Topic 8. At the Theatre

Theatre is one of the oldest and most popular forms of entertainment, in which actors perform alive for an audience on a stage or in another space chosen for the performance. The actors, the audience, and the space are three essentials of theatre. The fourth is the performance, or the actors’ creative work in production. The performance is very often a play – tragedy, comedy, or musical–but it need not be. Theatre performances include vaudeville, puppet shows, mime, and other forms of entertainment.

Theatre historians trace the origins of theatre to myth and ritual found in dances and mimed performances by masked dancers during rituals and other ceremonies that marked important passages in life. Early societies acted out patterns of life, death, and rebirth associated with the welfare of village tribes. At some unrecorded time, these ceremonies and rituals turned into dramatic festivals and spread west from Greece and east from India.

In addition to the actor and the audience in a space, other elements of theatre are a written or improvised text, costumes, scenery, lights, sound, and properties (props). Most theatrical performances require the collaborative efforts of many creative people working toward a common goal: the production.

Theatre can serve many purposes. It can be designed to entertain, instruct, motivate, persuade, and even shock. But whatever the intentions of the director, performers, and crew, the result depends on the interaction with an audience. The audience affects the performance by providing the performers with immediate feedback, such as laughter, tears, applause, or silence. Each night there is a continuous interaction between the auditorium and the stage.

Some audiences want only to be entertained. Others want the theatre to provide new insight and understanding of political, social, or personal issues. Throughout history theatre has reflected the society in which it takes place. In many repressive and authoritarian regimes theatre provides entertainment to distract audiences from the brutal conditions under which they live or to serve as lessons in the virtues of the ruling powers.

Theatre is a diverse and complex art. It requires collaboration among many artists, craftspeople, and managers in order to create a performance for audiences. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, theatrical events have included such production elements as costumes, scenery, properties, music, and choreography. Lighting and sound are more recent additions. Each element in today's theatre has its own designer, composer, or choreographer, who collaborates with the director to focus the audience's attention on the actor in the special environment or seeing place.

Grammar

1. Put the verbs in brackets in the future form.

a) I … (to write) my lesson in my new book.

b) They … (to tell) us about their work.

c) John … (to see) his friend at the cinema.

d) Lizzie … (to cook) breakfast for us.

e) Mr. Priestley … (to be) in the dining-room at 8 o’clock.

2. Make the following sentences negative.

e.g. He will lose. -He won’t win.

1. She’ll be late.

2. I’ll fail my exam.

3. She’ll tell the truth.

4. We’ll turn the music down.

5. I’ll go to bed early tonight.

6. They’ll leave the party before 10.00.

7. I’ll accept the invitation.

3. Change these sentences to the “going to“ future.

a) We’ll meet at 8 .30 tomorrow.

b) Mark will study Spanish next summer.

c) You’ll have a good time.

d) He’ll catch a cold.

e) I’ll play the piano later.

4. Read and say what you (he, she) will do or will not do.

1. Go straight home after your classes.

2. Don’t talk to your neighbour.

3. Let your friend wait for you after the lessons.

4. Don’t wait for your friends.

5. Prepare your lessons before 6 o’clock.

6. Don’t forget about your promise.

7. Let’s discuss the play we have seen at the theatre.

Topic 9. Cinema in Our Life

Cinema plays an important role in the life of any society. The cinema has become part of the modern way of life. There is no denying the fact that the cinema is an excellent vehicle of culture. Its possibilities are unlimited. In the earliest years of the cinema its power to show contemporary events was recognized and appreciated. More than anything else this unique quality secured popularity for the film as a new form of instruction and entertainment. That’s why the cinema is considered to be one of the best ways of spending their leisure time.

There are a lot of different kinds of films: feature films, theatrical films, horror films, thriller films, popular science films, travelogues, mystery films, documentaries, animated cartoon films. Besides, the films may be color or black and white, full-length or short, sound or silent, dubbed in mother tongue, three-dimensional or wide-screen.

We can see films either in the cinema or on the TV. As I am often short of time, I have practically no time for going to the cinema. For this reason I see films on television more frequently. But sometimes I manage to go to the cinema. I prefer feature films and amusing comedies. It’s a pity the life is so difficult nowadays and I want to relax a little, sometimes even to laugh. But at the same time I am fond of true-to-life films describing the life of the ordinary people, their feelings and problems. Such films move me deeply, they arouse the feelings of sympathy or hatred for the heroes. As a rule such films leave a deep and lasting impression upon me.

A modern cinema program contains a newsreel which shows us pictures of important recent developments. It is usually shown before a feature film and it’s often worth seeing. Sometimes they show animated cartoon film at seeing which the audience is in a state of excitement from the beginning to the end. Especially I like Walt Disney’s cartoons “Duck Tales”, or “Vinnie-the-Pooh’s Adventures”. In my opinion the animated cartoon films are popular both with children and adults.

Showing the educational films is arranged mainly for schoolchildren and students.

In Great Britain and the USA the cinemas (“movies” as they often call them) sell more than one billion tickets a year. Movies are also shown on television and can be rented or purchased as a DVD-recorder. People in these countries are equipped with video recorders in their majority. Although people once feared that television would ruin movie industry, movie popularity has soared in recent years in these countries. Attending movies is a relatively inexpensive leisure time activity that is very popular.