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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who, in addition to Shakespeare and Aeschylus does Artaud refer to as a great classicist in his "Letters on Language"?
(a) Sophocles.
(b) Moliere.
(c) Euripides.
(d) Racine.

2. "When the poetic spirit is exercised, it always leads toward a kind of boiling ______, an essential disintegration of the real by poetry."
(a) Anarchy.
(b) Dissimilation.
(c) Redemption.
(d) Freedom.

3. What is the name of the final act of Artaud's proposed production?
(a) "War."
(b) "Extraction."
(c) "Confession."
(d) "Abdication."

4. In his Second Manifesto, Artaud describes the themes for the Theater of Cruelty as based on the ________ of ancient civilizations from all over the world.
(a) Poetry.
(b) Theater.
(c) Sacred texts.
(d) Religions.

5. What does Artaud write in his first letter of "Letters on Cruelty" that he cannot reveal the particulars of?
(a) His play.
(b) His concept.
(c) His Manifesto.
(d) His poetry.

6. In his first letter of "Letters on Cruelty," Artaud writes, "I do not systematically cultivate _____."
(a) Horror.
(b) Bloodshed.
(c) Fear.
(d) Cruelty.

7. Artaud writes, "At the point of deterioration which our sensibility has reached, it is certain that we need above all a theater that _________."
(a) Enables us.
(b) Wakes us up.
(c) Enrages us.
(d) Frightens us.

8. In his second letter of "Letters on Language," Artaud states that he finds the duality between author and _____ in the context of theater totally absurd, since there should be no difference between them."
(a) Mise en scene.
(b) Director.
(c) Stage manager.
(d) Actor.

9. What does Artaud say has "maintained us for ten years in an ineffectual torpor"?
(a) Opera.
(b) Theater.
(c) Movies.
(d) Musicals.

10. What does Artaud accuse the "current" theater of turning its public into?
(a) Idiots.
(b) Peeping Toms.
(c) Monsters.
(d) Slaves.

11. In his second note of "Two Notes," Artaud writes, "everything that is ______ is sacred and since his gestures are so beautiful that they take on a symbolic significance."
(a) Realistic.
(b) Authentic.
(c) Surreal.
(d) Symbolic.

12. Artaud claims in his first manifesto that Occidental theater should look at _____ theater for inspiration.
(a) Mexican.
(b) American.
(c) Oriental.
(d) African.

13. Of whose performance does Artaud write in his second note of "Two Notes"?
(a) The Marx Brothers.
(b) Buster Keaton.
(c) Charlie Chaplin.
(d) Jean-Louis Barrault.

14. Artaud claims that "everything that ____ is a cruelty."
(a) Murders.
(b) Dominates.
(c) Acts.
(d) Exists.

15. Artaud claims that the lighting equipment now in use would no longer be what for the Theater of Cruelty?
(a) Abstract.
(b) Adequate.
(c) Realistic.
(d) Inspired.

Short Answer Questions

1. In his first letter from "Letters on Language," Artaud writes "It seems, in brief, that the highest possible idea of the theater is one that reconciles us philosophically with _____."

2. What will be avoided in terms of costuming in the Theater of Cruelty?

3. In "An Affective Athleticism," Artaud writes, "One must grant the actor a kind of affective musculature which corresponds to the physical localizations of ______."

4. What does Artaud compare actors of the "current" theater to in "The Theater and Cruelty"?

5. In his first letter from "Letters on Cruelty," Artaud claims that "it is understood that life is always" what?

(see the answer keys)

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