The Seagull Quizzes

The Seagull Quiz 1

By Robert William · Edited by Soman Chainani · Last reviewed March 26, 2009

1 What is the first line of the play?

What are you wearing?

Why do you always wear black?

When does the play start?

I wish they'd hurry up
2 Who always wears black?

Konstantin

Medvedenko

Arkadina

Masha
3 Why does Masha wear what she wears?

She's recently been widowed.

She hates clothes.

She's in mourning for her life.

She's dressed for the theatre.
4 Which character is in love with Masha?

Sorin

Medvedenko

Konstantin

Nina
5 Who is paid only 23 rubles a month?

Trigorin

Medvedenko

Konstantin

Masha
6 Which character takes snuff?

Konstantin

Nina

Masha

Arkadina
7 What is the weather like in the first act?

A very light breeze

Raining

So close - it will be a storm

Sunny
8 Who keeps asking Masha to have her father's dog let loose?

Medvedenko

Arkadina

Sorin

Konstantin
9 Where does Yakov go, just before the play is due to start?

To look for Nina

For a sleep

Shopping

For a swim
10 How does Konstantin think of his improvised stage?

Curtain at the front, only an empty space beyond.

No curtain, no wings, just space.

A thrust space, revolutionising use of the audience.

A darkened room, downstairs in Sorin's house.
11 Who does Nina live with?

Her father and stepmother

Sorin

Her mother

Konstantin
12 Who has written the play in act one?

Nina

Arkadina

Trigorin

Konstantin
13 Why does Konstantin think Arkadina hates his play?

Because she's from another tradition

Because she's jealous

Because she hates Nina

Because she hates her son
14 How old is Konstantin?

20

25

30

35
15 How old is Arkadina

28

35

50

43
16 Why does Konstantin hate Arkadina's idea of theatre?

The plays are too long

He hates Trigorin's writing

It's cold in the theatre she acts in

It's artifical, trite, and moralistic
17 What does Konstantin long for in his theatre?

A return to classical values

More physical theatre

New forms of theatre

A better understanding of text
18 What does Konstantin's passport say he is?

A Moscow train-guard

An actor

A writer

A Kiev shopkeeper
19 Which two writers does Konstantin say Trigorin is inferior to?

Tolstoy and Zola

Turgenev and Gogol

Gogol and Zola

Tolstoy and Shakespeare
20 What does Sorin keep singing in Act One?

Hoffman's Can-Can

Beethoven's Ode to Joy

Mahler's The Seagull

Schumann's Two Grenadiers
21 Why won't Nina's father let her come to see Konstantin and his family?

They're frightened she'll fall into the lake

They think she'll be too poorly dressed

They don't like Arkadina

They say they're all Bohemians
22 What does Nina think of Trigorin's stories?

They're boring

She hates them

They're wonderful

They're unoriginal
23 How old is Dorn?

65

35

55

45
24 Who did all the women in th area used to fall in love with?

Sorin

Arkadina

Trigorin

Dorn
25 What is revealed when the curtain rises on Konstantin's play?

The moon and the lake

Sorin's house

Arkadina, unexpected

A giant seagull