Deck 16: The Royal Era

Question 1

Which genre is a precursor of the contemporary musical comedy?

A)the operetta
B)neoclassical verse sung at court by acting interns
C)the divertissement
D)all Molière's plays

Answer 1

C

Question 2

One metatheatrical device that occurs in The Bourgeois Gentleman is its

A)onstage conflict.
B)movable stage furniture.
C)painted scenery.
D)play within the play.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is true of the history of The Bourgeois Gentleman?

A)Molière wrote the play when he was severely impoverished,paying a lord to show it to the King,who,along with the public,loathed it.
B)It was commissioned by Louis XIV for a 1670 premiere at the Royal Chateau at Chambord and afterward became a public hit.
C)It was originally in German;Molière's translation into his own French language revealed the intrinsic merit of the drama and became beloved by the archbishop of Chantilly.
D)It was Molière's only tragedy.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The period following the Renaissance,characterized by the consolidation and refinement of creative energy and imposition of rational sensibility and order,was called

A)Baroque.
B)the Restoration.
C)Puritan rule.
D)the Enlightenment.

Question 5

Neoclassical dramaturgy treated all the following EXCEPT

A)organizing ways for actors to change in and out of costumes.
B)dividing a play into organized acts and scenes.
C)applying the proper metrics to verse.
D)unifying and structuring the plot.

Question 6

During which period were dramatic performances banned and theatres burned to the ground?

A)from the Civil War in 1642 to the reign of Charles II in 1660
B)the Napoleonic Wars
C)the Papacy of Clement VI
D)the American Revolution

Question 7

The historical foundation of neoclassical dramaturgy is

A)the innovations in court costumes that replaced the costumes appropriate to the era.
B)the increasing public demand for extensive use of violence on the stage.
C)the adoption of ancient drama theory by Renaissance scholars.
D)a brand new type of writing.

Question 8

The Anglican clergyman Jeremy Collier described the drama of the Restoration as

A)"pleasant,well-bred,complaisant,free,frolicsome,good-natured absurdity in this pretty age."
B)"faulty to a scandalous degree of nauseousness,and aggravation."
C)"damned without redemption."
D)"incredibly stifling and boring."

Question 9

According to the neoclassical precepts,Shakespeare was seen as

A)a brilliant playwright for all ages.
B)somewhat primitive and not deep at all.
C)the epitome of order and decorum.
D)too self indulgent in his writings

Question 10

The first two theatres chartered by Charles II in England were

A)built on the foundation and in the image of the Elizabethan playhouse.
B)converted from buildings normally used for civil servants.
C)converted tennis courts.
D)remodeled salons in the King's palace.

Question 11

The neoclassical "unities" consisted of

A)dialogue.
B)acting,design and direction.
C)subtext.
D)time,place,action,and tone.

Question 12

Reflecting the sensibilities of the age,Molière once said,"The great test of your plays is

A)the money your plays bring in."
B)the number of women who cry at the end."
C)the kindness you inspire in others."
D)the judgment and enjoyment of the Court."

Question 13

The English Restoration drama audience was

A)unlike the French audience in that it was composed of middle-class people.
B)like the audience of the French Royal theatre: a club of self-selecting luminaries,kings,and noblemen.
C)unlike the French audience,as it was composed only of the King and nobles.
D)like the French,more interested in psychological subtlety than satire.

Question 14

The historical term "The Restoration" refers to

A)the return of English lands to the landed gentry who had lost them during the reign of Cromwell.
B)the restoration of the English monarch,Charles II,after his exile in France.
C)the restoration of English as the national language after a period of time during which Latin or French was seen as the universal languages of the day.
D)the rebuilding of London after it had been burned to the ground in the great fire of 1665.

Question 15

What theatre fits these descriptions: Built for the Cardinal Richelieu;Molière's public home for most of his career;a tennis-court sized structure,measuring 108 x 36 feet;equipped with a proscenium arch and galleries set up in the fashion of jeu de paume.

A)Paris Opera House
B)the Hippodrome
C)the Palais Royale
D)Theatre du Cote du Chat

Question 16

Which of the following was NOT a principle of neoclassical dramaturgy?

A)No tragedy should contain comic relief.
B)All violence must be seen and heroes must die onstage.
C)No comedy should sustain moments of pathos.
D)A verse pattern could not be altered in the course of the play.

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT an improvement made by the Restoration stage over the stage of the Royal era?

A)The Restoration pit was raked to slope toward the stage and was lined with rows of backless benches.
B)Standing room in the pit became the latest fashion for rich patrons.
C)The stage was also raked,enhancing the perspective of flat wing and border scenery.
D)Use of large main curtain and apron which was built to project into the audience.

Question 18

What did money generally signify in the drama of seventeenth century Europe?

A)the emphasis of artificial material of the world,with expensive wigs and elaborate dress used to show the foppery of nobles
B)the difference between feigned values and intrinsic ones,between hollow presumption and flattery and solid worth
C)money meant independence and power
D)that the character was important

Question 19

The rules of neoclassical playwriting were inspired from an interpretation of

A)Pope's "Essay on Man."
B)Coleridge's "Principles of Genial Criticism."
C)Sidney's "Defense of Poesy."
D)Aristotle's "Poetics."

Question 20

Who made up the French and English Royal era theatre audiences?

A)mainly the king and his court,but also intellectuals,emerging professionals and bourgeoisie,and social pretenders
B)primarily successful writers,munitions makers,and servants of the aristocracy
C)a diverse group containing peasants,newly moneyed merchants,and travelers and traders from other European and Asian locations
D)other theatre folk

Question 21

Who was the first Englishwoman to earn her living as a playwright?

A)Good Queen Bess
B)Lady Aurora Sidney
C)Aphra Behn
D)Frances Wadsworth

Question 22

Who is considered the greatest French tragic dramatist of the Royal era?

A)Molière
B)Jean-Baptiste Lully
C)Jean Racine
D)William Congreve

Question 23

Restoration acting troupes differed from Renaissance acting troupes in that,during the Restoration,women were allowed to act on stage.

Question 24

Describe in what ways society and politics were commented on and criticized in The Bourgeois Gentleman.Why,in a situation of tight governmental regulation of the theatre,might such critique have been allowed?

Question 25

While women could act in the Restoration,this hardly led to the realization of feminist ideals and liberation from objectification.

Question 26

Molière's dramaturgy shows the influence of the classical playwright Sophocles.

Question 27

A jeu de paume theatre is a building that originated as a tennis court.

Question 28

Plays that violated the unities did not pass the approval of the Monsieur de la Theatre,the French equivalent to the Master of Revels,could not be licensed or produced at all.

Question 29

Molière's patron,the "Sun King," was Louis XVI who built him three different palatial theatres.

Question 30

Molière's The Bourgeois Gentleman is a social satire combining romance,social commentary,and farcical absurdity.

Question 31

Describe how neoclassicism affected conceptions of character,dramatic action,and settings in Royal era plays,in comparison to Shakespeare's works.

Question 32

Which of the following was NOT a typical Restoration genre?

A)heroic and neoclassical tragedies
B)tragicomedies
C)comedies and musical entertainments
D)drama cabarets

Question 33

The Enlightenment marked a return to more serious,yet pleasurable and chaotic pursuits,in opposition to the strict codified practices of the Puritans.

Question 34

Aphra Behn made clever use of double entendres in The Rover.Consider some examples that might be considered modern versions of this style of dialogue.Would an adaptation of The Rover in our current era be successful as entertainment?

Question 35

A divertissement was a frothy entertainment designed solely for the diversion of the court to be enjoyed and then forgotten.

Question 36

The term "neoclassicism" describes the accepted dramaturgy of the Royal era,emphasizing a revival of Aristotelian principles.

Question 37

During the Restoration,women in the theatre

A)continued to serve as labor for productions but were forbidden to act onstage.
B)could only enter a theatre with a special license,a holdover law from Puritan rule.
C)could act,but only in bit parts.
D)finally appeared onstage for the first time in English history.

Question 38

Describe a typical theatre of this time,either in London or Paris.Imagine you are new to the theatre,you buy your ticket and take a seat.What do you see,hear? Include audience members as well.Use your imagination!

Question 39

Aphra Behn

A)was a Romantic playwright who wrote many plays,but was unable to earn a living in the theatre.
B)was a playwright whose plays,such as The Rover,were as witty and racy as any play written by a man during the Restoration period.
C)wrote plays that harkened back to the morality plays of the Middle Ages.
D)was an actor with the Illustre Théâtre and married to Molière.

Question 40

How might the appearance of women on the English stage signal a victory for women's rights? How might it also complicate this possibility?