Theatre Practitioners and Theory Flashcards
7 cards from real LAMDA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Theatre Practitioners and Theory flashcards as text
Vsevolod Meyerhold's system of actor training, 'Biomechanics,' was primarily concerned with what?
Answer: Training the actor's body as a precise, reflexive machine for conveying emotion
Meyerhold's Biomechanics trained actors in a series of physical études to develop economy of movement, balance, and expressive precision.
Which theatre theorist introduced the concept of 'happenings' as a form of immersive, unscripted performance art in the late 1950s?
Answer: Allan Kaprow
Allan Kaprow coined the term 'happenings' to describe participatory, unscripted events that blurred the boundary between art and life.
Edward Gordon Craig's concept of the 'Über-Marionette' proposed that the ideal performer should be what?
Answer: A puppet-like figure entirely controlled by the director's artistic vision
Craig argued the actor should become an Über-Marionette — a super-puppet whose performance is fully shaped by the director as total artist.
In Stanislavski's method, what does the 'magic if' prompt an actor to consider?
Answer: What the actor would do if they were genuinely in the character's circumstances
The 'magic if' asks actors to imaginatively substitute themselves into the character's situation: 'What would I do if I were in these circumstances?'
Richard Schechner's 'environmental theatre' challenged the traditional division between which two elements of performance?
Answer: Performer space and audience space
Schechner's environmental theatre eliminated the separation of stage and auditorium, allowing performance to occur throughout a shared space.
Which of the following best describes the Brechtian device of 'direct address' in Epic Theatre?
Answer: Actors break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience
Direct address, where actors speak to the audience, is an Epic Theatre device that breaks theatrical illusion and reinforces the alienation effect.
Eugenio Barba founded which internationally recognized theatre laboratory and research organization?
Answer: The International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) and Odin Teatret
Eugenio Barba founded Odin Teatret in 1964 and later established ISTA, which investigates the principles underlying diverse performance traditions.