3. Read the text.

I saw a miracle*

People like to go to the theatre. They try to make holiday for themselves. And when the play is good and it is staged well and the actors perform wonderfully then that is a real holiday. And long afterwards we remember our visit to the theatre.

Some time ago I had such a holiday. There are eight theatres in our city but the theatre for young spectators is one of the best in our country. We go there with great pleasure. There are plays staged for small children and older ones, for teenagers and grown-ups.

That time we saw the play of the English playwright Gibson "Made a Miracle" (Сотворившая чудо). The holiday began when we entered the theatre. Its beautiful building with large windows and a cock on the steeple was brightly lit. The hall with a cloakroom was comfortable. We left our coats and hats in the cloakroom and went into a small winter garden with a fountain in the centre. Then we went upstairs where there was a museum of the theatre. There we saw bills, pictures of actors and scenes from different performances, models of scenery to the stages. It was very interesting to read about the history of the theatre. When the second bell rang we went to the auditorium. The hall had not any balcony, only stalls and a pit. But one could see the stage from any row and place very well. We took our seats and had a look at the stage. There was no curtain and we could see the scenery: a room of an old rich English home. Then the performance began and we forgot about everything but the play.

The play told us about a tragic life of a girl who could not see, hear and speak. She was like a small wild animal. It was a great tragedy for the family to have such a child. The child was not a disabled from the birth, it was a result of a severe disease. A young teacher, almost a girl came to that family to teach that girl everything with the help of her own methods. It was a hard and very long job, but the teacher did it! She overcame the trouble of the child and the dull resistance of some members of the family.

When the performance was over for a minute or two there was a complete silence and then the audience began to applaud. We didn't let the actors go away for a long time. I noticed tears in the eyes of many people. The performance made a great impression on us. Everything was perfect – the acting of the actors, the scenery and the costumes, the light and the music. On the way home we practically didn't talk. Everybody understood that we should think about what we had seen that night.

4. Find in the text the following words and word combinations.

Пьеса поставлена хорошо; актеры играют прекрасно; долго после него; драматург; петушок на шпиле; был ярко освещен; афиши; модели декораций к постановкам; зрительный зал; партер и амфитеатр; заняли свои места; преодолела; глухое сопротивление; публика начала аплодировать; пьеса произвела огромное впечатление; по дороге домой.

5. Write fifteen questions to this text as a plan and retell it.

6. Can you name all theatrical professions? Read this text and check up your knowledge of a theatrical life. What theatrical shops are there in the theatre? What do they do?

Behind the theatrical façade.

Have you ever been behind the wings of the stage? Do you happen to know what it is there? I have never thought before how many people work to prepare this or that play for staging. Of course, we all know the names of a director, a costume designer, a conductor, a choreographer, and the actors playing the leading parts. But there are much more people working in the theatre to please us, to make that charming, fairy world.

My friend's aunt works at the musical comedy theatre as a literary editor. Last Monday Kate took me to her aunt's place of work. She promised us to show the whole theatre from top to bottom. In the morning we were met at the artistic entrance. We left our coats and hats in her room piled with different plays, bills, announcements, portraits of actors in different parts and other theatrical things.

And we started our 'sightseeing' from the vault. I couldn't even imagine that there were a lot of mechanisms helping the stage turn, go up and down and do other different things. It was the kingdom of two engineers and several mechanics. In the far end of the vault was the store of scenery to different plays. It was a bit dusty there but very interesting. We saw scenery to some estate and ancient theatre, to a forest village and a fairy-tale. After one awkward movement of Kate something fell upon us and we cried from fear. But a bit later we burst into laughter – it was a huge doll of a mermaid made of porolone. Coming up to the sewing shop we were still giggling. But there we were all eyes (глядели во все глаза). I had never seen before such a variety of dresses and costumes, so much laces and embroidery. We ran from one dress to another and wanted to try on every of them. At last we asked the permission to put on one dress. I became an English lady of the sixteenth century and Kate tried on an evening full dress of the beginning of the 19^th century. The hostess of these treasures told us we looked charming except one thing – our hairdos were like two crow nests comparing with those luxurious dresses and she brought us two wigs from the next room. We could hardly recognize ourselves in the mirror. Kate's aunt had a camera with her and she took a picture of us 'for our grandchildren'.

Then Aunt Lena brought us to another shop. There we saw all kinds of shoes and boots and ballet shoes too. In my childhood I dreamt to be a ballet dancer and of course I began to plead to let me try on a pair of ballet shoes. I was given one, of course not new but old. I tried to stand up on the tips of my toes and did some "gracious steps". It was the greatest mistake of mine that day. It was so painful! And later Kate giggled that I looked like an elephant in a china shop. The masters told us that they had the measures of footwear of every actor and ballet dancer of the theatre with their peculiarities. They also showed us the whole process of making ballet shoes. I should say it is a job of work (тяжелая работа)!

Attracted by the sounds of the music of Legar we hurried to one door and peeped in – it was a rehearsal of the orchestra. They repeated and repeated the same piece of music several times till the conductor told them that at last they played exactly what was in the score (партитуре). At last we reached the last floor and got to a huge room where painters drew backgrounds for different scenes of a performance. A very large piece of cloth lay on the floor and two men painted something strange on it with huge brushes. We could not understand what it would be but one of the men said it would be a lake and a garden and a pavilion. But we saw only multicoloured spots on the cloth and nothing more.

At the end of our trip around the theatre we got to the stage. The greatest discovery for us was that the total area of the stage is not less than the area of the auditorium and, maybe, it’s even more. At that moment the stagehands were placing (устанавливали) the scenery for the evening performance. There was so noisy and dusty that we thought it would be better to find a bit quieter place.

We found one in a dressing-room of one famous actress, Kate's god mother. It was a small and cozy room with a sofa and a full-length mirror at one wall and a dressing table with a three-panelled mirror and lamps on the sides at the opposite wall. Near the window there was a wide armchair where we sank down immediately. Sitting there we began to discuss what we had seen. But suddenly Kate saw boxes with make-up on the table. In half an hour I could hardly recognize her – she became an ugly old woman. Then we began to count how many people worked to make a performance – from a producer to all stagehands. It turned out to be about 200 people of different professions to prepare a holiday for spectators every evening!

So, it was an unforgettable day for us!

Topic "Appearance"