At the Bolshoy

BROWN: Look, who’s there! Hello, Mr Ivanov!

IVANOV: Hello, Mr Brown! It’s a small world! May I introduce you to my wife, Mr Brown? … Mary, this is Mr Brown, my old business friend.

MARY: How do you do, Mr Brown.

BROWN: How do you do, Mrs Ivanov. It’s a pleasure to meet you. …Well, a wonderful ballet, isn’t it?

MARY: Yes, it’s an excellent production.

BROWN: Who is the director?

MARY: I don’t know, but the scenery and costumes are beautiful.

BROWN: The cast is very good too. Who is dancing the main part tonight?

MARY: Maksimova. She is very popular. And what’s on at London theaters?

BROWN: Well, a bit of everything, you know. … Oh, here’s the bell! Let’s go to the hall. What are your seats?

MARY: We have seats in the dress circle. Where’s yours?

BROWN: Mine’s in the stalls.

IVANOV: Let’s meet after the performance, shall we?

BROWN: Yes, sure. We can have a drink together in the nearest café.

Look, who's there! О, кого я вижу: It's a small world! Мир тесен!; May I introduce... Позвольте представить...; It's a pleasure to meet you. Рад с вами познакомиться.; excellent ['eksələnt] отличный; production постановка; director режиссер; scenery ['si:nəri] декорации; costumes костюмы; cast [ka:st] состав исполнителей; a bit of everything всего понемногу; here's the bell! звонок!; dress circle бельэтаж; the stalls [sto:lz] партер; to have a drink выпить

Cultural Institutions in Perm

Perm is a large cultural centre of the Western Urals. The population of Perm enjoys rich cultural life of the city. A lot of people are theatre - goers. The number and the variety of theaters cater all tastes. There is a country famous Perm Opera house which is the oldest in the city. The repertoire includes the world musical classics as well as modern operas and ballets.

The Perm drama theatre occupying a beautiful modern building was constructed in 1982 after the design of Moscow architects Davidenko and Lutikova. The hall can accommodate 1007 spectators. The Perm Drama theatre started its activity at the beginning of the 30-s. At first it was an amateur theatre of working youth. The repertoir of the theatre is diverse to attract the Perm public of different ages. Among the plays are the masterpieces of drama by Russian and

foreign classics as well as modern playwrights. Nowadays some musicals have appeared in its repertoire. The theater’s artistic director is Milgram, who tries to bring some new tendencies in the theatre’s development.

The city has 2 theatres for children: the puppet show for the small ones and the theatre for young spectators for the Perm teenagers. Some new theatres appeared in Perm not long ago. They are the theatre of modern ballet “Experiment” and a young municipal theatre “At the Bridge”. The artistic level of its productions is very high. The theatre company had a lot of tours in our country and abroad.

The Perm Art Gallery has a unique collection of Russian old icon painting as well as of Komy Wooden sculpture of Perm Gods.

The Perm museum of local lore was founded in 1890 by some famous Perm scientists. It shows the exhibits telling about the life of our famous countrymen and the most important periods of life of the Perm lands.

The Perm Philarmonic society has a lot of music groups which give concerts in the Perm region as well as in many cities of our country. A magician Danilin, the Perm chamber choir under the conductor Novik, the Perm “Quantus quartet” folk instruments group “Karavai” give a good variety of genres for Perm spectators.

Perm has a lot of educational institutions to train the specialists for the sphere of culture. Among them are the Perm State Institute of Arts and Culture founded in 1975, a lot of music schools, a professional art college, several art studios and a lot of hobby groups at the palaces of culture. A lot of other cultural institutions: cinemas, libraries, exhibition halls, parks of rest and culture give the Perm citizens a lot of opportunities to rest in different ways and to choose their favourite ones.