Booking theatre tickets

- Cherry Lane Theatre, box-office.

- I should like to book three seats in the dress-circle for next Saturday, please.

- I’m sorry. We haven’t any seats left in the dress circle.

- Oh, well. Have you any seats left in the stalls?

- Orchestra stalls or pit stalls?

- Pit stalls, please.

- There are some left in the 12th row and some in the 16th.

- Are they at a side or in the middle?

- They are all in the middle.

- I’ll take the three in the 12th row, please.

You may book seats in:

Orchestra stalls Pit stalls Box

Партер (первые ряды) Партер Ложа

Dress circle Balcony gallery

Бельэтаж Балкон Галерея

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Expressing opinion

To have a long/short run A modern treatment/interpretation To be a success/a hit To be a failure/a flop The scene is laid To be at one’s best To be at the worst Artificial /subtle acting To be annoyed by To enjoy every moment of it Superb acting/music To have a favorable review/press An understudy

To be true to life To be bored to death The action develops slowly The cast is not good The characterization is poor To be convincing/unconvincing To live the part To be depressing To be a mere waste of time Full house To praise smth. To appear in the leading part

Ex. 7. Read the dialogue and dramatize it.

• And how did you like the play?

• Well, I expected something better with all this acclaim the play received. The first thing that shocked me was the scenery.

• Right. That modernism in the decor makes an impression of a creeping schizophrenia case. I do understand it is a low-budget production, but all that litter on the stage?

• It might be a symbol of something, but I have no idea what it might be.

• I was most disappointed by N’s acting. I saw him in a classical production, he was just wonderful. Actually, I went to see this stuff only because of him. The director managed to make a scarecrow of him. Disgusting!

• Even Musorgsky’s Pictures aggravated the fiasco. This wonderful music contrasted with that depressing acting and stiff dialogues so much! I’m really sorry I have spoilt the evening.

• So am I. I think we should recommend this stuff to our enemies.

• Perhaps this is the reason for the full house tonight. Everyone recommends this stuff to his friends. And who has recommended it to you I wonder?

Ex. 8. Read the dialogue and act it.

• I saw you yesterday downtown. What were you doing there?

• I went to see a play and then went to a bar for a pint of Budlight.

• What did you see?

• It was an amateur theatre production, a Jumping Marmalade by somebody. Something very off-off-off- Broadway.

• Did you like it?

• What, the beer?

• The play, of course.

• It wasn’t at all bad. It was about parents and children – the perennial problem. The cast did their best to express the director’s view. The decor was very simple, the action is laid in one room. The situation is turned upside down or inside out if you like.

• What do you mean?

• An elderly couple is always in the room and the young ones come and go. The elderly symbolize the young and the coming and leaving youth – their parents in different humors. It was comic and tragic. Mind, the whole cast comprised four very young people. The characterization, make-up and dress was very praiseworthy to say nothing about the acting. The lighting wasn’t very good. In the whole I enjoyed the play.

• You are not a theatre-goer as I know. What has made you see an amateur production. There is a mystery I guess.

• No mystery at all, I have sponsored the production.

Ex. 9. Translate:

1. А не сходить ли нам в театр на выходных? Мы уже месяц никуда не выходили. – Да, конечно, с удовольствием. Только, дорогая, сразу скажи сколько стоит это колье. Или это будет новое платье? – Милый, о чем ты говоришь? Это будет и то и другое.

2. Она сделала удивительную карьеру в театре. Три года назад она начала работать костюмершей, через год она стала гримером, а вчера ей предложили роль в спектакле. Я уверена, она справится.

3. Актеры считают центральную сцену самой трудной. Когда играешь на арене, нужно уметь спиной выражать чувства и видеть зрителя.

4. Театр – родитель таких драматических форм как кино, радио и телевидение. Но театр имеет одно важное преимущество – он предназначен для узкой аудитории. Это не массовая продукция как фильм или радиопостановка. Каждое представление театра уникально и предназначено для конкретной аудитории. Существует обратная связь между актером и зрителем. Если аудитория оказывается тяжелой, то труппа может слегка изменить исполнение, сделать его более резким и жестким.

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