Contexts of British Plays After 1925

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AP English Literature and Composition › Contexts of British Plays After 1925

Questions 1 - 10
1

Which of the following is not a character in Waiting for Godot?

Molloy

Pozzo

Estragon

Vladimir

Lucky

Explanation

Molloy is the title of a 1951 novel by Samuel Beckett, but it is not the name of a character in Waiting for Godot (1953).

2

Which of the following was not originally written by the author of The Birthday Party?

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

The Caretaker

The Homecoming

Betrayal

The Room

Explanation

Although Harold Pinter produced a film adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), the novel was originally written by John Fowles in 1969.

The Caretaker (1960), The Homecoming (1965), Betrayal (1978), and The Room (1957) were all written by Harold Pinter.

3

Who is the author of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966)?

Tom Stoppard

Harold Pinter

Samuel Beckett

Eugène Ionesco

Eugene O’Neill

Explanation

This play is written by Tom Stoppard.

4

The author of The Birthday Party also wrote work belonging to all but which of the following genres?

morality plays

comedy of menace

memory plays

theater of the absurd

Explanation

Morality plays were popular during medieval times. Pinter’s work was avant-garde, not antiquated, so we can infer that his work was categorized as comedy of menace, memory plays, and theater of the absurd.

5

Who is the protagonist of The Birthday Party?

Stanley Webber

Meg Boles

Petey Boles

Goldberg

McCann

Explanation

Pinter’s The Birthday Party (1958) follows a former piano player named Stanley Webber through the events that transpire after two menacing strangers arrive at his birthday party. The rest of the characters appear in the play as well, but they are not the protagonist.

6

Who is the author of Waiting for Godot?

Samuel Beckett

Harold Pinter

Eugène Ionesco

Tom Stoppard

Eugene O’Neill

Explanation

Waiting for Godot (1953) is one of Samuel Beckett’s most famous plays.

7

In what decade was Waiting for Godot published?

1950s

1940s

1930s

1960s

1970s

Explanation

The play was published in 1953.

8

What movement does Waiting for Godot belong to?

theatre of the absurd

Dadaism

Modernism

Neo-realism

Bretonian Surrealism

Explanation

Waiting for Godot (1953) is a prime exemplar of the theatre of the absurd movement, which features surreal situations, meaningless wordplay, examination of existential questions and nihilism, and a lack of clear resolutions.

9

In what decade was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead first performed?

1960s

1970s

1980s

1950s

1940s

Explanation

The play was first staged in 1966 in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the Festival Fringe, the world's largest annual arts festival.

10

What famous play do the protagonists of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead originally appear in?

Hamlet

A Streetcar Named Desire

Death of a Salesman

Pygmalion

Henry IV Part I

Explanation

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are minor characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1603). Most of Stoppard’s play takes place “offstage” or behind the scenes of the actions in Hamlet, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (two of Hamlet’s friends and courtiers) acting confused about what is happening onstage without them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead was first performed in 1966.

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949), George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1913), and William Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I (1600) were all used as alternate answer choices.

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