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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. This is a perversion of theater to represent psychological and social conflicts and daily life, simply because the object of theater is not psychological but rather plastic and essentially what?

2. Artaud believes that in its current, Occidental interpretation, theater is limited to mimicking what through scripted dialogues?

3. Who had a prophetic dream about a plague destroying his city?

4. Artaud comments that anything obsessive may be considered what?

5. What is proposed by the author as meant to shake up the foundations of civilization and culture as a whole?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In what reference does Artaud comment on Plato in "The Alchemical Theater"?

4. How does Artaud relate theater to the painting from "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

5. How does Artaud draw the comparison between the theater and a plague?

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

7. What did Saint-Remys do following his dream of the plague?

8. What commonality does Artaud assert between Alchemy and the theater?

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

10. What are the sources of the essays in "The Balinese Theater"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the elements of Artaud's theories and Theater of Cruelty as they appear in today's world. Where can we see examples of Artaud's ideas in employment today?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the painting "The Daughters of Lot." What does Artaud intimate this painting means in terms of the theater?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the terms "art" and "aestheticism." What does Artaud write of the Western Theater's confusion of these terms?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 945 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample