Theater Critic : The play La Finestrina , now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the eighteenth century....
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
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
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
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| The play La Finestrina, now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the eighteenth century. |
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| The director claims that this production is as similar to the original production as is possible in a modern theater. |
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| 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. |
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Argument Flow:
The critic starts with facts about the play, presents the director's claim about authenticity, then addresses what seems like evidence against that claim by showing it's actually supporting evidence through historical context.
Main Conclusion:
The director's claim about authenticity is valid - even though the performance looks modern, it maintains the authentic Italian comic tradition.
Logical Structure:
The critic uses the principle that something can appear modern while still being historically authentic if there's an unbroken tradition connecting them. The Groucho Marx-like performance isn't evidence against authenticity but rather evidence for it, since Marx himself drew from the same Italian comic tradition.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Logically Completes - We need to find what argument the critic's reasoning supports or completes
Precision of Claims
The claims involve quality assessments (authenticity of production, similarity to original, continuity of comic tradition) and historical connections across centuries
Strategy
For logically completes questions, we need to identify what conclusion the critic's reasoning leads to. The critic presents what seems like a contradiction (modern Groucho Marx style vs. authentic 18th-century production) but then resolves it by showing the historical continuity. We should look for conclusions that this resolution supports - likely something about the director's authenticity claim being valid despite apparent modern influences.
This suggests modern audiences would struggle with historically accurate performances, but the critic never discusses audience tolerance or suggests anything needs to be changed for modern sensibilities. The critic is defending the authenticity of the current production, not arguing that compromises were necessary for audience acceptance.
The critic never suggests that Groucho Marx actually performed in La Finestrina. The critic is making a comparison between the current actor's style and Marx's style, not claiming Marx was ever in this play. This is a literal misreading of the argument.
While the critic discusses continuity in comic traditions, this choice makes a much broader claim about actor training principles in general between 20th-century America and 18th-century Italy. The critic's argument is specifically about comic acting traditions, not comprehensive training methods, making this choice too broad and unsupported.
This perfectly captures the critic's argument. The critic acknowledges that the Harlequin performance might seem like evidence against the director's authenticity claim (since it resembles modern Groucho Marx), but then explains why it actually isn't evidence against that claim. The historical connection between Marx's style and 16th-century Italian comedy shows that what appears modern is actually part of an authentic tradition.
The critic never suggests the director specifically instructed the actor to model his performance on Marx. The critic is explaining why a Marx-like performance is consistent with authenticity, not claiming this was a deliberate directorial choice. This assumes facts not presented in the argument.