OG-12:102 CR: Theater Critic

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:09 am
Thanked: 2 times

OG-12:102 CR: Theater Critic

by kamalsinghy » Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:28 am
Hi Ron/Testluv,

I have question regarding the below OG question.

a. this question can be categorized in what kind of questions after looking at the question stem?
b. what should be the general approach for such kind of questions. If you have any other questions in your mind, please share with us.

I think that the considerations mentioned in the question stem is "although the actor ...Italy" and we have to see this consideration w.r.t. what director claims. Please comment if I am wrong somewhere.

Theater Critic: The play La Finestrina, now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the eighteenth century. The director claims that this production is as similar to the original production as is possible in a modern theater. Although the actor who plays Harlequin the clown gives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century American comedian Groucho Marx, Marx's comic style was very much within the comic acting tradition that had begun in sixteenth-century Italy.

The considerations given best serve as part of an argument that

(A) modern audiences would fi nd it hard to tolerate certain characteristics of a historically accurate performance of an eighteenth-century play
(B) Groucho Marx once performed the part of the character Harlequin in La Finestrina
(C) in the United States the training of actors in the twentieth century is based on principles that do not differ radically from those that underlay the training of actors in eighteenth-century Italy
(D) the performance of the actor who plays Harlequin in La Finestrina does not serve as evidence against the director's claim
(E) the director of La Finestrina must have advised the actor who plays Harlequin to model his performance on comic performances of Groucho Marx
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 748
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:54 am
Thanked: 46 times
Followed by:3 members

by outreach » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:52 am
premise 1: The play La Finestrina was written and performed in Italy in the 18th century.

premise 2: "Although the actor who plays............sixteenth-century Italy." => actor who played harlenquin was following old tradition

conclusion: the director claims that the production is quite similar to the original production


A. characteristics of the historically accurate performance in not known.
B. not mentioned in the argument.
C. not necessarily true.
D. Correct. the performance of the actor does not serve as evidence against the director's claim.
E. no proof to prove it. the actor imitating marx could have been intentional, but not necessarily on the director's advise.
-------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
General blog
https://amarnaik.wordpress.com
MBA blog
https://amarrnaik.blocked/

Legendary Member
Posts: 995
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:56 pm
Thanked: 31 times
Followed by:1 members

by paes » Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:06 pm
This is a inference question.

(The considerations given) - given argument best serve -> inference


Answer should be D.