View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Brecht felt that in the great American comedies, the human being is presented as _____.
(a) An animal.
(b) A tyrant.
(c) An object.
(d) An oracle.

2. The goal of epic theatre is less to moralize than to _____.
(a) Contradict.
(b) Elicit.
(c) Eviscerate.
(d) Observe.

3. _____ are Brecht's collected plays in twelve volumes by Surhkamp and by Aufbau from 1953 and after.
(a) Achtarbeiten.
(b) Epischen Theater.
(c) Stucke.
(d) Achtwerke.

4. Brecht states that when an actor sings, he undergoes a change of _____.
(a) Function.
(b) Worth.
(c) Scene.
(d) Rhythm.

5. Which work by Goethe was better as a book than a theatrical production, according to Brecht?
(a) Der Erlkönig.
(b) Faust.
(c) Der Zauberlehrling.
(d) Iphigenie auf Tauris.

6. Who does Brecht mention in association with Paris theatre when he talks about the theatre centers of the world?
(a) Renauld.
(b) Matisse.
(c) Jolivet.
(d) Jouvet.

7. Theaterarbeit is a collective volume of Brecht's work kept by _____.
(a) George Bernard Shaw.
(b) His mother.
(c) His granddaughter.
(d) The Berliner Ensemble.

8. The translator's notes in number 37 give a provisional account of the most important of Brecht's _____.
(a) Personal favorites.
(b) Theoretical works.
(c) Self-criticisms.
(d) Fact-finding notes.

9. Brecht states that "A theatre which makes no contact with the public is _____."
(a) Perfect.
(b) Sacred.
(c) Nonsense.
(d) Anonymous.

10. What is the main task of epic theatre?
(a) To exaggerate.
(b) To report.
(c) To emote.
(d) To mask.

11. Where was The Road to Life made?
(a) Russia.
(b) The Netherlands.
(c) Germany.
(d) France.

12. What is the Marxist phrase for the whole body of art, ideas, and morality of any given society?
(a) Social inherent tendencies.
(b) Ideological superstructure.
(c) Brain circus.
(d) Cohesive collective thought.

13. Die Mutter is based on whose novel, Mother?
(a) Chaplin.
(b) Penderecki.
(c) Goedel.
(d) Gorki.

14. _____ is two volumes of collected plays published by Malik Verlag, London.
(a) Theaterarbeit.
(b) Sonatas.
(c) Schriffen zum Theater.
(d) Gesammelte Werke.

15. Brecht states that concern with subject and concern with form are _____.
(a) Complementary.
(b) Mutually exclusive.
(c) Counter-productive.
(d) Contradictory.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the interviewer in "Conversations with Bert Brecht"?

2. Major form is designed to realize material for _____, according to Brecht.

3. Like Tolstoy and Strindberg, Brecht says that Wedekind was one of the greatest _____ of modern Europe.

4. In "Shouldn't We Abolish Aesthetics?", Brecht hopes that _____ would be the death of their existing drama.

5. What does Brecht say was a characteristic of actors in theatre of his time?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 390 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample