View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What animal does the author say has a mysterious affinity with the plague?
(a) Cats.
(b) Cows.
(c) Dogs.
(d) Swine.

2. Artaud believes that theater should be the art of creating a higher meaning that cannot be what?
(a) Abandoned.
(b) Vilified.
(c) Repeated.
(d) Glorified.

3. Of whom does Artaud say, "has nothing to do with the theater and must give way to specialists in its objective and animated sorcery"?
(a) The musician.
(b) The actor.
(c) The author.
(d) The director.

4. Artaud writes, "We are told that the Mysteries of ______ confined themselves to the mise en scene of a certain number of moral truths."
(a) Orpheus.
(b) Odysseus.
(c) Eleusis.
(d) Sappho.

5. What "theater is based upon age-old traditions which have preserved intact the secrets of using gestures, intonations, and harmonies in relation to the senses"?
(a) American theater.
(b) Oriental theater.
(c) African theater.
(d) Occidental theater.

6. In "Oriental and Occidental Theater," Artaud writes, "It is not a matter of suppressing _____ in the theater but of changing its role, and especially of reducing its position."
(a) Triviality.
(b) Speech.
(c) Music.
(d) Staging.

7. Balinese theater realizes an extreme and pure version of theater, through which everything exists only because of what?
(a) It is anarchy.
(b) It is abstract.
(c) It is real.
(d) It exists on stage.

8. This is a perversion of theater to represent psychological and social conflicts and daily life, simply because the object of theater is not psychological but rather plastic and essentially what?
(a) Ungodly.
(b) Transcendental.
(c) Material.
(d) Spiritual.

9. In Balinese theater, voice and speech are given an entirely new role, in part because the power of the director, or __________ of a play is absolute.
(a) Raison d'etre.
(b) Dictator.
(c) Mais de scene.
(d) Metteur en scène.

10. Where does Artaud say "there is no art: things are made for use."
(a) Asia.
(b) Mexico.
(c) America.
(d) Africa.

11. In the Balinese theater, which figure becomes a "manager of magic" or master of "sacred ceremonies"?
(a) The set designer.
(b) The director.
(c) The audience.
(d) The actor.

12. What does the term "Occidental" mean?
(a) Eastern.
(b) Southern.
(c) African.
(d) Western.

13. In the Preface, Artaud contends we must "break through ________ in order to touch life to create or recreate the theater."
(a) Order.
(b) Reason.
(c) Language.
(d) Performance.

14. What was the year of the plague of which Artaud tells in "Theater and the Plague"?
(a) 1885.
(b) 1900.
(c) 1810.
(d) 1720.

15. In what town does Artaud tell the story of the plague being foreseen by the viceroy?
(a) Amsterdam.
(b) Marseilles.
(c) Cagliari.
(d) Paris.

Short Answer Questions

1. Artaud suggests that "true theater" should not mirror human life but instead should evoke what?

2. Of the performers of the Balinese theater, Artaud writes, "They are like huge _____ full of lines and segments drawn to connect them with an unknown natural perspective of which they seem nothing more than a, kind of detached geometry."

3. The author of Occidental theater is replaced by what in Balinese theater?

4. What, along with theater scripted in words, must disappear because it loses its value as soon as it is repeated?

5. What word expressed by the translator is typically translated as "mind" because it has no English equivalent, combining as it does both mind and spirit?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 536 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample