Theatre Flashcards

Question

climax

Answer 1

the moment of maximum tension in the play when the primary conflict is resolved

Answer 2

(DAY noo mah) resolution of the conflict; new harmony or understanding has been reached

Answer 3

things happen on stage faster than they do in life and audience accepts this

Answer 4

principal character in a dramatic action

Answer 5

the character who opposes the action

Answer 6

is responsible for the casting, rehearsal process, and mounting of the play; communicates their vision or approach to the play to actors and designers

Answer 7

provide the visual elements for a production including, setting, costumes, lighting, props, sound

Answer 8

people who bring the characters to life

Answer 9

the author of the script

Answer 10

vision of the entire production formulated and shared by the director

Answer 11

plays that present life in a realistic manner; characters talk to each other without regard for the audience

Answer 12

characters deliver the material out to the audience in a less than realistic manner

Answer 13

style of theatre in which design and approach to the play is heightened and not necessarily a historical representation; style is removed from observable reality

Answer 14

To behave truthfully under an imaginary set of circumstances.

Answer 15

Major movement on stage, usually predetermined and set by the director.

Answer 16

Small actions performed by each character, necessary for specifically defining each character and for creating reality on stage.

Answer 17

A long speech, delivered by one character, which may be heard but not interrupted by others in his/her presence.

Answer 18

A speech wherein a character verbalizes his/her thoughts aloud while alone.

Answer 19

presentational in intent, meaning that the character(s) acknowledge the presence of the audience by speaking directly to them

Answer 20

A speech wherein a character expresses his/her thoughts in words audible to the audience but supposedly unheard by the other characters on stage.

Answer 21

The imaginary wall between the actors and the audience.

Answer 22

the building in which theatre takes place

Answer 23

the production of drama

Answer 24

the literature of theatre; scripts

Answer 25

a round dancing place before the stage. The chorus performed there.

Answer 26

a winged building behind the stage and in front of the actors. It may have had a painted backdrop. It is the origin of our word scene.

Answer 27

also called cothurnus, a high-soled shoe used to elevate characters in Greek tragedy. The less dignified characters in comedy wore socks. In both genres actors wore masks.

Answer 28

a scene. The term is now used for any scene in a novel or an installment of a TV series. The first episode (providing exposition) was the prologue, the final episode the epilogue.

Answer 29

one of the songs which the chorus performed between episodes. The opening ode, sung as the chorus entered the stage, was called the parodos; its final ode, sung upon exiting, was the exodos. Parts of an ode were called strophe (STRO-fee) and antistrophe (an-TISS-tro-fee). The strophe was probably sung while the chorus danced from stage right to stage left; the antistrophe was the opposite.

Answer 30

a group of twelve or fifteen performers who sang and danced the odes; they represented elders (leading citizens). Their spokesman, the choragos, had speaking parts during the scenes.

Answer 31

dialogue consisting of alternating single lines spoken by two characters. It was used in Greek tragedy to show tenses disputes. Modern writers like Shakespeare use versions of it. It is similar to repartee (rep-ar-TAY), a fast-paced exchange of witty retorts in modern comedy.

Answer 32

irony that results when characters say or do something of greater significance than they realize. The audience’s knowledge is superior to that of the character(s)..

Answer 33

a convention used in Greek tragedy after Sophocles for lowering or lifting actors playing gods by means of a crane on the skene. The Latin phrase deus ex machina (“a god from a machine”) is now used for any quick means of resolving a plot, like the sudden revelation at the end of Huck Finn that Jim is free and Huck has a fortune.

Answer 34

a choral ode honoring the god Dionysus. A chorus of singers dressed as satyrs performed episodes from myths. The dithyramb evolved into tragedy.

Answer 35

respectively, a group of four and three plays. In Athens during the age of Sophocles (the fifth century B.C.), competitions were held in the spring during rituals honoring Dionysus. The first three plays were a trilogy of tragedies.

Answer 36

a parody of a myth. The final part of the tetralogy in Athenian dramatic competitions.

Answer 37

according to Aristotle, an error of judgment that causes the downfall of a tragic protagonist. The concept is often identified with the tragic flaw or fatal weakness in character, such as the jealousy of Othello or the pride of Oedipus.

Answer 38

extreme (or “overweening”) pride, especially when considered a tragic flaw.

Answer 39

the resolution of the plot of a tragedy, depicting the final downfall of the protagonist.

Answer 40

according to Aristotle, the purging of pity and fear that tragedy causes in viewers.

Answer 41

toward the audience. So called because stages used to be slightly sloped.

Answer 42

away from the audience. Used as a verb, it means to force an actor to turn away from the audience. Thus it has come to mean “to draw attention from.”

Answer 43

these terms refer to the point of view of someone facing the stage. To the actor facing the audience, thus, stage left means right and stage right means left.

Answer 44

instructions in a script or play text. Early editions of Shakespeare include some stage directions but omit some that must have been intended. Modern editors include conjectures (i.e., guesses) of stage directions, sometimes enclosing them in brackets.

Answer 45

a Latin stage direction meaning “exit” but referring to two or more characters. Exeunt omnes means “all exit.”

Answer 46

necessary or convenient features of literature which audiences unquestioningly accept. An example from drama is the “fourth wall”the audience’s understanding that a scene showing characters indoors has an invisible wall between the audience and the stage.

Answer 47

a dramatic conventiona speech to the audience, understood to be the speaker’s thoughts.