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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 his "Letters on Cruelty," Artaud writes of who, which "carts off vanquished princes and makes them his slaves"?
(a) Egyptian kings.
(b) Nazis.
(c) Ethiopian Ras.
(d) Colonizers.

2. In "An Affective Athleticism," the author writes, "The actor is an athlete of the ____."
(a) Mind.
(b) Body.
(c) Heart.
(d) Soul.

3. "What voluntary breathing provokes is a spontaneous reappearance" of what?
(a) Death.
(b) Life.
(c) Emotion.
(d) Fear.

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

5. "The soul can be physiologically reduced to a skein of" what, according to the author?
(a) Vibrations.
(b) Thoughts.
(c) Movement.
(d) Breath.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Artaud writes in his Second Manifesto that he plans to "renounce the theatrical superstition of the text and the _______ of the writer."

3. 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."

4. In his second note of "Two Notes," the author writes "When an atmosphere is so transformed that a hostile audience is suddenly and blindly immersed and invincibly disarmed, it must be hailed as _____."

5. What is the title of the second note Artaud writes in "Two Notes"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What movie does Artaud use in comparison to his main subject in the first note of "Two Notes"? What does he write of American filmmakers?

2. What is Artaud's subject of his second note in "Two Notes"?

3. What does Artaud write in his "Letters on Language" regarding the psychology of characters?

4. What is the author's criticism of the performance he writes of in the second of "Two Notes"?

5. Discuss how Artaud's time and place impact his vision of the theater.

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

7. What physically must an actor learn to localize in his body?

8. What are the differences the author notes between the athlete and the actor?

9. What does Artaud describe "cruelty" in reference to in his letters?

10. What does Artaud write of in his third letter of "Letters on Language," which follows the publication of his Manifesto?

(see the answer keys)

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