Deck 14: The Renaissance

Question 1

The "groundlings" were

A)spectators who stood in the yard.
B)the dressers who helped the actors ready themselves for scenes.
C)the ticket-takers who collected the price of admission.
D)the grooms who remained outside the theatre taking care of horses and dogs.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT true of the Renaissance?

A)The Renaissance first emerged in southern Europe during the 1400s.
B)The Renaissance supplied the intellectual foundations of Humanism.
C)The Renaissance world view held that the individual not God was the measure of all things.
D)The Renaissance gave birth to great plays about religious dynamics,political analysis,and feudalism.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What of the following was NOT a typical kind of English Renaissance drama?

A)tragicomedy
B)chronicle history
C)court masque
D)cabaret

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is true of public theatres?

A)They were located outside the city limits.
B)They originated in the parlors of private homes inside the city limits.
C)By law,only nobility could attend the performances.
D)They were fully enclosed to keep out bad weather and unwanted patrons.

Question 5

In Shakespeare's time,copyright law was

A)strictly formulated and consistently enforced when on tour.
B)nonexistent.
C)not supported by nobility who paid for the productions.
D)loosely enforced by specially trained barristers.

Question 6

Theatrical activity in the Renaissance ended

A)in 1616,with Shakespeare's death.
B)in 1642,with the Puritan revolution,when theatres were burned to the ground.
C)in 1650,with the deadliest outbreak of the black death.
D)in 1588,with the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Question 7

What office was performed by the Master of Revels?

A)overseeing royal entertainments
B)organizing the selection of plays for the public theatre's playing season
C)preparing all dramatic manuscripts for processing by the City Licensing Board
D)reviewing all plays in order to make recommendations to Puritan church officials

Question 8

The Renaissance was characterized by which of the following?

A)a renewed interest in classical (Greek and Roman)civilization
B)the vigorous revival of monastic scholasticism and all things religious
C)artists of all kinds going underground
D)a serious look at the role of Gods and man

Question 9

How did the Elizabethan innyard contribute to the growth of drama?

A)The U-shape of the inn,combined with its two- to three-story height,made it a natural playing space.
B)Innkeepers and their servants stepped in as as actors and actresses when business was sporadic and they were needed.
C)The inns permitted traveling acting companies to rest their horses and have a place to socialize and gamble.
D)The inns were the only business establishment outside of the Puritan jurisdiction.

Question 10

Which of the following is TRUE of the status of printed plays in Shakespeare's time?

A)Original published versions of the plays bear little resemblance to the annotated versions commonly seen today.
B)Original published versions of the plays are nearly identical to the versions commonly seen today.
C)Shakespeare never wanted his plays published so he would not care if they existed or not.
D)No original published versions of the plays exist.

Question 11

Which of the following is TRUE of Shakespeare's relationship with the Chamberlain's Men?

A)Shakespeare was a member of this troupe and part owner of its real estate holdings.
B)The troupe mutinied against Shakespeare in disagreement about the resolution of King Lear.
C)The troupe dissolved in 1703 in the middle of a scandal involving Shakespeare plagiarizing other playwrights.
D)Shakespeare was ashamed of the lack of troupe cohesiveness as well as lack of actor talent and skills,therefore changed the name to the troupe the King's Men company.

Question 12

Which of the following offers an example of dramatic irony?

A)Romeo saying that Juliet looks as if she were alive when she is alive;the audience knows it but the character does not
B)the imagery in Mercutio's Queen Mab speech
C)Friar Lawrence's epilogue about his failings
D)Tybalt breaking up the party with his accusation against Romeo

Question 13

Excavations of The Rose theatre in 1989 revealed which of the following?

A)The theatre was shaped as a polygon with a perimeter approximately 74 feet in diameter.
B)The circular stage had a circumference of 310 feet.
C)The roof was placed on posts buried 12 feet into the ground.
D)The Rose had four doors for the entry and exit of groundlings.

Question 14

Which of the following is true of Shakespeare?

A)He was not influenced by any other writer.
B)We know definitely that he traveled to exotic places between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight.
C)He was not governed by a formal aesthetic for writing or staging.
D)He composed his plays in accord with Lope's New Art of Writing Plays in Our Time.

Question 15

What kind of relationship did actors have to the plays they performed?

A)They recited them in absolute fidelity to the wishes of the playwright.
B)They were capable of reciting different scripts at a moment's notice or changing them to fit a patron's desire.
C)Only the star actor was allowed to make changes to the text since he legally owned it.
D)Only the reigning monarch was allowed to make changes,and fined anyone who improvised or mixed texts in performance.

Question 16

A soliloquy is

A)a speech spoken by one actor,addressed directly to the audience or to himself.
B)a speech recited by an actor to the groundlings only.
C)a form of dialogue between the principal actor and the nobility in the balconies.
D)an aside always meant to be humorous.

Question 17

Which of the following is TRUE of the shift from Medieval to Renaissance drama?

A)Medieval rural settings were supplanted by small settings based only in London.
B)Morality plays and Shakespeare's plays were quite similar in their approach to the place of man in the holistic scope of life.
C)The use of language stayed the same,using no poetic verse,irregular rhyming,use of metaphors,and so on.
D)Renaissance drama introduced irregular rhyming verse.

Question 18

Which of the following is TRUE of London playhouses?

A)There were two kinds of theatres,public and private.
B)They were all public theatres centered in the innyard.
C)They were initially constructed to be public service buildings only to be utilized by lower class citizens.
D)They were physically moved from farms to estates.

Question 19

In Shakespeare's time,women parts were played by

A)boy actors.
B)female actors.
C)anyone below the age of 14.
D)either male or female actors as long as they were professionally licensed.

Question 20

What three pre-existing architectural or staging elements contributed to the Elizabethan playhouse?

A)the trestle stage,pageant wagon,and innyard
B)the outside box office,the proscenium arch,and the balcony
C)the courtyard,the pageant wagon,and the fly system
D)dressing rooms for the leads,the fire curtain,and stage lights

Question 21

Dramatic activity in the English Renaissance ended with the onset of civil war in 1642.

Question 22

Corrales de comedia were most similar to Roman amphitheatres in size and shape.

Question 23

Define and explicate the function of dramatic irony in Romeo and Juliet (think of the final climactic scene!).

Question 24

Shakespeare's theatre in England,the Spanish public theatre of Lope de Vega and Miguel de Cervantes,and the Italian commedia dell'arte are all examples of Renaissance drama.

Question 25

Consider three different staging challenges in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: the "stop" in time when Romeo and Juliet meet at the masked ball,the lovemaking scene,and the final tomb scene where both die tragically.Explore these challenges and how you would solve these creative directorial choices.Give specific staging directions for two out of the three.

Question 26

The First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays was edited by Shakespeare's wife,Ann Hathaway,in 1635.

Question 27

Which of the following does NOT characterize the commedia dell'arte?

A)written scripts that are thoroughly memorized and rehearsed with no improvisation
B)performances built around a basic plot that all actors know but still have to improvise
C)stock characters and set physical business,such as using lazzi
D)known for the use of whimsical masks and costumes

Question 28

Stock bits of clownish action in the commedia dell'arte are called

A)lazzi.
B)intermezzo.
C)palazzo.
D)aria.

Question 29

In Shakespeare's time,costuming,while splendid,also reflected a keen concern for historical realism due to the role of the troupe's costume designer.

Question 30

The classical Renaissance Spanish dramatic theme concerns

A)marital infidelity.
B)personal honor.
C)revenge and individual political power.
D)forbidden love.

Question 31

The influence of the commedia dell'arte may be seen in which of the following?

A)the pageant wagon of medieval miracle plays
B)the Punch and Judy of English puppet theatre
C)the contemporary use of a chanting chorus
D)tragedies of any kind

Question 32

Imagine you are an actor in the King's Men and you are on tour.Be creative and describe a week's worth of touring,including rehearsal environments,how the local authorities treat the company,where you sleep,what you eat,how you get paid,how you are treated,how the performances go,which plays you are doing,what you do to prepare,and so on.Have fun with this one!

Question 33

Shakespeare's acting company resided at the Globe,but was also a touring company.

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT found among the stock characters of the commedia dell'arte?

A)the young lovers,innamorato and innamorata
B)the braggart soldier,Capitano
C)the pompous academician,Dottore
D)the angry Deity

Question 35

The legacy of Spanish Renaissance theatre can be found in the themes of honor and chivalry infused in the romanticism of later European drama.

Question 36

Shakespeare's plays take place in a wide variety of times and locales,such as Italy,Egypt,medieval England,and more.

Question 37

How did economic and political forces shape the growth and development of the Elizabethan playhouse? Remember to include the major financial backers of the various companies.

Question 38

Describe the transition from medieval to Renaissance staging.Reference both your historical knowledge of the periods and specific examples from the York Cycle playlets and Romeo and Juliet.

Question 39

The "tiring house" was the lounge area for nobles.

Question 40

The term "blank verse" refers to unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter.