LAMDA Theatre Practitioners and Theory 3

Question 1

Vsevolod Meyerhold's system of actor training, 'Biomechanics,' was primarily concerned with what?

Accepted Answer

Training the actor's body as a precise, reflexive machine for conveying emotion

Answer

Meyerhold's Biomechanics trained actors in a series of physical études to develop economy of movement, balance, and expressive precision.

Question 2

Which theatre theorist introduced the concept of 'happenings' as a form of immersive, unscripted performance art in the late 1950s?

Accepted Answer

Allan Kaprow

Answer

Allan Kaprow coined the term 'happenings' to describe participatory, unscripted events that blurred the boundary between art and life.

Question 3

Edward Gordon Craig's concept of the 'Über-Marionette' proposed that the ideal performer should be what?

Accepted Answer

A puppet-like figure entirely controlled by the director's artistic vision

Answer

Craig argued the actor should become an Über-Marionette — a super-puppet whose performance is fully shaped by the director as total artist.

Question 4

In Stanislavski's method, what does the 'magic if' prompt an actor to consider?

Accepted Answer

What the actor would do if they were genuinely in the character's circumstances

Answer

The 'magic if' asks actors to imaginatively substitute themselves into the character's situation: 'What would I do if I were in these circumstances?'

Question 5

Richard Schechner's 'environmental theatre' challenged the traditional division between which two elements of performance?

Accepted Answer

Performer space and audience space

Answer

Schechner's environmental theatre eliminated the separation of stage and auditorium, allowing performance to occur throughout a shared space.

(LAMDA) London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Practice Test