LAMDA Theatre Practitioners and Theory Questions and Answers

Question 1

A director wants to stage a play that forces the audience to critically analyze social injustices rather than becoming emotionally invested in the characters' fates.
Which practitioner's technique, known as 'Verfremdungseffekt', would be most appropriate to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Bertolt Brecht

Answer

Constantin Stanislavski

Answer

Antonin Artaud

Answer

Jerzy Grotowski

Question 2

Which of the following is a central principle of Jerzy Grotowski's 'Poor Theatre'?

Accepted Answer

The elimination of non-essential elements to focus on the actor-audience relationship.

Answer

The integration of multimedia and spectacular stage effects.

Answer

A strict adherence to psychological realism and the 'fourth wall'.

Answer

The use of lavish, historically accurate costumes and sets.

Question 3

A theatre practitioner argues that performance should bypass the intellect and directly assault the senses of the audience, using shocking imagery, non-verbal sound, and intense light to purge repressed emotions. This philosophy is most aligned with the work of:

Accepted Answer

Antonin Artaud

Answer

Peter Brook

Answer

Augusto Boal

Answer

Vsevolod Meyerhold

Question 4

An actor is training in a system that emphasizes precise, externally-driven physical movements to express emotion, treating the body as an efficient machine. This approach, known as 'Biomechanics', was developed by which practitioner as a contrast to Stanislavski's internal, psychological methods?

Accepted Answer

Vsevolod Meyerhold

Answer

Lee Strasberg

Answer

Bertolt Brecht

Answer

Jacques Lecoq

Question 5

A community group uses theatre to explore solutions to local problems. During the performance, audience members are encouraged to stop the action, step onto the stage, and enact different choices to change the outcome. This form of interactive, political theatre is a hallmark of:

Accepted Answer

Augusto Boal's 'Theatre of the Oppressed'

Answer

Peter Brook's 'Empty Space'

Answer

Antonin Artaud's 'Theatre of Cruelty'

Answer

Jerzy Grotowski's 'Poor Theatre'

Question 6

Which practitioner's philosophy is best summarized by the statement: 'I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre'?

Accepted Answer

Peter Brook

Answer

Bertolt Brecht

Answer

Constantin Stanislavski

Answer

Antonin Artaud

A director wants to stage a play that forces the audience to critically analyze social injustices rather than becoming emotionally invested in the characters' fates.Which practitioner's technique, known as 'Verfremdungseffekt', would be most appropriate to achieve this?

A director wants to stage a play that forces the audience to critically analyze social injustices rather than becoming emotionally invested in the characters' fates.
Which practitioner's technique, known as 'Verfremdungseffekt', would be most appropriate to achieve this?