View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the title of the first example Artaud writes the Theater of Cruelty will undertake?
(a) "The Ends of Time."
(b) "The Spanist Conquistador."
(c) "David and Goliath."
(d) "The Conquest of Mexico."

2. Artaud claims that it is certainly with his ____ that the actor thinks.
(a) Heart.
(b) Mind.
(c) Breath.
(d) Body.

3. What film does the author discuss in his first note of "Two Notes"?
(a) "Cinema Paradisimo."
(b) "The Tramp."
(c) "Monkey Business."
(d) "Animal Crackers."

4. Artaud claims that if the theater fails to successfully reproduce the works of the great classics, it is because we have lost the sense of their theater's what?
(a) Importance.
(b) Dynamic.
(c) Physics.
(d) Language.

5. To whom does the author address the first letter in "Letters on Cruelty"?
(a) Jean Racine.
(b) J. P.
(c) Alexander Pierre.
(d) Mme. Richeliou.

Short Answer Questions

1. In his third letter from "Letters on Language," Artaud states that he never meant for cruelty to be used sporadically, but rather as the _____ of his theater."

2. 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 _____."

3. Artaud claims that the lighting equipment now in use would no longer be what for the Theater of Cruelty?

4. What second film does Artaud mention in his first note of "Two Notes"?

5. According to Artaud, "the Theater of Cruelty proposes to resort to a" what?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the events of the last two acts of "The Conquest of Mexico."

3. 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?

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

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

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

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

8. In Artaud's first letter in "Letters on Cruelty," who is he writing to and what is his principle subject?

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

10. Who is Hieronymous Bosch and why does Artaud write about him in "The Theater of Cruelty"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,010 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample