In keeping with the rest of the issue, this quiz is on theatre. Break a leg!

Stage fright

1 The first recorded actor in Greek theatre performed around 532 BC. He was the winner of the first known Dionysia or theatre festival. Name him, or the word in the English language inspired by his name.

2 Edwin was probably the most famous American actor of the 19th-century. However, Edwin was forced to give up acting for a while because of his brother John. What was the surname of this distinguished family of actors?

3 Sir Ian McKellen is known for his performances in the Lord Of The Rings series. With which fellow member of the X-Men cast did he also appear in a celebrated Haymarket production of Waiting for Godot?

4 Bhutto, a three-act play featuring a conversation between Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his jailor Zia-ul-Haq, has been performed since the ’80s in India. Which versatile film performer and director, better known for his comic roles, wrote the play?

5 This theatre form is mainly prevalent in North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh. Some of the most famous works are Syah-Posh Pak Mohabbat, Sultana Daku and Indal Haran, with Pandit Ram Dayal Sharma being the best-known contemporary writer. Name the theatre form.

6 Which ’80s film, based on incidents that happened in 1924, was also revived as a play around the 2012 London Olympics?

7 The word ‘panache’ entered the English language from which celebrated 19th-century play by Edmund Rostand based on a real-life personality?

8 Obelix’s only stage appearance in an Asterix comics was a huge flop. Name the story, which also featured two theatre actors named Laurensolivius and Alecginus.

9 One of India’s most successful plays is a Feroz Abbas Khan adaptation of the AR Gurney play Love Letters. The play has been performed since the ’90s across India, Europe and the US and is about 35 years of letters exchanged between Zulfikar Haider and a certain Ms Nigam. What is the name of this famous adaptation?

10 Playwright John Dennis came up with a new sound effect for his play Appius and Virginia, using metal balls rolling in a bowl. Dennis was furious to hear his sound effect later being used in a famous scene in Macbeth. What did he reportedly exclaim on hearing the effect, a phrase that has since entered into common use in the language?

Answers

1. Thespis, from where we get the word ‘thespian’ for an actor

2. Booth. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, and his brother Edwin was forced to give up plays for a while because of the outcry

3. Patrick Stewart, who is also a close friend

4. IS Johar

5. Nautanki; some of the better-known performers are Gokul Korea, Ghasso and Ram Swarup Sharma

6. Chariots of Fire

7. Cyrano De Bergerac

8. Asterix and the Cauldron. Onstage, the only line Obelix comes up with was “These Romans are crazy!”

9. Tumhari Amrita, which was performed to great acclaim by Shabana Azmi and the late Farooq Sheikh

10. “The villains will not play my play, but they steal my thunder!”

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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