Performance, Programme, Show

150. Performance

Performance is used in the sense of сеанс.

e.g. a. I'll meet you outside the cinema ten minutes before the performance.

b. Let's go to the eight o'clock performance.

c. When's the first/last performance?

d. Seats for evening performances are more expensive than for matinees. (See unit 100.)

Cinema, not film, is generally used with performance.

e.g. Cinema performances begin at 10 a.m. in Leningrad.

Continuous performance denotes the system, widespread in England, whereby one film is shown continuously throughout the day, with only a very short interval between each showing, and people can come and go whenever they like (although naturally most people do so between showings).

Performance is also used in the sense of исполнение, as in the theatre.

e.g. Alec Guiness gave a marvellous performance of the king in "Cromwell".

151. Programme

Programme is used in two senses:

1. films being shown at a cinema (репертуар),

e.g. a. (Cinema) programmes change once or twice a week.

b. Programmes are varied, and include both Soviet and foreign films.

Note that repertoire/repertory are not generally used in the cinema (see unit 93).

2. what is shown at a particular performance (программа)

e.g. The programme usually includes a full-length feature film, a newsreel and a short documentary.

Cinema programmes in Britain generally used to include not only a full-length feature film and a newsreel (sometimes called the news), but also a short feature film. There was an interval before the main film (sometimes called the big film). The complete programme therefore lasted about three hours, and people went to the cinema for a whole evening's entertainment. Since the rise of television, however, this system has disappeared; instead one full-length feature film is shown often but not always with a short documentary or cartoon. As a result of this tendency, the distinction between programme in its second sense and performance is not always clear-cut, and in some cases they are more or less synonymous. For example, some London cinemas put in their advertisements:

Progs. (= programmes) 4.00, 6.15, 8.30 or Cont. progs. (= continuous programmes) and others put: Perfs. (= performances) 3.15, 5.30, 8.45 or: Cont. perfs. (= continuous performances) Programme may therefore be used as an alternative to performance in translating сеанс.

152. Show

As a noun, show is little used in the cinema. Its main use is in the expression film show, which, however, generally denotes not a regular performance in a cinema, but something occasional, special. For example, film shows are sometimes arranged at clubs, conferences, on board ship.

Showing is sometimes used substantivally, as in the explanation of continuous performance above:

“…with only a very short interval between each showing,… Most people do so (=come and go) between showings."

Show as a verb is very common in the cinema, and needs no explanation, since it corresponds to показывать. Note that there is no synonym for show with reference to Russian демонстрировать. Demonstrate is not used in films.