Deck 15: The Theatre of Asia

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT true of the koken?

A)They are dressed and veiled wholly in black and scurry onstage to help the actor through a costume change.
B)They may hand the actor his props or straighten the actor's wig or costume after a dance.
C)They are apprentices or understudies for the actors they serve.
D)They are actors in the play who symbolize the presence of ghosts or dead ancestors.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT true of Kathakali performances?

A)The text is sung to a percussive accompaniment of gongs,drums,cymbals,along with two singers seated at the side.
B)The scenery is elaborate,composed of painted canvases that can be hung from any kind of structure and changed throughout the long performance.
C)The actors dance and pantomime the dramatic action by employing precise and elaborate hand gestures and footwork patterns,distinctive eyebrow movements,and postural contortions.
D)Audience members were free to leave,take naps,and eat during the performance.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What drama,whose name means "story play," originated in rural villages in the province of Kerala in the seventeenth century and based itself on the stories from two great Indian epics,the Ramayana and the Mahabharata?

A)sakuntala
B)kabuki
C)kathakali
D)hanamichi

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Comedy and tragedy are not appropriate genres for xiqu;rather,xiqu works can be divided into genres of

A)religious plays and secular plays.
B)political plays,pious plays,and jokester skits.
C)civil plays,martial plays,as well as great plays,and small plays.
D)ironic plays revolving around gods and serious plays honoring ancestors,warriors,and artists.

Question 5

The mie,a sudden,grotesquely contorted freeze that requires the actor to cross his eyes,turn his head sharply forward with the chin tucked in,and point a big toe skyward,expresses

A)the emotional climax of a scene.
B)foreshadowing of the death of the primary character.
C)the actor's homage to the audience and the playwright.
D)an undercutting humor directed at the other events or characters in the play.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT true of Asian theatre?

A)It is never just spoken;it is danced,chanted,mimed,and very often sung.
B)It is more visual and sensual than literary or intellectual.
C)In traditional Asian culture,reading a play-as an activity separate from seeing it in performance-is considered an odd pastime.
D)Its plots are built on escalating incidents,stunning reversals,crescendoing climaxes,and elaborate closures.

Question 7

Xiqu performances offer the actor the opportunity to display the classic "fourfold" skills:

A)plot,diction,theme,and voice.
B)singing,speech,acting and movement,and martial arts and acrobatics.
C)physical beauty (through make-up and masks),physical prowess (through dancing and fighting),connection with audience,and stage presence.
D)grace,strength,poise,and control.

Question 8

Kabuki scenery provides

A)a highly aesthetic and symbolic support of the play's narrative;it does not attempt to create a real-world environment.
B)a realistic setting to support the creation of a whole play world.
C)a blank slate,through a stripped-down set backed by bare screens,against which the events of the play "draw" their world view.
D)a highly ornate set,decorated with gifts from public benefactors.

Question 9

Which of the following is true of the relationship between ancient Eastern and Western theatres?

A)Little exchange of any sort existed between the East and West until the travels of Marco Polo,by which time both Eastern and Western theatre traditions were in place.
B)The two cultures were somewhat intertwined,as shown through ancient Greek belief in Dionysus arriving from Turkey and Alexander the Great's dramas for troops in India.
C)Asian influences sprang from Delphi,where prophecies were translated into dramas performed in the East.
D)Greek drama,related to agricultural ceremonies,sprang from Asian theatre because Asia developed the earliest form of calendars to measure the year.

Question 10

Kabuki flowered during a period

A)when Japan was completely isolated from all foreign influence,demonstrating the integrity of a generation-to-generation transmission.
B)during World War I.
C)before Greek civilization had come to exist,when the dominant culture of the world was divided among diverse European tribes and Huns.
D)when other Asian countries were not involved in theatre at all.

Question 11

Which of the following is true about the status of the kabuki play script?

A)Most have a single author from a select family who has handed down the tradition of writing for twenty generations.
B)Most have multiple authors,some of them anonymous,and almost all incorporating improvisations and alterations that actors have interpolated over the years.
C)Most have a single author who acquires experience through a system of open submissions and competitions.
D)Most are co-authored by two to six members of different guilds who collaborate to produce a piece that accurately represents all castes in the drama.

Question 12

The Mandarin term for Chinese Opera,xiqu,means

A)"sung celebration of life."
B)"grateful blessings from the samisen."
C)"tuneful theatre."
D)"presented hours of joy."

Question 13

Which country is the home of the oldest continuous theatre tradition?

A)India
B)Japan
C)China
D)Vietnam

Question 14

The new etymology for the word "kabuki," reformulated by the end of the seventeenth century,was

A)ka (song)bu (dance)and ki (skill).
B)kabu (fan)ki (dance).
C)kabukiyano (I celebrate).
D)ka (ghost)buki (procession).

Question 15

By the end of the seventeenth century,kabuki

A)had declined and was not enacted at all until the twentieth century.
B)had been supplanted entirely by puppet theatre.
C)remained alive in the provinces as a marginal type of theatre.
D)had become a full-fledged dramatic medium with multi-act plays,magnificent costumes,scenery,and star performers.

Question 16

What is the name given to the female ideal type,characterized by a deferential tilt of the shoulders,pinched-back shoulders,a gait with knees bent and held together,toe pointing inward,a high-pitched,sweetly demure voice,an extravagantly styled geisha-like appearance,chalk-white make-up,red lips,and eye liner?

A)aragato
B)onnagata
C)wagoto
D)hanamichi

Question 17

The word "kabuki"

A)originally derives from kabuku,meaning "tilting" or "askew," and refers to a style of behavior that might today be called "hip" or "punk."
B)originally derives from kabu,meaning "intoxicated," and refers to the drugs used by men and women during the performance to achieve a state of enlightened consciousness.
C)originally derives from the word kab kab,an onomatopoeia that reflects the sound of wooden sandals on a stage,an allusion to the origin of the kabuki in the eleventh century vogue of extreme footwear.
D)means "fan" and refers to the central prop in Kabuki theatre,used by men and women alike as a vehicle to express a range of emotions and passions.

Question 18

The most comprehensive and detailed theatrical treatise of the ancient world,detailing analyses of dramatic texts,the theatre building,acting,staging,music,and even theatre-company organization,is

A)the Sanskrit Natyasastra,or "treatise on theatre" (known to exist in the second century A.D. ).
B)Kalidasa Kundalini,the "Zen of drama" (written in Indonesia in 11 B.C. ).
C)Tan Tien,the handbook of the Peking Opera (transmitted orally for hundreds of years but written down by Portuguese priests in the twelfth century A.D. ).
D)the Kabuki Nehru, (written for directors and actors in Japan in 2000 B.C. ).

Question 19

Which of the following is true of theatre in Asia?

A)It is tightly plotted with escalating incidents and crescendoing climaxes.
B)It contains many diverse traditions and thousands of theatre forms.
C)It primarily imitates and reshapes Western forms.
D)Traditional Asian drama is strictly spoken.

Question 20

Kabuki's greatest playwright was

A)Izumon Okuni.
B)Chikamatsu Monzaemon.
C)Shogun Taipei.
D)Chatto Matte Kudasai.

Question 21

Briefly characterize the kabuki and noh forms in terms of their stage design and the way in which design supports or accompanies the performance.

Question 22

Imagine you are an actor getting ready for a Kabuki theatre performance.What do you think your training was like,who are you,walk us through the day of a performance until you walk off stage after the performance.(who is dressing you,doing your makeup,what is backstage like?)Use your imagination!

Question 23

What is the role of the koken in kabuki? How do the koken add to the overall "philosophy" or themes of the kabuki form?

Question 24

Although Bunraku was once performed for adults,the puppet shows today are performed exclusively for children's entertainment in Japan.

Question 25

Reflecting on the current state of Asian theatre and its exchange with Western influences,propose a production that mixes techniques from both cultural traditions.What would the design be like? The acting style? The plot? Use of music?

Question 26

Compare and contrast the use of music in at least two of Asian theatre forms and two of American theatre forms.(Broadway,musicals,opera,etc. )

Question 27

Kabuki dramatic types include history plays (jidaimono),domestic plays (sewamono),and dance-dramas (shosagoto).

Question 28

Kabuki domestic dramas typically unfold the conflict between patriarchal authority and the younger generation,as fathers contend with sons for the possession of property.

Question 29

Noh drama may be characterized by

A)medieval,elliptical,or obscure language;a small cast;static and solemn action;and a glacial pace.
B)lively conflict between characters,an action plot,and colloquial language with complex dances.
C)brilliantly long monologues by one character with a chorus.
D)mainly negative plots and characters.

Question 30

What statement best characterizes the relationship between Asian and Western theatre traditions today?

A)Each theatre tradition stays isolated and is not influenced one way or another.
B)Asian art has been weakened by persistent Western influence,and lost the purity of its techniques.
C)Both cultures have fruitfully borrowed from each other,as they exist as truly global art forms.
D)Asian theatre has so invaded Western theatre culture that true "Western" art cannot be rightfully identified.

Question 31

Virtually all kabuki actors in modern Japan arise from lower-class children of common laborers seeking a better life.

Question 32

What type of theatre is characterized by the following description: a highly ceremonial,musical and dance drama,mysterious,tragic and usually supernatural;the 240 texts produced today were written by a father-son team five hundred years ago;its lines were designed to be sung rather than spoken?

A)kyogen
B)kabuki
C)noh
D)bunraku

Question 33

If you attended a performance in which the only scenery was a single,gnarled pine,you would have good reason to guess that you were attending which kind of theatre event?

A)kabuki
B)bunraku
C)kyogen
D)noh

Question 34

In its early forms,kabuki was a stylized court entertainment permitted only by upper-class nobles,none of whom could be foreigners,and performed during designated times of the sacred calendar.

Question 35

Kabuki actors must train for much of their lives,working from small parts to larger ones,inheriting major roles in their forties,and developing a "kabuki face" by their fifties.

Question 36

Bunraku's life-size puppets are manipulated by three handlers: one for the feet,one for the head,and one for the hands.

Question 37

All noh plays center on the shite,

A)a soldier figure,who has evil intentions.
B)the chorus.
C)the interrogating character,played without a mask,who raises questions about the nature of the universe.
D)a single character,representing a god,ghost,woman,animal,or warrior,who is prompted and challenged by a secondary character.

Question 38

Because of kabuki's plots frequently ending in suicide,the government attempted to ban such plays because they were leading to real suicides as a consequence.

Question 39

The hanamichi is a runway that extends from the right side of the stage all the way into the back of the audience.

Question 40

In xiqu,men and women perform on the stage,although,since 1911,"gender" in this context is defined by makeup,costume,and the associations of the role.