What does the actor's last statement imply about comedy?
In the evening, the old theatre of the small town was never quite full, but those who came knew each other by sight. Madame Roche always sat in the third row, where she could see the actors' faces without hearing the prompter, and she watched the stage the way other people watch the sea. That night the troupe was performing a comedy about a miser, and she laughed less than the others. When the miser counted his coins, alone, in the final scene, the audience laughed again, but she lowered her eyes. She had seen, in the actor's hands, a trembling that was not in the script. After the performance she waited at the door, not to praise him, but to ask whether it had been difficult to play a man so afraid of losing what he had. The actor smiled, and said that the hardest part of comedy is that it is built from truths that are not funny.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. That comedy often draws on real experiences that are painful
- Step 1: He says it is built from truths that are not funny. Step 2. So painful reality is the base of the humour. Answer: comedy draws on painful truths. Why not the others: he says the opposite.
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More Lecture de textes questions
- What is the main idea of the passage about the reader at the theatre?
- According to the passage, why does Madame Roche sit in the third row?
- What does the comparison 'the way other people watch the sea' suggest about the way she watches the stage?
- Which detail does the passage suggest is the cause of her lowered eyes?
- What is the main idea of the passage about teaching and pleasing?
- According to the passage, what principle did seventeenth-century French writers often repeat?