Theatre History Mid-term

Theatre History Mid-term exam 

52 cards   |   Total Attempts: 182
  

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Burlesque-Extravaganza
Parodying well-known plays, performers, or topical events and featuring songs and dances- appealed to taste for broad comedy and spectacle. 
Resident-repertory company
A resident company produces works from a specific repertoire. They would present a different play every week, usually classical works and every once in a while a new work. Important that they were local. 
Combination company
A theatrical company that performed only one play. Used more elaborate and specialized scenery.
Free plantation system
Stage without grooves, scenery supported by stage braces. 
Augustin Daly
Wrote "Under the Gaslight," - Contributed to realism- realistic special effects. Established director as major force in theatre. 
Henry Irving
Well known actor and manager of the Lyceum Theatre. First ever actor to be knighted. 
Thomas William Robertson
Anglo-Irish playwright, known for series of realistic or naturalistic plays produced in London. Wrote "Caste." Works considered "problem plays" and revolutionary. Used highly realistic settings. 
Scribe's well-made play
Careful exposition and preparation, cause-to-effect arrangement of incidents, building scenes to a climax, and the skillful manipulation of withheld information, startling reversals, and suspense. 
Francois Delsarte
Laws of stage expression are discoverable and these laws can be formulated as precisely as mathematical principles. Analyzed emotions and ideas, divided human experience and behavior into physical, mental, and spiritual, and related these to each action, thought, and emotion. Divided body into parts. 
Alexandre Dumas fils
 Dramatized novel Camille. Originally wrote about "prostitute with a heart of gold" but then attitude changed and he wrote about "women with a past." Wrote thesis plays about current social problems. 
Alexander Ostrovsky
Russia's first professional playwright. Major works about the middle class. Founded Russian Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers. 
Comte's Positivism
Ultimate aim of knowledge is betterment of society, all sciences must contribute to sociology, which would be able to discover the causes of social problems and the remedies needed to bring about desirable change. 
Darwin's Theory (simple version)
All forms of life have developed gradually from a common ancestry, the evolution of species is explained by the "survival of the fittest." Implies that heredity and environment are primary causal factors, human behavior is largely determined. 
Ibsen's Realism
Originally wrote in verse. Did not resolve plays in ways that confirmed received ideology- make ideology cause of problems and suggested need to change it. Made use of symbolism and subjects concerned with personal relationships. Theme: struggle for integrity- conflict between duty to oneself and duty to others. Discarded asides, soliloquies, motivated all exposition. dialogue, settings, costumes chosen for ability to reveal character. Internal psychological motivations given greater emphasis than external visual details. 
Realism (art, main tenets)
Art must depict truthfully the real, physical world, and, since only the contemporary world can be observed directly, truth can be attained most fully through impersonal, objective observation and representation for the world around us. Any production using actualistic visual detail might be called realistic.