Ex. 5. Translate into Russian.

1. a). His performance on the first night of the play was spoilt by nerves.

b). The first performance of the opera Tosca was on September 7.

c). His award-winning play was performed by Mark Crowshow.

d). He will star in the Los Angeles production of Phantom of the Opera this year.

e). The play will be recorded as a new production especially made for television.

f). In this production Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a stray-willed evil woman.

g). Jarry's playing Hamlet in a local production of the youth the­atre.

h). The audience applauded loudly at the end of the performance.

i). The college drama society are going to put on a modern play.

j). I've never seen Otello performed so brightly.

 

2. a). The ghost appears in the first scene.

b). Los Angeles is full of out-of-work actors.

c). I don't think the actor who played Macbeth was particularly good.

d). The part of the policeman was played by Bob Brewiss.

e). Douson is now producing a stage version of the story with a cast of young actors from New York.

f). The entire cast of the play deserves praise for this performance.

g). You shouldn't take up acting as a career. It's a very risky busi­ness.

h). After the war David went on the stage and often appeared in Shakespearean roles.

i). After starring in several successful plays, the actor made his first Hollywood film.

j). Linda Evans is now playing the lead in a new romantic drama.

k). The girl's father is played by Fonda's co-star, Donald Suther­land.

 

Ex. 6. Translate into Russian. Make a list of expressions that can describe favourable and unfavourable impressions.

1. There had been great applause after each act and at the end a dozen curtain calls.

2. Julia, pleased, excited and happy, went to her dressing room.

3. She had never acted with greater brilliance, variety and resource. Julia played the scene with miraculous virtuosity.

4. With the modulation of her beautiful voice, with her command of emotions, she succeeded (by miracle of technique) in making it a thrilling almost spectacular climax to the play.

5. The whole cast had been excellent.

6. Praise is always grateful to the artist.

7. The audience fascinated could not take their eyes from the red rag.

8. She was curiously listless. She showed no sign of joy when her eyes rested on Romeo. The few words she had to speak... were spoken in a thoroughly artificial manner.

9. The voice was exquisite, but from the point of view of tone it was absolutely false. It was wrong in colour. It made the passion un­real.

10. The staginess of her acting was unbearable, and grew worse as she went on... She over-emphasized everything that she had to say. Her gestures became absolutely artificial.

11. Even the common, uneducated audience in the pit and gallery lost their interest in the play. They got restless and began to talk loudly and whistle.

12. The last act was played to almost empty benches.

 

Ex. 7. Complete the sentences using the words from the box.

 

a)

to carry auditorium presentation audiences productions plays contribution influence ran attempt supported

 

In the United States the artistic puppet revival was largely inspired by Ellen Van Volkenburg at the Chicago Little Theatre with (1) _____that included A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1916. She later directed (2) _____ for Tony Sarg, who became the most important (3) _ ____in American puppetry, with such large-scale marionette plays as Rip Van Winkle, The Rose and the Ring, and Alice in Wonderland. A small group, the Yale Puppeteers, created a theatre in Hollywood, the Turnabout Theatre, that com­bined human and puppet stages at opposite ends of the (4) ______and attracted fashionable (5)_____for its songs and sketches from1941 to 1956. Bill Baird (6)_____ a puppet theatre in Greenwich:

Village, New York City, for some years from 1967 and made a great (7) ______to every aspect of puppetry. Professional puppetry there has developed in the main ways: in large, commercially (8) ________productions for television; in socially involved, such as the Bread and Puppet Theatre, which uses giant puppets (9) _______a political or idealis­tic message; and at the other end of the scale as a medium for intimate table-top (10) _______ by artist such as Bruce Schwartz, who makes no (11) _______to conceal himself as he handles a single figure with great delicacy.

 

b) luxury performance staging attraction plays unprofitable rank public

 

The theatre in America is less popular than the cinema. With the popu­larity of television, the theatre lost a great deal of its (1) _______. Be­sides, theatre tickets are so expensive that the theatre is a (2) ______.

Many theatres risk (3 ______ serious intellectual plays. Produc­ers avoid them as (4) ______. They are sure the (5) ________ won't like them as one goes to the theatre to relax. They think that if people don't expect to be entertained and amused at the theatre, they would rather stay at home.

Most of new (6) _____________ are presented first on Broadway. Plays shown off Broadway, though modestly staged in small theatres, (7) _______with the best Broadway (8) _____________in profes­sional skill.

 

Ex. 8. Fill in the blanks with prepositions and adverbs if necessary.

a) 1. The same is true _____ his other performances.

2. Many Americans think the government shouldn't interfere ______culture and arts.

3. The Lincoln Center was paid ______largely ______ New York.

5. You can get half price tickets ______the day of the play.

6. London is considered to be one of the world's major center _____theatres.

7._______what bases are theatres rented or owned ______Brit­ain?

8. This theatre has made itself profitable and successful _____ the public.

9. The musical is _____truly American origin.

10. A great number of new plays have appeared _____ the stage.

 

b) The Charles Playhouse, Boston's most active Off-Broadway Theatre space, has had a long and varied history (1) _______Boston's enter­tainment district (2) _______its beginning (3) _______ 1959. The Charles Playhouse was originally designed and built in 1839 (4)_____ the Fifth Universalist Church. Then it became the first synagogue in Boston and in the 1970s was converted (5) _______a fashionable night club. When the Charles Playhouse opened (6) _______ a the­atre in 1958, Boston drama critic Elliot Norton wrote that its rich history gave it "the proper sinned in atmosphere to become a great theatre".

The Charles Playhouse was started (7) _______The Actors Com­pany, a group (8) _______Boston University graduates. They pre­sented many classic theatre works that season including No Exit (9) _______ Jean Paul Sartre, The Importance of Being Earnest

(10) _______ Oscar Wilde, A View From the Bridge (II) _______Arthur Miller and others.

(12) _______a solid place in theatrical history The Charles Play­house will continue to be a vital and innovative part (13) _______Boston's Theatre scene (14) _______many years to come.

 

BOOKING TICKETS

Vocabulary

- to book tickets by telephone / in person / beforehand;

- fax bookings;

- to provide one’s name, address, work and home telephone numbers;

- a call queuing system is on operation;

- to place in queue;

- to check availability;

- to refuse admission to the theatre;

- a ticket holder: to request a ticket holder to leave;

- to make some alterations in the cast;

- to be admitted to the auditorium;

- Telephone reservation must be paid within 3 working days;

- Tickets are limited to one per person;

- Standing places go on sale;

- Reduced price tickets can be bought on production of the relevant identification

 

 

Conversation 1

 

- I want 2 seats on Sunday, please.

- Matinee or evening performance?

- Evening, please.

- Well, you can have very good seats in the stalls, row 1.

- All right. How much will it do?

- 40 roubles. '

-Here you are.

Conversation 2

 

Nick: I say, Helen, have you got anything special on tomorrow night?

Helen: No, not really. Why?

Nick: I suggest going to the theatre.

Helen: I'd love to. What are we going to see?

Nick: I've got two tickets for "My Fair Lady" by Bernard Shaw. It's the first night.

Helen: I have heard the play is worth seeing. It is staged very well.

Nick: All right, then. Be seeing you at the entrance a quarter of an hour before the beginning.

Helen: Settled.

 

Conversation 3

 

Richard: Wait for me in the lobby, Pauline. We may not be able to get seats. I'll ask at the box-office window.

Richard: May I have two tickets for this evening's performance, please?

Сlerk: Do you have reservations?

Richard: No, are there any good seats left?

Сlerk: Yes, I have a few. I can give you very good seats either in the orchestra or in the first balcony, third row.

Richard: Good, I like the seats in the balcony better than those on the main floor. Give me two, please, in the aisle, if possible. Do you have programs here?

Clerk: No, you can get them from the usher at the main entrance.

Richard: We were lucky, Pauline. I've got excellent seats. I'll check my hat and coat and get the programs.

Pauline: You'd better hurry up. Look at the time. The curtain goes up at 8.30 sharp. We don't want to be late.

 

 

Ex. 1. Translate into English:

Возможно, мы не сможем достать билеты. Подожди меня в вестибюле. Ты бы лучше поторопился. Остались хорошие ме­ста? Нам повезло. Могу я купить два билета на вечерний спек­такль? У вас заказаны билеты заранее? У меня есть несколько билетов. Занавес поднимается ровно в 8.30. Я сдам в гардероб пальто и шляпу и куплю программы.

 

Ex. 2. Give a brief account of the conversations.

 

Ex. 3. Act out the conversations.

Ex. 4. Make up your own dialogue. Situation:

You are at the box-office. You want two tickets in the stalls for tonight's performance. The clerk offers you the circle.