Classics From The Theatre Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"

The theme of a collective women's rebellion was also successfully dealt with in Jacques Feyder's "Kermesse Heroique", a movie from the 1930s.

Euripides (480 BC- 406 BC) is also the author of plays such as: "Hyppolitus", the "Bacchae", "Helena", "Iphigeneia on Aulis" and "The Cyclops". He was made fun of by Aristophanes(448-385 BC) in the "Acharnians", the "Frogs" and "Thesmophoriazusae" (= "Women at the Festival of Demeter"). "The Knights", "the Wasps", "the Clouds" and "the Birds" are some more of his best works.

Sophocles (497-406 BC) is best-known for "Oedipus Tyrannus". Other plays include "Oedipus at Colonus", "Electra", "Antigone", "Ajax", "Trachiniae" and Philoctetes".

Answer: The Tempest

"The Winter's Tale" has Polixenes and Leontes as central characters; one is King of Bohemia, the other of Sicilia.

"Midsummer Night's Dream" is peopled with odd creatures such as Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the Fairies, along with a weaver of the name Bottom, a Joiner called Snug, a Tinker called Snout and Quince the Carpenter. Peaseblossom, Cobway, Moth and Mustardseed are fairies. But the real weirdie is Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow, and servant to Oberon. He causes major disasters among the poor humans( Hermia, Helena, Lysander, Demetrius) who also feature in the play.

In "Measure for Measure" there is Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, his deputy Angelo, one Claudio ('a young gentleman') and his sister Isabella.

Answer: Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

The full names of Beckett's couple of tramps are Vladimir and Estragon. Also Pozzo and Lucky make their appearance in the play.

The central characters in "The Birthday Party" are Meg and Petey, and the character for whom they organise a fake "birthday party" is Stanley.

In Joe Orton's "What The Butler Saw", the central character is an odd psychoanalyst, Dr. Prentice, who has odd ways to interview prospective secretaries.

Answer: Thomas à Becket

Anouilh's play was called "Becket ou l'Honneur de Dieu". Eliot wrote "Murder In The Cathedral", using the same central hero.

Joan of Arc was chosen as a subject by George Bernard Shaw, but he had been preceded in doing this by Schiller in his "Jungfrau von Orléans". Robert Bolt wrote an excellent play on Thomas More, whom he called a "Man for All Seasons".
King Canute does not seem to have attracted any major playwright's attention yet, but neither has Saint Louis of France or any of the many other historical characters whose saintly lives don't seem to have the right stuff in them for a play full of plot and passion.

By the way, Anouilh also wrote an excellent modern version of "Antigone".

Answer: "A Streetcar Named Desire" - Tennessee Williams

In "A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Maggie Pollitt and her husband Brick live in St. Louis.

Albee's play is set on the campus of "a small New England University".

"A Long Day Into.." takes place "in the family room of the Tyrones' summer home." By the way, the Tyrones of O'Neill's play are inspired by the author's own family.

Answer: "The Inspector General" by Nicolai Gogol

Though a woman, "Major" Barbara is a genuine "Major" of the Salvation Army.

As to the portrait Marlowe makes of his Maltese Jew, it may be somewhat tinged with racism but it does not describe Barabas as an impostor. Of course, he does his bit of Machiavellian lying, poisoning, and cheating, occasionally even uses a disguise, but he does not persistently impose on people by using a false identity.

Miller's hero, Willy Loman, realises that his life has been a failure. Yet this does not make him an imposter either. On the contrary, by committing suicide he thinks he can help his son Biff, the one who has lost all respect for his dad.

Answer: Arthur Miller's "After The Fall"

Quentin's former wife Maggie is modelled on Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller's very own ex.

'The Crucible' uses the Salem witches' trial as a fable to attack Mc Carthyism. Miller was born in 1915 and ran into trouble with" McCarthyism" himself.

As to " A Cat on.." it looks as if Williams had a Liz Taylor type in mind rather than a Monroe-like character.

Ionesco's play consists mainly of a series of meaningless conversations between two couples that eventually deteriorate into babbling.

Answer: Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac"

Coward's "Hay Fever" is about each member of the Bliss family inviting a weekend guest and the imbroglio that follows.

In Barrie's 'The Admirable Crichton' the action alternates between Loam Hall and a tropic island. Lord Loam is a very progressive aristocrat and has even succeeded in teaching his modern daughters to invert social roles and serve tea to the servants at Loam's unusual parties. In the end one of the Loam daughters falls in love with Crichton the Butler.

Molière's "Misanthrope" is about the misanthropic and misogynous Alceste who is in love with a woman, Celimene, who paradoxically enough incarnates all that Alceste hates in others. Oronte and Clitandre are his rivals, but get wiser about Celimene long before Alceste does. The events of the play confirm Alceste's impression that "there ain't no good in men", and, alas, not in women either.

Since the film version with Depardieu everybody knows about the love-affair between Cyrano and Roxane via a third party: the tongue-tied soldier Christian.

Answer: "The Balcony "- Jean Genet (1957)

"The Maids" is based on a true story of two maids, sisters, who killed their mistress.

"The Balcony" was set in a house of prostitution known as the Grand Balcony. Clients play such roles as Bishop, General, and Judge; when a Revolution breaks out they get those roles for real. But then there is another Revolution, etc.

Sartre's "Huis Clos" is not about a "maison close" at all. The play is set in a drawing-room from which there is no exit for the four characters: Valet, Garcin, Estelle and Inez. The central thought is: "Hell is other people".

"A Doll's House" (singular!) describes how Nora gradually realizes her marriage with Torvald Helmer is a false union.

Answer: Anton Chekhov

In Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard", Madame Ranevsky tries in vain to find means to pay off her debts. She is finally forced to have the estate sold. At the end of the play, and in an atmosphere of general decadence and nostalgia, we finally hear axes cutting down the orchard.

Noël Coward (1899-1973), Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) are, just as Chekhov (1860-1904), authors in whose plays conversation and light chat play an important role. But only in Chekhov's 'impressionistic' plays is there that tone of sad melancholy and awareness of the passing of things that fits so perfectly the "fin de siècle" mood that was a characteristic of the period in which he wrote his main works: "The Seagull" (1896); "Uncle Vanya" (1896); "The Three Sisters" (1901); "The Cherry Orchard" (1904).