28. Read the following quotations about theatre. Which one do you like? Write an essay based on the one you’ve chosen.

1) “A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.”(Gore Vidal, American novelist, critic)

2) “Every now and then, when you’re on stage, you hear the best sound a player can hear. It’s a sound you can’t get in movies or in television. It is the sound of a wonderful, deep silence that means you’ve hit them where they live.”(Shelley Winters, American actress)

3) “My playground was the theatre. I’d sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that’s pretty seductive.” (Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress)

4) “The primary function of a theater is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to serve talent.” (Robert Brustein, American drama critic)

5) “The novel is more of a whisper, whereas the stage is a shout.”(Robert Holman, British dramatist)

Lesson 2. Inside the theatre

Brainstorming

Discuss the following questions with your partner:

1. Are theatre tickets easy to get in your country?

2. What time do you usually arrive at the theatre (e.g. 45 minutes before the advertised start time)?

3. Do you usually dress smartly?

4. What do you usually do before the third bell rings?

5. How do you feel when you sit in a theatre before the performance begins?

Vocabulary

aisle
all tickets sold	orchestra pit
audience	the pit
(people) in the audience	the orchestra (AmE)
a member of the audience	play to full/packed houses seats
one of the audience	seating plan
auditorium	scene
backstage	scenery
balcony	set(s)
bar/refreshment room	sold out
be on the stage	spectator
box office	stage
boxes	stage adaptation
buy a ticket outside the theatre	stage design
cloak room	stage door
complimentary ticket	stage fright
the circle	stage hand
dress circle	the stalls
dressing room	back stalls
foyer	front stalls
gallery	standing room
the gods	standing ticket
(the lights) go down/out	the curtain went down
go on the stage	the theatre (house) is
house house full	full/packed the third bell
lighting	tiers
lighting effects	tune up
mezzanine (AmE)	upper circle
off stage	usher
on stage	wings
opera glasses

Vocabulary

1. Translate the following sentences from English into Russian.

1. The house was packed.

2. There was a laugh from the back of the house.

3. The house lights went out/down.

4. I was sitting in the stalls.

5. In the first scene the family are preparing to welcome the youngest son home.

6. The scene is set in the pre-revolutionary Moscow.

7. Then her husband appears on the scene.

8. I saw “West Side Story” on the stage.

9. Hamlet is on stage for most of the act.

10. The opera singer returns on the London stage.

11. At the age of ten, he decided that he wanted to go on the stage.

12. The lighting was very effective.

13. The sets were designed by Julia Trevelyan Oman.

14. I didn’t like the set for the first act.

15. He spoke with his back to the audience.

16. I managed to get a ticket for a “The Government Inspector” (“Ревизор”).