of romanticism gave rise to a liberated theatricality that survives today in the form of grand opera.

27) One offense that caused critics to complain that Ibsen's Ghosts was "loathsome and fetid" and "an open drain" is its exposure of the hypocrisy in Victorian marriage.

28) Realist drama attempts to break through the limitation of language and character in order to arrive at insights into a greater metaphysical cosmos.

29) The lasting impact of Ibsen's plays lies primarily in two qualities: 1) their choice of social and political issues and 2) Ibsen's skill at showing both sides of an issue and conflict through psychological detail.

30) The "problem" in a "problem play" refers to a moral dilemma; a problem play portrays good and evil in clearly delimited ways to prevent moral ambiguity from creating a perceptual problem.

31) In plays including The Sea Gull, The Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya, the playwright Anton Chekhov draws complex relationships among his characters and develops his plots and themes between the lines.

32) The theatre where Chekhov collaborated with Konstantin Stanislavsky is the Moscow Art Theatre.

33) The first productions of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen was immediately accepted by audiences of all kinds.

34) Chekhovian productions—and other realist works—were aided by the performance innovations introduced by Konstantin Stanislavsky.

35) The chief theoretician of naturalism was Voltaire (François -Marie Arouet).

36) Compare and contrast Restoration and realist theatrical styles in terms of their treatment of acting conventions, stage design, and subject matter.

37) Compare and contrast realist and naturalistic theatrical styles. Which would you personally find more effective as a theatrical experience? Why?

38) Imagine you were one of the actresses in Chekhov's The Three Sisters. You are at a rehearsal with both Chekhov Stanislavsky present. Write out a potential two-page dialogue that might happen between the two of them about your character and how they each want you to play the role. role (Irina, Masha, or Olga). Remember both men are very opinionated but strong and creative. Use your imagination. Do you ever get to share your views—do they listen to you?

39) How has the realistic genre affected American theatre? Think of playwrights, actor training, relationship between actor and director, audiences, critics, and so on.

40) Using Chekhov's The Three Sisters as your example, discuss the function of the set (stage design and props) as an element that enriches character dynamics. How are human relationships literally and metaphorically negotiated through physical properties?