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
Stella Adler diverged from Lee Strasberg's interpretation of Stanislavski primarily on which point?
Answer: Whether imagination or personal emotional memory should be the actor's primary tool
After studying directly with Stanislavski, Adler argued actors should use imagination and the given circumstances rather than personal traumatic memory.
The term 'mise-en-scène,' central to theatre and film theory, refers most precisely to what?
Answer: The visual arrangement of all elements within the performance space
Mise-en-scène (French for 'putting on stage') encompasses all visual elements: set, lighting, costume, actor positioning, and movement.
Bertolt Brecht used 'gestus' in Epic Theatre to describe what?
Answer: A social gesture that simultaneously reveals character attitude and social relationship
Gestus is a socially meaningful gesture or set of attitudes that reveals the relationship between a character and their social and historical context.
Which practitioner's work is most directly associated with the development of 'devised theatre' as a collaborative creation process?
Answer: Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop pioneered ensemble-devised work, with productions like Oh, What a Lovely War! created collaboratively without a fixed script.
In Jerzy Grotowski's training method, 'via negativa' means the actor achieves authenticity through what process?
Answer: Eliminating blocks and resistances rather than accumulating new techniques
Via negativa is Grotowski's principle that the actor reaches truth by removing personal and psychological obstacles rather than by adding skills.
The LAMDA examination in Drama and Performance Studies at Gold level most expects candidates to demonstrate which capability?
Answer: Independent critical analysis of practitioner methods and their application to performance
Gold level LAMDA examinations require candidates to critically evaluate practitioner theories and demonstrate how they inform and shape their own performance work.
Antonin Artaud described the ideal theatre space as one that does which of the following?
Answer: Places the audience in the center, surrounded by the action on all sides
Artaud envisioned a single, undivided space where the audience sits in the middle and the performance unfolds around them, breaking the actor-spectator divide.