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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. In "Oriental and Occidental Theater," the author writes, "if we restrict theater to what happens between cues, we have still not managed to separate it from the idea of a ________."
(a) Poetic notion.
(b) Dramatic lie.
(c) Empty performance.
(d) Performed text.

2. In the Preface, Artaud writes of his belief that "no matter how loudly we clamor for magic in our lives, we are really _____ of pursuing an existence entirely under its influence and sign."
(a) Incapable.
(b) Unwilling.
(c) Justified.
(d) Afraid.

3. Where does the theater of cruelty place the spectator?
(a) In the center of the spectacle.
(b) At the edge of the stage.
(c) At a distance.
(d) In the minds of the gods.

4. In his Preface, Artaud writes that "It is right that from time to time cataclysms occur which compel us to return to" what?
(a) Order.
(b) Civilization.
(c) Love.
(d) Nature.

5. Of the Balinese theater, Artaud remarks that "setting aside the prodigious mathematics of this spectacle, what seems most surprising and astonishing to us is this aspect of matter as" what?
(a) Revelation.
(b) Gesture.
(c) Magic.
(d) Introspection.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What animal does the author say has a mysterious affinity with the plague?

3. Which filmmakers/performers does Artaud make reference to in "Metaphysics and Mise en Scene"?

4. Artaud writes that Occidental theater is a theater of what?

5. In what town does Artaud tell the story of the plague being foreseen by the viceroy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the principle limitation of the current theater, as described by the author in "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

2. What replaces the playwright in the Balinese Theater? How is this figure described?

3. What are the author's feelings about psychology and the theater? What of poetry?

4. What painting does Artaud describe in "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

5. What is the "reality" of the Balinese theater, according to Artaud?

6. In "Oriental and Occidental Theater," how does Artaud describe the downfall of the West?

7. What is the "perversion" of the theater of the west, according to the author?

8. What does "gold" represent in Artaud's analogy of "The Alchemical Theater"?

9. What is the link between art and culture in the Occidental theater? How must this change, according to Artaud?

10. What does Artaud write about the message of the painting he describes in "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

(see the answer keys)

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