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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the "distinct poetic state of mind" which Artaud terms for the film he discusses in "Two Notes"?
(a) Realism.
(b) Surrealism.
(c) Comedy.
(d) Absurdism.

2. According to Artaud, what the athlete depends upon in ______ is what the actor depends upon in shouting a passionate curse.
(a) Throwing.
(b) Catching.
(c) Running.
(d) Fighting.

3. Who appears with his men like giants alongside their tiny vessels in Act 1 of Artaud's proposed production?
(a) D'Ablo.
(b) Hurez.
(c) Cortez.
(d) Napoleon.

4. Every breath has how many kinds of time?
(a) Three.
(b) Four.
(c) Eight.
(d) Six.

5. What second film does Artaud mention in his first note of "Two Notes"?
(a) "Monkey Business."
(b) "Animal Crackers."
(c) "The General."
(d) "The Tramp."

Short Answer Questions

1. The author claims that actors in France no longer "know how to do anything but" what?

2. In his last letter from "Letters on Language," Artaud says that in fact, the theater he is defining has to assume another _____ in order to function.

3. In "An Affective Athleticism," Artaud writes, "To make use of his emotions as a wrestler makes use of his muscles, he has to see the human being as a ______."

4. "When the poetic spirit is exercised, it always leads toward a kind of boiling ______, an essential disintegration of the real by poetry."

5. Of the performer in Artaud's second note, he writes, "His spectacle demonstrates the irresistible expressiveness of" what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Artaud's "Letters on Language," he insists that the task of "mise en scène" must not be subordinated to spoken or written words as if this task was simply an accessory to theater. What does this mean?

2. To whom is Artaud's third letter written in "Letters on Cruelty"? What is the author's tone in this letter? Why?

3. Discuss the stage as described by Artaud in his First Manifesto.

4. What is Artaud's approach to the audience in the theater of cruelty?

5. Discuss and describe Artaud's depiction of lighting for the Theater of Cruelty in the First Manifesto.

6. What is Artaud's subject in his first note from "Two Notes"?

7. Describe how Artaud defines the images and movement of the "Theater of Cruelty" in his second manifesto.

8. Describe the events of the first two acts of "The Conquest of Mexico."

9. How does Artaud describe the correlation between actions and language in his "Letters on Language"?

10. Discuss the themes and content of the "Theater of Cruelty" based on the second manifesto. What is the spectacle like?

(see the answer keys)

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