1. What is a performance?
Anytime a show is presented before an audience. An audience is anyone watching the show who is not directly involved in the production.
How does it differ from a rehearsal?
There is no audience for a rehearsal.
2. How does the audience participate in a performance?
By reacting to the actor's performance.
3. How does the audience participation effect the performance of a play?
The actors will react to the audience's reaction, creating a circular response.
4. Why does Wilson and Goldfarb not include films and television in their definition of theatre?
Because in a film or television performance, the actor can not respond to the audience's reactions.
5. What is aesthetic distance?
The mental force which reminds the audience that they are in a theatre, and what is happening on stage is not real.
Empathy?
The mental force which tells the audience that these characters on stage are "real people" with real problems, and they should be concerned with these people's problems.
6. What is the difference between illusion, delusion, and reality, as it pertains to a live theatre production?
Illusion: The audience knows what is happening on stage is not real, but will accept it as real for the two hours of the show.Delusion: The audience believes what is happening on stage is real, but they are innocent bystanders, and are not involved in the action.
Reality: The audience not only believes what is happening on stage is real, but believe that it is happening to them
7. Which is the standard audience reaction of an adult audience?
Illusion
Of a children's audience?
Delusion
8. What is the difference between a reviewer and a critic?
A reviewer, who describes a production and gives his opinion on how well it was done, writes for a general audience. The critic, on the other hand, who analyzes the play in greater detail, writes for an audience of theatre people: directors, designers, actors. It is assumed that a critic has a solid knowledge of theatre history, dramatic literature, and theatrical production. A reviewer, on the other hand, may be anyone with an opinion. Reviews are typically published in a newspaper or magazine; criticism, on the other hand, appears in academic journals and theatrical magazines.
9. What are the three criteria for theatrical criticism?
Nineteenth century German playwright: Johann Wolfgang Goethe established the three criteria of theatrical criticism...
- What is the playwright attempting to do?
- Was it well done?
- Was it worth doing?
10. What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive criticism?
A descriptive critic, such as the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE), describes what is happening on stage. A prescriptive critic, such as Roman playwright Horace (65-8 BCE), not only describes the performance, but suggests what the playwright and actors should have done. "Since the time of Aristotle and Horace, critics have tended to fall into one category or the other: either analyzing and describing, or setting down rules." (Wilson and Goldfarb, page 60).