Exam 8: The Modern Theatre

This type of drama,in vogue in Germany during the first two decades of the twentieth century,featured shocking and gutsy dialogue,boldly exaggerated scenery,piercing sounds,bright lights,and an abundance of primary colors.

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

This theatre attempted to distance the audience by repudiating realistic conventions through a didactic performance style,an acting style that required the actor to "demonstrate" rather than "integrate with" his character,and a stage that called attention to its own artificiality.

Realist theatre

How did Stanislavsky contribute to realist theatre?

Brecht's distance effects sought to enhance the audience's engagement with the characters and thus,have a sentimental relationship with them.

Explain how Machinal shows expressionist principles.

The term avant-garde comes from the military,where it refers to the "shock troops" that initiate a major assault.

Compare and contrast realist and naturalistic theatres.Can a theatre production ever truly be "real" or "natural"? Why?

Which movement,whose development was independent of realism,based its aesthetics on nature,particularly on humanity's place in the (Darwinian)environment and tried to create life itself on stage?

Discuss the innovations Brecht brought to the theatre.Are such innovations visible in any aspects of today's popular culture? Where?

In Six Characters in Search of an Author,Pirandello uses the theme of the theatricality of human existence to show

Which of the following is consistent with the symbolist opposition to realism?

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

This playwright,born in Germany in 1898,emerged from World War I as a dedicated Marxist and pacifist,and consolidated his theories about drama into a body of plays that include The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Good Person of Szechuan.

The founding playwright of the realist era was

Which type of drama fits the following description: the theatre becomes a part of the content of play production,not merely the vehicle.

The saying "no more masterpieces" is a tenet of

One convention of the realist theatre is that dialogue

Typical themes of the symbolist theatre include the inner realities that cannot be directly or literally perceived.