Matching

Exercise 3. Match the people in the left-hand column to the appropriate job in the theatre on the right.

1. choreographer a. puts make-up on the actors’ faces

2. costume designer b. designs the scenery on the stage

3. prompter c. looks after everything on stage during the performance

4. make-up artist d. designs the clothes the actors wear

5. set designer e. tells the actors their lines when they forget

6. stage hand f. is responsible for dances on the stage

7. stage manager g. shows the audience to their seats

8. usher h. helps the stage manager, moves scenery

Vocabulary activator

Exercise 4. Say what these people usually do.

Dancer Conductor Ticket-taker Prompter Producer Spectator Playwright Musician composer

Exercise 5. Give rough definitions to the following words. If necessary consult a dictionary of current English.

A theatre-goer, a drama, a theatre, a musical comedy theatre, a concert hall, a variety show, the stalls, an actor, the cast, a curtain call, a rehearsal.

Reading for comprehension

Exercise 6. Read the text about Peter Ustinov’s career as actor and playwright. Choose the best variant to answer the questions below.

Peter Ustinov: actor or writer?

Peter Ustinov is the most international person you could find. He speaks English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian. One of his great-grandfathers was a musician in Venice. Another was a teacher in a village school outside Paris. A third was a Swiss businessman. A fourth was a country gentleman living on the River Volga in Russia. And a fifth an adventurer in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

For most people, Peter Ustinov is a face on the cinema screen. They have seen him as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, and in films like Spartacus, Topkapi and Memed My Hawk. He is the man with a hundred faces, old, young, wise, foolish, happy and sad. Probably few people know that Peter Ustinov is one of the eight actors in the world to win more than one Oscar.

Few people also know that writing means more to Peter than acting. He wrote his first successful play (House of Regrets) when he was only nineteen years old. Later plays and films, like Romanoff and Juliet, Private Angelo and The Unknown Soldier and his Wife, have given him a big name as a writer. In 1977 his autobiography, Dear Me, was a great success.

The world knows him as an actor and a writer, but Peter Ustinov’s friends say that his greatest work of art is himself. “Nothing he creates is as funny as himself,” says one friend. “One hour of him is better than two hours of his work.” And yet, like many funny men, Peter can be serious even while he laughs. “Peter’s a reformer,” says another friend. “He’d like to change the world.” Perhaps that is why he does so much work for the United Nations, especially UNICEF (the United Nations Children’s Fund).

Peter Ustinov’s own life has not always been happy. His first two marriages ended in divorce. His four children, grown up now, saw little of their father because of his work. But now, in his sixties, he has been happily married for more than twelve years to a Frenchwoman, Helene. They have a house in Switzerland and a flat in Paris, but making films keeps Peter on the move. He has worked in every part of America and in Egypt, Australia, Benin, Israel, Kenia and all over Europe, including Leningrad, Warsaw and Budapest. After all, what else can you expect from a man with such international great-grandfathers?

CULTURAL NOTE The Pulitzer Prize – one of the eight prizes given every year in the USA to people who have produced especially good work in journalism, literature or music. The prizes were started by the US newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), and winning a Pulitzer Prize is regarded as a great honour. The Tony Prize – a prize given to the best theatre actor, best actress, best play, etc., shown in New York in a particular year

1. Peter Ustinov can be easily called a:

a. bilingual b. polyglot c. polygamist

2. None of his ancestors was a:

a. traveller b. doctor c. musician

3. For most people Peter Ustinov is a:

a. theatre actor b. film star c. a film director

4. Peter Ustinov began his writing career:

a. in his early twenties b. as a teenager c. after he had won the Oscar

5. One of his most successful books:

a. was his second novel b. is not written yet c. was his biography

6. Peter’s friends and acquaintances ……. .

a. scold him from time to time b. admire his work c. appreciate his personality

7. Peter’s private life was … .

a. always a bed of roses b. never happy c. full of sorrows and happiness

Exercise 7. Before you start reading the text find out the meaning of the word combinations that occur in the text. Use them in the sentences of your own.

the once-staid Broadway scene

network of professional regional theatres

to remain the prima donna

upstart regionals

the best of the seasons

the world premiere

to present a play

a guest group from

to export the production

authentic Scottish playhouse

to be equipped with the latest in stage and lighting equipment

to wait for the premiere

to promise to be in for a very long run

the primary arena

a smattering of classics

to round out the repertory seasons

to introduce the work of a new playwright

American Theatre

Time was when the brightest lights of the American stage gleamed only on Broadway, New York City’s legendary theatre where all new plays were born and nurtured, where stars were made, where the best theatrical talent in the country vied for the chance to have their visions and their names lightning up “The Great White Way”.

But in the short period, of a few decades all that has changed. A fundamental transformation has overwhelmed, the once-staid Broadway scene, as a vast and remarkable, network of professional regional theatres has sprouted up across the nation and begun to flex its collective artistic muscle. Few would deny that Broadway remains the prima donna of the American theatrical experience, a powerful magnet for the country’s finest performers. Yet in terms of creativity, productivity and originality, Broadway presently is no more than a first among equals as the upstart regionals have transformed themselves into the crucible in which virtually all new work for the American stage is being molded. Now these theatres have slowly but surely challenged the might and main of Broadway by regularly sending the best of their seasons to New York. Examples abound:

• Go west to the Seattle Repertory Theatre and you might witness the world premiere of an Important American play. In 1988 the Seattle Rep presented Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles, a play about a woman’s rites of passage in the modern world. It moved on to New York and won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for the best play of the season.

• Go southwest to Texas to the Alley Theatre in Houston and you may see something as unexpected as a guest group from the State Theatre of Vilnius, Lithuania, presenting a production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Similarly, the Alley Theatre has exported its own production of William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker to 17 cities in the United States and Canada.

• Go south to Sarasota, Florida, to the Asolo Theatre and catch Terrence McNalley’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune or enjoy a revival of that new facility, an authentic Scottish playhouse rebuilt and reborn on Florida soil, but equipped with the latest in stage and lightning equipment.

• Take a short trip from New York to the Hartford (Connecticut) Stage Company and see a production of the newly translated Pear Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, a play that Broadway hardly ever has a chance to do. Or wait for the premiere of a new American play, like Jerry Sterner’s Other People’s Money, a wry comedy on big and little wheels in the American stock market that has since taken up residence off Broadway and promises to be in for a very long run.

• In Los Angeles, California, at the Mark Taper Forum you might see American premieres of plays from other countries, part of that theatre’s ongoing programme of international productions. Playing recently was The Mystery of the Rose Bouquet by an Argentinean writer, Manuel Puig.

This is just a small sampling of what is happening at all points of the compass around the United States, and it explains with mute eloquence why Broadway no longer can lay claim to being the heart of American theatre. This decentralization from the primary New York arena to a galaxy of outlying stages is a turnaround of such profound proportions that it almost defies comprehension. Just 25 years ago, fledging regional theatres depended entirely on tried and true Broadway-produced shows and a smattering of classics to round out their repertory seasons. Few regionals had either the audacity or the resources to produce a new play or to introduce the work of a new playwright. This was purely the province of New York.

CULTURAL NOTE Broadway – a famous street in New York City where there are many theatres. Broadway and the area around it is the centre of the city’s theatre industry. Off Broadway is not the main professional group, but more unusual or experimental in nature.

Write the summary of the text “American Theatre”

Exercise 8. You are organizing a group trip to Britain for August next year. You are keen to go to the theatre during your stay. Read the texts about theatres of London and Stratford-upon-Avon and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Plan a weekend in one of the cities and persuade the rest of the group to come with you.

London has enjoyed a reputation for quality theatre since the time of Shakespeare, and despite the increasing prevalence of fail-safe blockbuster musicals the city still provides a platform for innovation. From the Victorian splendour of the major West End theatres to the stark modernism of the South bank Centre, London has a plethora of major stages, while the more experimental fringe circuit makes use of vast array of buildings all over the city.

The comedy scene is just as vibrant – mostly in clubs and pubs, although those comedians who have made the transition to television often crop up with shows in major theatres. The comedy and cabaret circuit continues to disgorge a stream of fast-thinking young wits, and some cabaret-type venues also command a devoted following for their poetry readings.

In fact few cities in the world can match the variety of the London scene. The government-subsidized Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre ensure that the masterpieces of the mainstream tradition remain in circulation, often in productions of startling originality. Many of the West End’s commercial theatres have been hijacked by long-running musicals or similarly unchallenging shows, but others offer more intriguing productions. London’s fringe theatres, whether they be cosy pub venues or converted warehouses, offer a good spread of classic and contemporary work, while some of the most exciting work is mounted by various small theatre companies that have no permanent base.

Stratford-upon-Avon is an unremarkable market town but for one little detail: in 1564, the wife of a local merchant, John Shakespeare, gave birth to William Shakespeare, probably the greatest writer ever to the English language …

There was no theatre in Stratford in Shakespeare’s day – it was not until 1769 that Stratford organized any event in honour of him, and that was a festival put together by London-based actor-manager David Garrick, which featured no dramatic performances at all. From then on, the idea of building a permanent home in which to perform Shakespeare’s works gained momentum, and the feasibility of building a theatre in backwater Stratford grew immensely with the advent of better roads and the railways. The first memorial Theatre opened in 1879, on land donated by local beer manager Charles Flower, who also funded the project.

After a fire in 1926 the competition held for a replacement was won by the only woman applicant, Elisabeth Scott. Her theatre, overlooking a beautiful scene of lush meadows and willow trees on the northern banks of the Avon, is today the main house, presenting a constant diet of Shakespeare’s works. At the back, the burn-out original theatre has been converted into a replica “in-the-round” Elizabethan stage – named The Swan, it’s used for works by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, classics from all eras, and one annual piece by the man himself. A third auditorium, The Other Place, in nearby Southern Lane, showcases modern and experimental pieces.

As the Royal Shakespeare Company works on a repertory system, you could stay in Stratford for a few days and see four or five different plays. During the day you can inspect the Royal Shakespeare Company’s trove of theatrical memorabilia at the RSC collection, or go on a backstage tour.

In Stratford you can also visit the Shakespeare Centre and Birthplace Museum; Holy Trinity Church, which contains Shakespeare’s tomb; Hall’s Croft, the former home of Shakespeare’s elder daughter, Susanna, and her doctor husband, John Hall – now a fascinating museum of Elizabethan medicine; the beautiful gardens and foundations of New Place (Shakespeare’s last residence, demolished in 1759); Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the home of the woman who in 1582 became Shakespeare’s wife; Mary Arden’s House, an Elizabethan country farm, formerly the home of Shakespeare’s mother; and the Shakespeare Countryside Museum.

The Edinburgh Festival, now the largest arts festival in the world, first took place in August 1947. Driven by a desire for reconciliation and escape from postwar austerity, the Austrian conductor, Rudolf Bing, brought together a host of distinguished musicians from the war-ravaged countries of central Europe. The symbolic centerpiece of his vision was the emotional reunion of Bruno Walter, a Jewish refugee from Nazi tyranny, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. At the same time, eight theatrical groups, both Scottish and English, turned up in Edinburgh, uninvited, performing in an unlikely variety of local venues, thus establishing the Fringe. Today the festival attracts a million to the city over three weeks (the last three in August, or the last fortnight and the first week in September) and encompasses several separate festivals, each offering a wide variety of artists and events – everything is on show, from the highbrow to the controversial …

For many years, the official Edinburgh International Festival was dominated by opera. Although, in the 1980s, efforts were made to involve locals and provide a broader cultural mix of international theatre, dance and classical music, the official festival is still very much a high-brow event …

The Festival Fringe began to really take off in the 1970s. Set up in 1951, the Fringe Society has grown from a small group to today’s large-scale operation serving as annual influx of more than five hundreds acts – national theatre groups to student troupes – using around two hundred venues. In spite of this expansion, the Fringe has remained loyal to the original open door policy and there is still no vetting of performers. This means that the shows range from the inspired to the truly diabolical and ensures a highly competitive atmosphere, in which one bad review in a prominent publication means box-office disaster. Many unknowns rely on self-publicity, taking to the streets to perform highlights from their show, or pressing leaflets into the hands of every passer-by. Performances go on round the clock: if so inclined, you could sit through twenty shows in a day.

There is also a Film Festival, a Jazz festival, and a Book Festival.