The History of Entertainment

Nearly everyone enjoys entertainment. The begin­nings of popular entertainment go back to prehistoric times, when dance, music and story-telling were very important.

The traditions of entertainment began in Ancient Greece about 2,500 years ago with the development of Greek drama. In those days festivals were organized to celebrate Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and new life, with song and dance. Later poets began to write stories for a large group of performers (a chorus and an actor to recite). Then another actor was introduced which made a dialogue between characters possible. There were two forms of classical Greek drama — tragedy and comedy.

The Romans continued the traditions of Greece and developed other kinds of entertainment as well. The be­ginnings of the circus are connected with gladiators fighting in public arenas.

In the Middle Ages the church considered entertain­ment and drama wrong, but by and by drama reap­peared with religious and moral plays.

In the time of Renaissance the theatre became less religious and there was a new interest in Greek and Ro­man drama. Common people preferred comedies per­formed by a travelling group of actors. At first, the ac­tors had no text, only an idea of what was going to hap­pen and had to improvise. They usually performed on high platforms in public places. The actors offered en­tertainment which included plays, songs and dances.

The Golden Age of Theatre began when the first spe­cial theatres were built. The first of such theatres was opened in London in 1652. Soon there appeared a few others including the famous Globe Theatre. Among the writers who worked for these theatres was William Shakespeare, one of the greatest dramatists in any lan­guage. Shakespeare gave his audience great literature but at the same time he gave them popular entertain­ment.

Nowadays people entertain themselves by listening to music, watching TV programmes, films and videos, going to concerts and circus shows but the theatre is still among our favourite entertainments.

Step3

№ 79 к упражнению l

1. — Good evening.

— Good evening.

— I'd like two seats for the morning perfomance on Saturday.

— Yes, sir. Where would you like to sit?

— I'm not sure. I'm taking my daughter with me.

— There's the plan of the hall.

— Hm... I think I'd like to sit in the middle.

— Certainly, sir.

— How much is it in the middle?

— Twenty-five pounds.

— That's fine. What time does the perfomance start?

— At eleven, sir.

2. — Mum, thanks for the dinner. It was really tasty. The fish was so nice.

— I'm glad you liked it, dear. Anything for dessert?

— Yes, a piece of your wonderful apple pie.

3. — What are you doing tonight, Bob? Are you go­ing out?

— I don't think so. I'd rather stay in. There is my favourite opera on at eight.

— What is it?

№ 80 к упражнению 2 Theatre

A theatre is a place where plays are performed by ac­tors and watched by an audience.

The earliest theatres we know about were in Greece where drama in the form of tragedies and comedies was enjoyed by theatre lovers. Greek theatres looked like big stadiums open to the sky but they were so well built that everyone could see and hear the players well. Ro­man theatres looked like Greek theatres. The Romans built a theatre in nearly every large town in the coun­try. Some of the Greek and Roman dramatists are re­membered today and their plays are performed in mod­ern theatres.

№ 81 к упражнению 7

A. B.

1) stalls 10) cloakroom

2)stage 11)foyer

3) balcony 12) box-office

4) gallery 13) buff et

5) rows of seats 14) ballet

6) circle 15) opera

7) curtains 16) programme

8) orchestra-pit 17) opera glasses

9) box 18) costume

№ 82 к упражнению 8А At the Box-office

A: Hello. How can I help you?

B: I'd like two seats for tomorrow.

A: Morning or evening performance?

B: Evening, please.

A: Where do you want your seats?

B: In the stalls, back or middle rows.

A: I am sorry, but the stalls are sold out. We have two good seats in a box at 35 pounds.

B: That's more than I wanted to pay.

A: Then I can offer you two seats in the circle, front row, at 12 pounds.

B: I think I'll take those. Thanks very much.

A: You're welcome.

№ 83 к упражнению 9

А.

Invite, invitation, arrive, arrival, ticket, expensive, fantastic, impress, impression, rise, scenery, ap­plause, applaud, to be over, to go down/up, at last.

B.

invite: to invite sb to/for sth, to invite to the the­atre, to be invited to the performance. Why don't you invite them for supper?

invitation: Nobody in the office received an invita­tion to the party.

arrive: to arrive in/at some place, to arrive home, to arrive at the house, to arrive in the country. They ar­rived in Moscow in late October.

arrival: an early arrival, on arrival, the arrival of the flight. Johnson was arrested on his arrival to New York.

ticket: a cinema ticket, a theatre ticket, a lottery ticket, a match ticket; to get tickets for the game (per­formance, show, concert, trip); to get a train (bus, plane) ticket.

expensive: an expensive car, expensive tastes. My cousin always wears expensive clothes. The seats in the stalls were very expensive.

fantastic: a fantastic idea. It's a fantastic perfor­mance! You've done a fantastic job.

impress: to impress sb. His answer impressed me. I was impressed by what he said.

impression: the first impression, to make an impres­sion on sb. I know you want to make a good impression on everyone you meet.

rise (rose, risen): to rise in the sky, to rise up, to rise from the table. As the sun rose in the sky it became much warmer. Bob rose up and went to the window. The plane rose in the air. Edward finished his meal and rose from the table.

scenery (always singular, no indefinite article): they don't use a lot of scenery in modern performanc­es. The scenery on the stage was really wonderful.

applause: a loud applause, a storm of applause. There was a loud applause at the end of the perfor­mance.

applaud: to applaud a speech, to applaud an actor. The audience laughed and applauded.

to be over: The performance was over at 11 p.m. When are your classes usually over? The meeting was over and everybody went home.

go down (up): The lights went down and the perfor­mance began. The lights went up and we could see the room well.

at last: They have come back at last. At last we got the answer we wanted to get.

№ 84 к упражнению 1 IB