TH 210 Valle Midterm 1 spring 2018
Exam 2025 Questions and Answers
100% Pass
Three rules about convention - ✔✔does the character(s) change
audience expectation (is the play exciting)
images (what do you see when you imagine the play)
Tony Kushner- what he suggests - ✔✔what is the great power of theatre's inability to
create illusion-
we live in a dual conciseness when we're watching a play. there is a space between us
and the theatre, which lets us be critical of the film. the director can't control your gaze
like it does in a film
Examples of conventions - ✔✔women did not appear on english stage until 1660:
conventions regarding the relationship of the audience to the stage. breaking this would
be when the actress took the audience member's phone
- use of narrator
-actors changing costumes on stage
-individual actors play several roles
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,-curtain cues, lights dim
-programs before performances
Types of characters - ✔✔antagonist/protagonist- we know what they want (which is
usually in opposition of each other)
stock characters: station in life, age, gender, and occupation
characters that reinforce certain personalities
Conventional v unconventional - ✔✔Romeo Casetllucci- known to make everything
unconventional; something we never would see on a stage before
unconventional: combining elements to create a new style of movement
conventional: walking, eating, running; the relationship between the audience and the
stage. the proscenium is often framed to accentuate the impression of looking into
problems arise when audience is asked to agree to or play by new rules they haven't
learned yet
Sleep no more - ✔✔no end or beginning
promenade performance, the guests just walk around the hotel
can stay in the performance for as long as they want
everything in the hotel is loaded: letters in hotel, pieces of clothing....you're in charge of
your own experiences throughout the play
guests wear masks (not actors): objective is to be anonymous to other guests and
characters; no reactions can be seen
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
, very UNCONVENTIONAL
Willing suspension of disbelief - ✔✔Coleridge 1817
we known nothing is real but as humans we pretend something is real
willingness to ignore limitations of medium
how we most enjoy theater is when we willingly suspend our disbelief: ex pretending
that things are real even when we know they aren't
Examples of breaking conventions - ✔✔theatre of one- breaks convention of space
portable, private to create the experience of direct address, the aside, soliloquy
4th wall/ breaking (aside/soliloquy) - ✔✔the 4th wall is invisible
single actor expresses their feelings through a monologue
is the actor talking to us or themselves
aside: where there is a scene with 2 people and one person gives the audience an aside:
can happen with two characters back and forth
soliloquy: is this breaking the 4th wall? it can break the fourth wall but also can't... actor
doesn't know if they're on the stage alone or not
presentation vs representational - ✔✔presentational: no 4th wall; playing to the
audience
representational: soliloquy would be just talking to themselves... there IS a 4th wall!!!
seance - ✔✔a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead,
especially though the agency of a medium
20 minute performance in complete darkness
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
Exam 2025 Questions and Answers
100% Pass
Three rules about convention - ✔✔does the character(s) change
audience expectation (is the play exciting)
images (what do you see when you imagine the play)
Tony Kushner- what he suggests - ✔✔what is the great power of theatre's inability to
create illusion-
we live in a dual conciseness when we're watching a play. there is a space between us
and the theatre, which lets us be critical of the film. the director can't control your gaze
like it does in a film
Examples of conventions - ✔✔women did not appear on english stage until 1660:
conventions regarding the relationship of the audience to the stage. breaking this would
be when the actress took the audience member's phone
- use of narrator
-actors changing costumes on stage
-individual actors play several roles
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,-curtain cues, lights dim
-programs before performances
Types of characters - ✔✔antagonist/protagonist- we know what they want (which is
usually in opposition of each other)
stock characters: station in life, age, gender, and occupation
characters that reinforce certain personalities
Conventional v unconventional - ✔✔Romeo Casetllucci- known to make everything
unconventional; something we never would see on a stage before
unconventional: combining elements to create a new style of movement
conventional: walking, eating, running; the relationship between the audience and the
stage. the proscenium is often framed to accentuate the impression of looking into
problems arise when audience is asked to agree to or play by new rules they haven't
learned yet
Sleep no more - ✔✔no end or beginning
promenade performance, the guests just walk around the hotel
can stay in the performance for as long as they want
everything in the hotel is loaded: letters in hotel, pieces of clothing....you're in charge of
your own experiences throughout the play
guests wear masks (not actors): objective is to be anonymous to other guests and
characters; no reactions can be seen
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
, very UNCONVENTIONAL
Willing suspension of disbelief - ✔✔Coleridge 1817
we known nothing is real but as humans we pretend something is real
willingness to ignore limitations of medium
how we most enjoy theater is when we willingly suspend our disbelief: ex pretending
that things are real even when we know they aren't
Examples of breaking conventions - ✔✔theatre of one- breaks convention of space
portable, private to create the experience of direct address, the aside, soliloquy
4th wall/ breaking (aside/soliloquy) - ✔✔the 4th wall is invisible
single actor expresses their feelings through a monologue
is the actor talking to us or themselves
aside: where there is a scene with 2 people and one person gives the audience an aside:
can happen with two characters back and forth
soliloquy: is this breaking the 4th wall? it can break the fourth wall but also can't... actor
doesn't know if they're on the stage alone or not
presentation vs representational - ✔✔presentational: no 4th wall; playing to the
audience
representational: soliloquy would be just talking to themselves... there IS a 4th wall!!!
seance - ✔✔a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead,
especially though the agency of a medium
20 minute performance in complete darkness
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY GRACE AMELIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
