OG, 13th ed, CR 104

It is an inference/conclusion question. The gist of the question is: what is the author trying to say by giving you this information? What can you infer/conclude from the given argument?

Argument:
The play La Finestrina was written in Italy in the eighteenth century.
The director claims that this production is as similar to the original production (18th century production).
Although the actor who plays Harlequin gives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century comedian Groucho Marx, Marx’s comic style had begun in sixteenth-century Italy.
(So basically, Harlequin's performance reminds one of Marx's style but Marx's used a style that had originated in the 16th century. So Harlequin's performance is old style)

Which of the following can we conclude:

(A) modern audiences would fi nd it hard to tolerate certain characteristics of a historically accurate performance of an eighteenth-century play
No such info available. The argument says that it may not be possible to replicate the play exactly but why, we do not know. Is it because of the technology or actors or audience, we cannot say.

(B) Groucho Marx once performed the part of the character Harlequin in La Finestrina
No such info given

(C) in the United States the training of actors in the twentieth century is based on principles that do not differ radically from those that underlay the training of actors in eighteenth-century Italy
The argument only talks about one particular 20th century actor, Marx, not about actors in general. So we cannot say this.

(D) the performance of the actor who plays Harlequin in La Finestrina does not serve as evidence against the director’s claim
The director claims that his production is similar to the original 18th century production. Even though the performance of the guy who plays Harlequin reminds us of Marx, the 20th century comedian, his style was old school. Hence, the guy's style was old school. So his performance is not evidence against the director's claim. True. Note here that the distinction is between old style and modern style - not between older and old. Also, you may feel that this is not optimum but it is certainly best of the 5 options. Hence this is the answer.

(E) the director of La Finestrina must have advised the actor who plays Harlequin to model his performance on comic performances of Groucho Marx
We don't know who told the actor to model his performance on Marx or whether he did it on his own or whether his style is actually similar to Marx's. We certainly cannot infer from anything given that the director advised the actor to model Marx. In fact, if the director wanted to advise the actor to model his performance on someone else's, we would have guessed that he would have asked him to model it on the performance of the guy who played the comic character in the original production instead of on the performance of Marx, a 20th century comic. Anyway, its besides the point because the argument gives no info on this matter. Hence this is not correct.