Question
The literary critic Irving Wardle used this term to describe absurdist plays that “allow the agents and victims of destruction to come on and off duty” and “to joke about the situation while oiling a revolver.” For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this term, which describes the absurdist mixture of danger and humor in plays like The Birthday Party.
ANSWER: comedy of menace
[10e] The term “comedy of menace” was coined in response to the works of this absurdist British playwright, who wrote The Birthday Party.
ANSWER: Harold Pinter
[10h] Later in his career, Pinter shifted from writing comedies of menace to writing “memory plays,” like this work of his in which Deborah wakes up from a 30 year coma, still with the mind of a 16-year old but the body of a middle aged woman.
ANSWER: A Kind of Alaska
<MB, British Literature>
Summary
| 2024 ARCADIA at BU | 2024-12-06 | Y | 6 | 5.00 | 33% | 17% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Duke | 2024-12-06 | Y | 3 | 13.33 | 100% | 33% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Missouri S&T | 2024-12-06 | Y | 2 | 15.00 | 100% | 50% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA Online | 2025-05-17 | Y | 5 | 20.00 | 100% | 80% | 20% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Penn State | 2024-12-06 | Y | 2 | 20.00 | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Florida Tech | 2024-12-06 | Y | 4 | 10.00 | 75% | 25% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at UC Berkeley | 2024-12-06 | Y | 2 | 15.00 | 100% | 50% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Waterloo | 2024-11-09 | Y | 6 | 15.00 | 100% | 50% | 0% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at GT | 2024-12-06 | Y | 5 | 18.00 | 100% | 40% | 40% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Illinois | 2024-11-09 | Y | 4 | 22.50 | 100% | 75% | 50% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Warwick | 2024-12-06 | Y | 5 | 16.00 | 100% | 40% | 20% |
| 2024 ARCADIA at Claremont | 2024-11-02 | Y | 3 | 13.33 | 100% | 33% | 0% |