Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre 1998

I have been an admirer ___ Alan Rickman's work since 1982, and have seen him ___ stage many times from 1983 onwards, so I have seen a great deal ___ his work.  It was ___ great shock, therefore, that I read the appalling reviews ___ the critics when the play first opened.  Alan usually receives excellent notices, so what had gone wrong this time?  It wasn't only Alan who came ___ ___ a critical roasting – the set design, the music, and many ___ the minor performances were also heavily criticized. 

Whatever problems there may have been backstage, (which I will probably never know about), it was clear that the set had caused some serious difficulties. Artistically, I have no arguments ___ the set – the play covers several years ___ time and numerous locations ___ different countries, so it has to be flexible enough to accommodate this, and I liked the ingenuity ___ which this difficulty had been addressed, however, the complexity ___ the set did cause headaches ___ the actors.  The music, consisting ___ percussion effects, was atmospheric, and not as obtrusive as had been suggested ___ the reviews, although it was a little ___ the loud side when I was seated ___ the third row!  ___ a mid-stalls seat, it was fine. 

The performances I saw shortly ___ the play opened were variable.  Helen Mirren and Finbar Lynch stood ___ as Cleopatra and Enobarbus, but Alan was not turning ___ the usual electrifying performance I have been used to seeing ___ him – something was missing, but I couldn't be sure what, at that time.  All the same, the reviews had not put ___ the theatre-goers as the Olivier was full.  (In fact, it was packed all three times I went. At the second viewing, mid-season, much had changed).

The set was behaving well, the actors were obviously used ___ it, and Alan seemed to have relaxed a great deal.  Now I began to see ___ his performance what had been lacking before – the touches ___ subtlety, the ironic inflections, and the little glances the audiences could react ___.  Not ___ his top capacity, yet, but much, much better.  The other roles had not really come alive, but even so, the whole was much better than the first time, and I could hear people commenting ___ how pleasantly surprised they were ___ the poor reviews.  At the last performance I saw, it had all – far too late, alas, – come together.  Alan was giving the performance I would have expected ___ him, vigorous, amusing, passionate, heartbroken, ironic.  The audience gave the performance tumultuous applause and there were several curtain calls. 

I have to add that ___ the three performances I saw, Helen Mirren and Finbar Lynch never swayed ___ excellent, but it was suddenly noticeable ___ the third one, that all the other players' performances were lifted, and had a liveliness and fullness of character I had not seen previously.  It seems a little simplistic to attribute all the difficulties ___ the set, but this may well have been a large factor, not so much the set itself, but the lack ___ time for the actors to feel comfortable ___ it.

Assignment 10. Match the following theatre idioms with their definitions, and give their equivalents in Russian. Then fill in the gaps in the sentences with these idioms.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14

Stage-fright	a good example to follow
Behind the scenes	out of the public view
To come on the scene	the fear experienced when speaking in front of an audience
To hold the stage	to accept responsibility from someone else
To play the part	to appear, to make one’s presence felt
To take over the role of	to assume a false role, to pretend to be somebody one is not
A role model	to be able to engage the audience’s attention
To get/put one’s act together	to be in the focus of attention
To clean up one’s act	to court the applause of the uneducated by showing off in front of them
To fluff one’s lines	to fail to perform well
To play to the gallery	to get oneself organized
To ring the curtain down	to make an effort to improve oneself
To be in the spotlight	to put an end to (life, marriage, career, happiness, business, plans, etc)
To stage a recovery/a come-back	to repeat one’s earlier success, after retirement or failure

1. Although John prepared his speech with great care, he always had a moment or two of _______________ when he addressed the public.

2. There is always a lot of maneuvering ____________ before a new government is formed.

3. Things haven't been the same since the new manager ___________________.

4. As young as he is, he can still ________________ with his beautiful voice.

5. Jeremy _______________ the caring nephew to perfection, but don’t let him fool you; it’s her money he is after.

6. In a government reshuffle, one minister might _________________ another.

7. A child’s ______________ is often his or her mother, father or a favourite teacher.

8. You had better _________________________ before you lose any customers.

9. If you really want this job, you will have ______________________.

10. Can you imagine speaking to a television audience of 150 million? I have ________________several times.

11. Although Borotra was one of the most brilliant tennis players, he sometimes ________________.

12. The scandal _________________________ his promising career.

13. After the writer had published her feelings about her unfaithful husband, she _____________________ for some time.

14. The majority of athletes who try ___________________ are unsuccessful.

Assignment 11. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English. Use the Active Vocabulary section.

1. Кассир сказал, что все места в партере распроданы. Нам пришлось заказать места в бельэтаже. ________________________________________

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2. Спасибо за то, что Вы купили мне билет на этот спектакль. Мне очень понравилось, как поставлена эта пьеса. ________________________________

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3. Увы, все билеты на спектакль распроданы. _________________________

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4. Мы получили удовольствие от игры актеров, уж не говоря о декорациях, которые были великолепны. _________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________5. Мне не удалось заказать билеты на премьеру заранее, поэтому мне пришлось стоять в очереди в кассу. ___________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

6. Попробуй купить билеты на балкон. Оттуда лучше видна сцена. _________

__________________________________________________________________7. Прошу прощения, что так говорю, но я не жалею, что пропустил этот спектакль. Это был полный провал. ___________________________________

__________________________________________________________________8. Я была восхищена игрой ведущей актрисы, вызвавшей слезы у зрителей. __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________9. Говорят, что он смотрел фильм "Титаник" пять раз, так как он большой поклонник главной актрисы. _________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________10. Состав исполнителей в этом спектакле великолепен. Он, несомненно, будет пользоваться большой популярностью у зрителей. _________________

__________________________________________________________________11. У меня нет никакого желания смотреть этот спектакль, так как пьеса поставлена очень плохо, а игра актеров оставляет желать лучшего. ________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________12. Я была очарована музыкой и декорациями, которые были великолепны.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________13. Сидя в третьем ряду бельэтажа, я хорошо видел сцену. ________________

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14. Известно, что эта пьеса была поставлена дважды. И каждый раз она сопровождалась провалом. ___________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________15. Я отказалась от надежды купить билеты на премьеру, так как все билеты были давно распроданы заранее. ______________________________________

__________________________________________________________________16. Посмотрев спектакль дважды, я могу сказать, что это лучшая постановка комедии Шекспира, которую я когда-либо видел. ________________________

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