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Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации
ФГБОУ ВПО «Нижегородский государственный педагогический университет
имени Козьмы Минина»
(Мининский университет)
Ю.А. Гаврикова
THEATRE. CINEMA
Учебно-методическое пособие
Нижний Новгород
2014
1
УДК 48 (07)
ББК 81.432.1 р
Г
123
Рецензенты:
кандидат филологических наук, доцент О.А. Орлова
кандидат филологических наук, доцент. Ю.Н. Зинцова
Ю.А.Гаврикова
Theatre. Cinema: Учебно-методическое пособие / Ю.А.Гаврикова. –
Н.Новгород: Мининский университет, 2014. – 93с.
Учебно-методическое пособие содержит аутентичные тексты на английском языке,
разнообразные упражнения для систематизации, обобщения активного словаря по темам и
обеспечения должного уровня формирования речевых навыков.
Данное учебно-методическое пособие предназначено для организации аудиторной и
самостоятельной работы студентов III курса, обучающихся по направлению подготовки
050100.62 «Педагогическое образование», профиль подготовки «Иностранный язык и
дошкольное образование».
Пособие имеет цель формировать все компоненты иноязычной коммуникативной
компетенции (языковой, речевой, социокультурной) на материале тем предусмотренных
программой 3 года обучения: “Theatre”, “Cinema”.
УДК 48 (07)
ББК 81.432.1р
©Ю.А. Гаврикова, 2014
© Мининский университет, 2014
2
Содержание
Theme 1. Theatrical life ……………………………………………………… 4
Theatrical life in Britain ……………………………………………..... 9
Theatrical life of Moscow ……………………………………………. 25
An actor’s skill ……………………………………………………….. 29
Impressions of the performance ……………………………………… 45
Control questions to theme 1 …………………………………………. 51
Theme 2. Cinema ……………………………………………………………. 61
Encountering directors ………………………………………………… 61
A powerful force of the movies ………………………………………. 64
A talk about the cinema ……………………………………………….. 68
Remakes ………………………………………………………………. 76
The genres the movies ………………………………………………… 77
The history of cinema ………………………………………………….. 79
Supplement …………………………………………………………… 82
Control questions to theme 2 ………………………………………… 87
Reference books ……………………………………………………………. 93
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Theme 1
THEATRICAL LIFE
This vocabulary is a sort of introduction into the topic. It is sure to be incomplete. All
the texts and exercises after it enrich the given vocabulary.
principal theatres in professional use
to produce management on a commercial basis
to be on the touring scene
full house
to strike up = to begin playing
to rehearse
rehearsal
to produce / put on / stage a play
to be the first production in the country
the treatment of the play
to be based on smth (novel, story, play)
to be built around smth (realistic / unrealistic happenings)
to tackle (touch upon, take up) a problem
to be highly problematic
a scene is set in France
to be up-to-date / acute
to be evergreen
to be dated / out-of-date
the climax of the play
to be out of place (about the light, the sound effects)
to be of great educational value
to broaden one’s scope / spiritual outlook
to widen one’s vision
to add to the understanding of the world
to give food for thought
4
to be made to think
to find smth hard / easy to follow
to be up to the mark
to arouse one’s curiosity / admiration
to make an unforgettable impression on smb
to worry about the artistic value of smth
to go well from beginning to end
to contain a passionate vein of romantic lyricism
to win unanimously enthusiastic reviews
to be truly authentic
to be the longest-running comedy
to have a long and successful run
to contribute much to the success of the play
to be dull in places
to lack feeling = to be off-colour
to lack fantasy
to be a bore
to grow awkward
to fall flat on smb = to leave smb indifferent
to be a master of psychological analysis
to be a master of intrigue
vivid & real characters
to act one’s part to perfection
to leave a nasty taste in one’s mouth
to beat one’s worst
to be possessed with stage-fright
to be a complete / wretched failure
to be in the prime of one’s talent
to be in full blaze / talent
to burn into one’s memory
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to stand still fresh in one’s memory as if it were yesterday
to appear in the role
to play the male/female lead
to create a galaxy of characters
to act with brilliance, variety and resource
to enjoy an outstanding success
to draw characters by some means
to have genuine wit and vitality
to appreciate smb
an appreciative audience
thunderous / loud / heavy / prolonged /weak / light applause
to applaud most wholeheartedly
to get little applause
to have great applause after each act
a dozen curtain calls
to take (≠give) curtain calls
applause for some actor
to greet smb with a storm of applause
to burst into ovation
to take the house by storm of cries of encore
the warmth of reception / attention
to step onto the stage to the thunderous applause of her admirers
to move (touch) smb to tears
to be touched by the actor’s skill and artistry
to be full of humour
to take smb’s fancy
to watch smth with keen interest
to watch the performance hardly breathing
to be charmed with smth
to feel at ease / ill at ease
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to have / give a good write-up
to raise oneself from the position of a beginner to the position of a star
to give smb a new star
to consult a theatre column in the newspaper
to try the box-office at the very last moment
to stage classical and modern plays
to present a mixed repertoire
to be appreciative, responsive, enthusiastic
to have a hearty laugh
to be greatly impressed by smth
to completely forget oneself at times
to be dying to see the new staging of…
to find the whole performance commonplace
to find the whole thing dragged out
never to expect the play to be so silly
to be a sheer/mere waste of time
to feel like walking out
audience was (about the whole hall)
audience were (people)
to be with the audience
to be (un)conscious of the audience
to arouse great interest and unanimous praise of the public and critics
to captivate the audience
to hold the attention of the public
to grip the audience and to keep it gripped
to keep the audience awake / surprised / on their toes / in suspense
to identify with a role / to transform into the role /
to penetrate deeply into the inner world of…/
to live the life of the personage / to take on the core (essence) of the role
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a keen ballet- (music, opera) lover (goer, fan)
prima-ballerina
to lend itself well to dancing (the music)
to dance with supreme grace and perfect ease
to rise to the summits of choreography
to achieve complete mastery of dancing (acting, etc.) technique
to have a good ear for music
to be able to detect a slightest discord
to grate on one’ ears
to be in splendid voice
to be out of tune
to strike up the overture
to throw kisses
Now have a look how these words and word-combinations can be used.
Besides, there are a great number of other vocabulary items which may help you
speak on the topics that centre around Theatre and Cinema. Welcome to their magic
world.
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Theatrical life in Britain
DRAMA, MUSIC AND BALLET IN BRITAIN
The centre of theatrical activity in Britain is London. There are about 50
principal theatres in professional use in or near the West End and some 20 in the
suburbs.
Most of these are let to producing managements on a commercial basis but
some of them are permanently occupied by subsidized companies, such as the
National Theatre which stages classical and modern plays in its complex of three
theatres on the South Bank of the River Thames. The former Old Vic Company,
which was Britain's major theatrical touring company, has now taken up residence in
the National Theatre, changing its name to the National Theatre Company. In
addition the Royal Shakespeare Company presents Shakespearean
plays in
Stratford-upon-Avon and a mixed repertoire in London.
Outside London there are many non-repertory theatres which present all kinds
of drama and also put on variety shows and other entertainments. Recently there has
been a growth in the activity of repertory companies which receive financial support
from the Arts Council and the local authorities. These companies employ leading
producers, designers and actors, and the standard of productions is generally high.
Some companies have their own theatres, while others rent from the local authorities.
Music of all kinds — pop music, folk music, jazz, light music and brass bands
— is an important part of British cultural life. The large audiences at orchestral
concerts and at performances of opera, ballet and chamber music reflect the
widespread interest in classical music.
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, which receives financial
assistance from the Arts Council, gives regular seasons of opera and ballet. It has its
own orchestra which plays for the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet.
Both
companies have a high international reputation. The English National Opera which
performs in the London Coliseum gives seasons of opera and operetta in English. It
also tours the provinces.
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There are several thousand amateur dramatic societies in Britain. Most
universities have thriving amateur drama clubs and societies. Every year an
International festival of University Theatre is held.
(from Britain 1983. Lnd., 1984)
Notes:
principal theatres in professional use – buildings meant for the performance of
plays by professional companies
to produce management on a commercial basis – in England (including
London) only a few theatres have their own permanent company (they are called
repertory theatres)
repertory theatres – theatrical companies are usually formed for a season,
sometimes staging only one play for either a long or a short run, their managements
having previously rented a theatre for them to perform in the so-called non-repertory
theatres
I. Answer the following questions:
A. 1. What is the centre of theatrical activity in Great Britain? 2. Which
theatrical companies receive financial support from the Arts Council? 3. What is
meant by a repertory theatre? 4. What do you know about the Royal Shakespeare
Company? 5. What kind of performances are staged in the Royal Opera House? 6.
Arc there many theatres in or near the West (East) End of London? 7. What kind of
music is popular in England? 8. Are there any amateur theatres in Great Britain? 9.
What leading actors of the British theatre do you know?
B. 1. How is the Russian theatre organized? 2. What Russian theatres are best
known in Russia and abroad? 3. Is attendance at our theatres high? 4. How many
times a month (a year) do you go to the theatre? 5. Are there any amateur theatres in
Russia?
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II.
1. Match adjectives with appropriate nouns
Adjectives
Nouns
theatrical
music
mixed
seasons
subsidized
authorities
professional
theatres
financial
drama
chamber
societies
regular
company
amateur
audiences
orchestral
support
principal
concerts
local
repertoire
international
run
thriving
activity
short
company
permanent
clubs
large
use
reputation
2. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and adverbs where necessary:
a theatre __ professional use
to produce management __ a commercial basis
to be occupied __ companies
to stage __ modern plays
to take __ residence __ the theatre
to present the play __ a famous theatre
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to present play __ a famous playhouse
to put __ marvelous entertainment
a growth __ the activity __ various companies
to reflect __ the widespread interest __ classic music
to rent accommodation __ authorities
to employ __ leading actors
to tour __ the provinces
to form __ a season
to rent __ a theatre
3. You are a beginning actor. Your problem is to decide whether to make
your career in a repertory or non-repertory theater. Formulate all possible pros
and cons to both variants of solution, using the Oblique Mood Structures
Model: If the producer of the repertory theater employed me, I
would be in cast of a permanent company.
4. Make up a discussion between two English actors, working at London
theatres of different kinds. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of working
conditions.
Read the following dialogues and make a list of all the words you would
associate with visiting the theatre, booking the seats and a slight description of
one of the theatrical performances.
AT THE BOX-OFFICE
- I want four seats for Sunday, please.
~ Matinee or evening performance?
- Evening, please.
~ Well, you can’t have very good seats in the stalls. Row F.
- Oh, no! It’s near the orchestra-pit. My wife can’t stand loud music.
~ Then I could find you some seat in the pit.
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- I’m afraid that won’t do either. My father-in-law is terribly shortsighted. He
wouldn’t see much from the pit, would he?
~ Hm... Perhaps, you’d care to take a box?
- Certainly not! It’s too expensive. I can’t afford it.
~ Dress-circle then?
-
I don’t like to sit in the dress-circle.
~ I’m afraid the only thing that remains is the gallery.
- How can you suggest such a thing! My mother-in-law is a stout woman with
a weak heart. We couldn’t dream of letting her walk up four flights of stairs, could
we?
~ I find, sir, that there isn’t a single seat in the house that
would
suit
you.
- There isn’t, is there? Well, I think we’d much better go to the movies. As for
me, I don’t care much for this theatre-going business. Good day!
BEFORE GOING TO THE THEATRE
Alice: What about going to the theatre on Sunday? The Royal Theatre is doing
a new play.
Jane: Great! Do you think we’ll manage to get tickets? I know that plays
staged by this theatre arouse great interest of the public.
Alice: You are quite right, but I've already booked seats by phone.
Jane: Oh, it's wonderful! Is it a matinee or an evening performance?
Alice. It's an evening performance. I don't like matinees. There are many
children attending these performances and they are very noisy.
Jane: Where shall we sit?
Alice. In the pit stalls. You’d better take opera glasses.
Jane: Yes, of course. Shall we meet outside the theatre at 7:15?
Alice: It suits me perfectly.
Jane: Then it's settled. Good-bye.
Words: gallery, interval, lighting, matinee, orchestra-pit, pit, producer,
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production, the setting of a scene, light and sound effects, a play, properties (props),
repertoire, a row, stage-manager, stalls, (theatre-) house, treatment
PANTOMIMES
Sally: Tony, there’s an advertisement in the local paper saying that the theatre
in the High Street is putting on “Cinderella”. I haven't seen a pantomime for years
and years. Do you fancy going?
Tony: Yes, that sounds good. I don't think I've seen one since I was about
fourteen — except for one on ice when I was crazy about skating, and that's not quite
the same thing, is it?
Sally: No. Ice shows don’t have all the wonderful traditional scenery and that
gorgeous theatre atmosphere.
Tony: Pantomimes are awfully old, if you think about it, aren't they? I mean
with a girl playing the part of the principal boy, all dressed up in tights and tunic.
Sally: Mm, and the dame parts taken by men. I've never seen “Cinderella”. I
suppose the stepmother and the ugly sisters are the men's parts in that.
Tony: Aladdin used to be my favourite, when a comedian played the Widow
Twankey. And when Aladdin rubbed the magic lamp an enormous genie appeared.
Sally: And the audience booing the wicked uncle, and joining in the singing of
the popular songs they always manage to get into the play somehow.
Tony: Yes! I wonder how on earth they manage to fit today’s pop songs into
pantomime stories.
Sally: Well, why don't we get tickets and find out?
Tony: Yes, OK. Come on, then.
THE PROCESS OF STAGING A PLAY
It takes quite a number of people to put on a play. The treatment of a play, the
style of the production, the training of the performers depend on the director (also
called by some people producer in Great Britain). The stage-manager is the person in
charge of the technical part of the production of a play. There are also make-up
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artists, people who make the costumes, those who design the props and scenery, and,
finally, stage hands.
The actors taking part in the play are called the cast (cf. the Russian «состав
исполнителей»).
THE HOUSE
The house – the part of the theatre which has a stage and seats for the
audience is called auditorium or house (also: theatre-house).
The long rows of chairs situated on the ground floor of the auditorium in front
of the stage are called the stalls (front rows) and the pit (back rows).
The stalls and the pit are surrounded by boxes. There are also some balconies
encircling the auditorium on three sides. The lowest of them coming immediately
above the boxes is called the dress-circle and the highest (somewhere near the
ceiling of the house) is known as the gallery. In most theatres the seats for the
audience are separated from the stage by the orchestra- pit. In some theatres,
however, there is no orchestra-pit, and the musicians are placed behind the
scenes (back-stage). The sides of the stage and the scenery placed there are
called wings.
I. Find out the meaning of the following words using the picture below:
1. stage; 2. footlights; 3. orchestra; 4. orchestra stalls; 5. pit stalls; 6. box;
7. dress circle; 8. upper, circle / balcony; 9. gallery; 10. curtain
II. Read the following and either agree or disagree with the statements.
(See the Reminder below):
1. The house is the part of the theatre where the members of the orchestra
usually sit. 2. An auditorium is a building or a part of a building in which the
audience sit. 3. The audience includes both spectators and actors. 4. When the
audience is pleased it keeps silent. 5. We say "the house is full" when not all the seats
in the auditorium are occupied. 6. The pit is nearer to the stage than the stalls.7. You
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prefer seats in the gallery, don't you? 8. Wings are the sides of a stage with the
scenery. 9. You wouldn't like to go behind the stage, I believe. 10. The cheapest seats
are in the boxes. 11. The most expensive seats are in the orchestra stalls. 12. Students
always buy seats in the orchestra stalls. 13. By the cast of the play we mean all the
actors belonging to the theatrical company. 14. The role of the producer is not very
important. 15. You don't know who Stanislavski was, I believe. 16. It doesn't take
many people to produce a play. 13. I believe you clap to show your appreciation
of the acting or the play as a whole.
Reminder: Beyond all doubt: I should think so: I won't deny it: Most likely: I
disagree with you: On the contrary; You are wrong; Just the other way round: Not
me! By no means.
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VOCABULARY WORK
I. Translate from Russian into English:
1. Будучи страстным любителем оперы, я бы хотел купить 5 билетов на
субботу.
2. Боюсь, места в партере также не подойдут, поскольку моя жена не переносит
громкую музыку.
3. Не стоит даже и говорить о местах в ложе, мы не можем себе этого
позволить.
4. Я не могу не восхищаться великолепной хореографией танцоров. Они были
так убедительны, что мы не могли удержаться от освистывания противных
отрицательных героев.
5. Роль режиссера в постановке очень велика, поскольку интерпретация пьесы,
стиль постановки, подготовка актеров зависит от него. Именно он в ответе за
все детали.
6. Почему бы не заказать билеты по телефону.
7. Я бы предпочел сходить на вечернее представление, поскольку много детей
посещают утренники и поэтому в зале слишком шумно.
8. Если бы я не был таким близоруким, мне не пришлось бы брать бинокль во
время антракта.
II. Fill in the gaps with prepositions where necessary, translate the wordcombinations into Russian and make up sentences with the active grammar:
1. principal theatres … professional use
2. to be let … producing managements … a commercial basis
3. to put … variety shows
4. a growth … the activity … production
5. to rent … a theatre … the local authorities
6. to reflect … the widespread interest … classical music
7. to tour … the provinces
8. to be formed … a season
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9. to stage … a play … a short run
10. to book a seat … the pit
11. to sit … the dress-circle
12. to care … this theatre-going business
III. Insert necessary adjectives from the list below:
1. Ice shows can’t have such … … scenery and that ... theatre atmosphere.
2. It must have been a girl, playing the part of the ... boy, as the ... parts were
taken by men.
3. The performance wouldn’t win the universal acclaim but for the pop songs
fitted into ... stories.
4. Thanks to ... support from the Arts Council...theatres can afford hiring ...
producers, designers and actors.
5. Why not attend a ... performance done by a ... company, arousing usually …
interest of the public.
Adjectives: traditional, celebrated, pantomime, dame, wonderful, first-night,
financial, gorgeous, principal
IV. Extend the following, using suggested phrases in brackets:
1. But for the financial support from the Arts Council the standard of productions of
repertory theatres wouldn’t be so high ... (leading producers, modern designers and
talented actors, to rent playhouses).
2. Music of all kinds – pop music, folk music, brass bands – is an important of
British cultural life ... (widespread interest, classical music).
3. There are several thousand amateur dramatic societies in Britain ... (amateur
drama clubs and societies).
4. The non-repertory theatres must be quite a different organization from our
traditional Russian theatre (to form for a season, temporary).
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5. It’s no easy matter to decide on a best seat in a house, taking into
consideration all the pros and cons. If I were you (boxes).
6. The director is in charge of so many things about a production (treatment,
style, training).
THEATRES, MUSIC-HALLS AND CINEMAS IN BRITAIN
Theatres are very much the same in London as anywhere else; the chief
theatres, music-halls and cinemas are in the West End. If you are staying in London
for a few days, you have no difficulty whatever in finding somewhere to spend an
enjoyable evening. You find opera, ballet, comedy, drama, revue, musical comedy
and variety.
Films are shown in the cinema during the greater part of the day. The best seats
at theatres are those in the stalls, the circle and the upper circle. Then comes the pit,
and last of all the gallery where the seats are the cheapest. Boxes, of course, are the
most expensive. Most theatres and music-halls have good orchestras with popular
conductors. You ought to make a point of going to the opera at least once during the
season if you can. There you can get the best of everything – an excellent orchestra,
famous conductors, celebrated singers and a well-dressed audience. But, of course, if
you are not fond of music and singing, opera won’t interest you.
At the West End theatres you can see many of the most famous English actors
and actresses. As a rule, the plays are magnificently staged – costumes, scenery,
everything being done on the most lavish scale.
Choose a good play, and you enjoy yourself thoroughly from the moment the
curtain goes up to the end of the last act.
Get your seat beforehand either at the box-office of the theatre itself or at one
of the agencies. When you go to a theatre, you probably want to sit as near to the
stage as possible. But if you are at a cinema, you may prefer to sit some distance from
the screen. In fact, I would say the further away the better.
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VOCABULARY WORK
I. Translate from English into Russian:
the chief theaters, revue, musical, comedy, variety, stalls, (upper) circle,
gallery, conductor, to enjoy oneself thoroughly, to get a seat beforehand, to make a
point of going to the opera
II. Match the adjectives and nouns; translate the word- combinations into
Russian:
Adjectives
Nouns
enjoyable
conductors
musical
singers
excellent
plays
famous
evening
celebrated
orchestra
well-dressed
comedy
III. Imagine as if you were not sure concerning the peculiarity of London
theatrical life, thus make up suppositions about the cultural life in London and
continue your idea using the str. But for
Example: The musical comedy must be one of the most favourite performances
in London. But for it full houses wouldn’t reflect the wide popularity of such shows.
IV. Substitute the underlined phrases by their synonyms:
1. When in Moscow one finds it difficult to decide which theatre to choose.
Newspapers and colour posters tell you what goes at different theaters. Moscow
theaters are highly appreciated all over the world.
2. There are special theaters, presenting marvelous performances for children, often
visited by adults as well as their offspring.
3. It’s next to impossible to get tickets for a premiere, so you’d better try to book
them beforehand.
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4. But it’s a brilliant idea to enjoy yourself thoroughly watching the acting of a
company that interests and is praised by public and critics.
5. No wonder that public is so mesmerized, watching the legendary actors entering
the stage and making the public plunge into the enchanting world of imagination.
V. Complete the sentences using the suggested phrases in brackets:
1. The West End is known to be the centre of London cultural life, that's why having
come on a visit ... (an enjoyable evening).
2. Wishing to enjoy the artistry of the London actors you can choose the seats at a
theatre (the stalls, the circle, boxes).
3. If you were a devoted music-lover (to make a point of going...)
4. I can't but jump at the chance visiting opera (an excellent orchestra, famous
conductors, and celebrated singers, to get the best of everything).
5. The play left a lasting impression on me ... (to be done on the most lavish scale).
6. Getting the seats at a theatre, choose a seat as near to the stage as possible. If you
were at a cinema ... (to sit some distance from the screen).
VI. Give definitions to the following words:
opera, ballet, comedy, drama, revue, musical comedy, variety, a conductor,
scenery, a box-office.
VII. Make up a situation using the key-words:
to spend an enjoyable evening
to make a point of going to...
to get the beat of everything
celebrated singers and well-dressed audience
to be magnificently staged
to be done on the most lavish scale
to enjoy oneself thoroughly from the moment the curtain goes up...
to get the tickets beforehand
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LONDON THEATRES
Now skim through a series of short texts which will guide you through the
richly varied world of London’s theatreland and answer these questions:
- What stage did Dyaghilev’s ballet company perform on?
- What is the second name of the Royal Opera House (ROH)?
- Who do these lines belong to: “I want the State theatre to be what St. Paul's
and Westminster Abbey are to religion...”?
- Who was the first artistic director of the National Theatre (NT)? Where’s the
Royal Shakespeare Company's spiritual home?
- At what theatre did the drama revolution of 1956 take place? What was the
name of the production?
1. London Theatres are steeped in history. The majority of them were built in
the second half of the 19-th century, but the history of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
stretches back over three hundred years. Today’s Theatre Royal, with seating for well
over 2.000, was opened in 1812. This is the theatre of great actors of the past like
David Garrick and Edmund Kean. Dyaghilev's Russian ballet came to Drury Lane in
1913. Since the war, Drury Lane has been the glamorous setting for all the great
musicals such as "Oklahoma", "My Fair Lady" and "Hello, Dolly".
2. Two other Theatre Royals, the Opera House in Covent Garden and the
Haymarket, have their own special brand of historic magic. At the Haymarket, tea is
still served in the stalls on mid-week matinee days. Throughout the twentieth century
the Haymarket has had a reputation for outstanding productions of works by
contemporary playwrights as well as from the classical repertoire. The Royal Opera
House stands almost inside Covent Garden and because of its location as it is usually
referred to simply as “Covent Garden”. The first Covent Garden Theatre was built in
1732. It was more a theatre of drama than opera. Yet many of Handel's operas were
performed here for the first time. The famous singers Caruso and Chaliapin sang here
many times. Now the theatre is busier than ever: it is one of the few well-known
opera houses open for eleven months in the year and it employs over 600 people both
22
of the Opera company and the Royal Ballet.
3. In 1938 Bernard Shaw wrote: "I want the State theatre to be what St. Pauls's
and Westminster Abbey are to religion – something to show what the thing can be at
its best, is what the National Theatre is. The new National Theatre opened its doors in
1976. Since then it has been an undoubted success with the public. The NT is three
theatres in one complex: the Olivier, the Littleton and the Cottesloe. The Olivier is
similar to the great amphitheatres of Ancient Greece. It is named after National’s first
artistic director, Sir Laurence Olivier. Here you can see the best of the classical
repertory. In the Littleton there are new plays by leading English playwrights and the
best of continental theatre. It bears the name of the first chairman Olivier Littleton.
The Cottesloe houses more avant-garde plays. It was named after Lord Cottesloe,
first chairman of the South Bank Board.
4. The Royal Shakespeare Company perform modem classics at the Barbican
Centre, as well as importing man of the successful Shakespeare productions from
their theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC’s spiritual home, where Shakespeare is
played virtually all the year round.
5. No theatre can survive without new playwrights to feed it. The most
important venue for all that is new and experimental in British playwriting over the
past thirty years has been the Royal Court. It was here that John Osborne’s “Look
Back in Anger” transformed the British theatre in 1956: here also Britain's bestknown modern playwrights such as Arnold Wesker, David Storey, Christopher
Hampton and Howard Brenton first came to prominence. The Royal Court is the
spiritual home of all aspiring playwrights.
Notes
Drury Lane ['dru:ri 'lein] – a street in London.
Handel, George Frederick (1685 - 1759) – a German-born British composer.
the Barbican Centre – a unique development which under one roof provides a
combination of facilities for arts and conferences
spiritual – of the spirit or soul
aspiring (from “to aspire”) – to be filled with high ambition
23
Related Activities
Write out from the texts above the names of London's theatres.
Imagine you were going to stay in London for a week or so and had to decide
on a theatre to visit. Account for your choice.
Find a fuller description of one of the theatres in Great Britain and tell your
fellow-students about it.
Follow Up Activities
1. Buy a postcard view of one of your local theatres. Write a short text about the
theatre for your pen-friend.
2. Make up a list, information and guide of your local theatres.
I. Translate from Russian into English:
уходить в историю (о корнях), тянуться (о времени), мест более чем 2000,
особый шарм истории, современный драматург, репертуар (2), изменять,
духовный, заимствовать постановки, становиться знаменитым, размещаться.
II. Insert the necessary adjectives from the list below:
1. Drury Lane has been the … setting for celebrated musicals.
2. The Opera House in … Garden has its own … brand of … magic.
3. At the Haymarket tea is still served in the stalls on … days.
4. The National Theatre has been on … success with the public.
5. The Olivier offers the best of the … repertory.
6. In the Littleton new plays by … English playwrights are staged.
7. The Cottesloe houses … plays are on, they are new, fresh, unpredictable and … .
8. The Royal Court is … home for all … playwrights.
Prompts: leading, aspiring, glamorous, matinee, classical, special, avantgarde, historic, undoubted, experimental, spiritual.
24
Theatrical life in Moscow
Read the following text and pick up the vocabulary you will use to speak
about theatrical life of your native city (the city you live in).
MOSCOW THEATRES
When in Moscow, one finds himself in a difficult situation as it is no easy
matter to decide which theatre to choose. Newspapers and posters tell you what is on
at different playhouses. The repertoires of the theatres usually offer us a wide choice
of plays – modern and classical, by Russian as well as by foreign playwrights. There
would be no mistake to say that our theatres rank with the best theatres of the world
and arouse great interest and unanimous praise of the public and critics.
Grown-up people prefer to attend evening performances, while children are
admitted only to matinees. There are special theatres for young people, too. Some of
them though are frequented by grown-ups as well. This can be said about the famous
Obraztsov Puppet Theatre.
If you go to the Moscow Art Theatre, the “Sovremennik”, the Vakhtangov
Theatre you will have a real treat enjoying the artistry of superb actors and actresses
doing the leads. To amuse yourself and have a good laugh you'd better go to the
Moscow Satire Theatre.
For passionate music-lovers there is the legendary Bolshoi Theatre with its
marvellous ballets and magnificent operas.
It is always difficult to get tickets for the above mentioned theatres even if you
try to book them in advance. But it is especially hard to get tickets for a first-night
performance or a production of a celebrated foreign company which has come on tour
to our country. In this case tickets are likely to be sold out long before, and you are
sure to see a sold-out sign posted up over the box-office.
If you have a stroke of luck and manage to get a ticket, in the evening you enter
the theatre which is alive and warm with preparation. Soon the last bell rings, the
lights go down, the hall plunges into a soft darkness. The conductor raises his baton,
the overture sets in, the curtain goes up and the actors step onto the stage, they step
25
into a magic world of art.
Answer the questions:
1. What Moscow theatres are mentioned in the text?
2. What theatre would you go to when in Moscow?
a. if you wanted to amuse yourself;
b. if you wanted to enjoy an intriguing drama;
c. if you were a passionate music-lover?
Notes on the Text
playwright – a person who writes plays
to arouse – to awaken from sleep; to excite: to arouse smb's anger/indignation,
suspicion, curiosity, criticism
E.g. The noise aroused her from her sleep.
His manner of speech aroused her indignation.
Compare: to rise (rose, risen) (of the sun, moon, stars) – to appear above the
horizon; to get up from a lying, sitting or kneeling position; to go, come up or higher,
to reach a high(er) level or position.
E.g. The sun rises in the East.
The wounded man was too weak to rise.
The curtain rose.
to raise v – to lift up; to move from a low(er) to high(er) level; to cause to rise
or appear, to bring up for discussion or attention.
She raised her glass to her lips. He raised his voice.
He raised a new point / a protest / an objection.
to attend vt – to be present at some meeting, performance, lecture, etc.
Synonyms:
to call (on) – to pay a short visit to someone.
to visi – to pay an official visit (of inspection) or to
interest
to frequent – to go often to some place
a matinee n – a performance held in the morning
26
see some place of
music-lover n – a person who loves music
VOCABULARY WORK
I. Choose the right word from the list: attend, call on, visit, frequent
1. Have you ever... New York?
2. Please don't... between 10 and 13 a.m.
3. Which course do you think I should ...?
4. She ... the fashionable shopping centers.
5. If you've half an hour to spare, I'd like ... an old friend.
6. He has been ... her house a lot recently. Are you engaged?
7. The class... a local factory.
8. His lectures were always well....
9. Music-lovers ... orchestral concerts.
10. I haven't... since we quarrelled.
II. Give the translation and the explanation to the words:
a repertoire, a playhouse, a playwright, a matinee, artistry, a first-night
performance, a baton, an overture, a critic, a box-office, a lead, celebrated
III. Translate the word-combinations. Reproduce the sentences from the
text where they were used:
to be no easy matter to decide, to rank with the best theatres of the world, to
arouse great interest, unanimous praise, to attend matinees, to be frequented by
grown-ups, to have a real treat, to do the leads, to amuse yourself and have a good
laugh, to book them in advance, to get tickets for a first-night performance, to have a
stroke of luck, to manage to get a ticket, to step onto the stage, to be on at a
playhouse
IV. Match the adjectives and the nouns and use the word-combinations in
sentences with active grammar:
27
Adjectives
Nouns
modern
praise
unanimous
actor
evening
theatre
superb
plays
legendary
ballets
marvellous
operas
celebrated
performances
passionate
company
magnificent
music-lover
foreign
playwrights
V. Fill in the gaps with prepositions:
1. The repertoires ... the theatres offer us a wide choice ... plays – modern and
classical, ... Russian and foreign playwrights.
2. Our Russian theatres rank ... the best theatres ... the world.
3. Grown-up people prefer to attend ... performances, while children are
4. admitted only ... matinees.
5. It’s next to impossible to get tickets ... a first-night performance, so
6. try to book them ... advance.
7. The marvelous theatre is famous ... all over the world ... outstanding artistry ... the
company.
8. Hardly had the overture set... when the actors step ... the stage.
9. I’ve never seen any production ... the celebrated foreign company, having come ...
tour... our city.
VI. Answer the questions, using the key-words given in the brackets:
1. What difficult situation would you face if you were a passionate theatre-lover in
Moscow? (no easy matter, to be on at different playhouses)
2. What kind of repertoires do Moscow theatres offer? (a wide choice, as well as by
28
foreign playwrights)
3. What is the reputation of Russian theatres in the world? (to rank with,
4. to arouse interest and praise)
5. Would you visit a matinee if you were suggested? (evening performance, to
frequent)
6. Are there different types of theatres for different generations? (special theatres, to
be frequented by grown-ups, the famous Obraztsov Puppet Theatre)
7. What Moscow theatres would you choose if you wanted to have a real treat? (to
enjoy the artistry of superb actors, to amuse yourself, to have a good laugh)
8. What performances would you hardly buy tickets for just before the beginning of
the show? (to book them in advance, for a first-night performance, a celebrated
company)
9. Why would it be so difficult to get tickets for a show of a famous foreign
company, if it came on tour to our country? (to be sold out long before, to book... in
advance)
10. What is the atmosphere in a playhouse like? (alive and warm with preparations, to
plunge into darkness)
11. How does the performance begin? (to raise one’s baton, to set in, to go up, to step
onto the stage, to step into a magic world of art)
An actor’s skill.
SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER'S INTERVIEW
- How has television affected the theatre?
~ Well, its popularity means that millions of people take drama for granted.
With hours every week, the viewer can have a bellyful of drama. If you’re going to
attract a man and his wife away from their TV set on a winter's night, and hold them
to a play in a theatre, you've got to grip them and to keep them gripped. Now you do
have certain advantages in the theatre. The telly is perfect for the things that have
been specially built for it. But the TV screen cannot give the peculiar condition of the
theatre, where we are allowed to get back to life-size people in relation.
29
- Is there a particular hobby-horse that you ride in your work as actor and
director?
~ I rely greatly on rhythm. I think that is one thing I understand –
the
exploitation of rhythm, change of speed of speech, change of time, change of
expression, change of pace in crossing the stage. Keep the audience surprised, shout
when they are not expecting it, keep them on their toes – change from minute to
minute. What is the main problem of an actor? It is to keep the audience awake.
- How true is it that an actor should identify with a role?
~ I don't know. I can only speak for myself. And in my case it is not “should”,
it's “must”. I just do. I can't help it. In my case I feel I am who I am playing. And I
think, though I speak only from my own experience, that the actor must identify to
some extent with his part.
In “Othello” the passage from the handkerchief scene through to flinging the
money in Emylia's face is, pound by pound, the heaviest burden I know that has been
laid upon me yet by a dramatist.
And Macbeth. Do you know what is the first thing to learn about playing
Macbeth? To get through the performance without losing your voice.
I. Read the text, think of the interesting questions on Sir Oliver's
interview.
II. Translate the word-combinations from English into Russian and
explain their meaning:
to take drama for granted, to have a bellyful of drama, to hold to a play in a
theatre, to grip the audience, to keep the audience gripped, to give a peculiar
condition of the theatre, to ride a particular hobby-horse in one’s work, to keep the
audience surprised, to identify with a role, to speak for himself, the exploitation of
rhythm
III. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and make up sentences with active
grammar:
to keep the public ... their toes, to attract audience ... ... their IV, to rely ...
30
rhythm, to take drama ... granted, to hold public ... a play ... a theatre, to change ...
minute ... minute, to identify ... a role, to speak ... one’s own experience
IV. Complete the sentences, using the given word-combinations:
1. If you are going to attract a man and his wife from their TV set, you’d better …
2. Why not perfect your artistic skills and raise yourself from the position of a
beginner to the position of a star, in this case you ...
3. No doubt, the TV screen cannot give the peculiar condition of the theatre, that...
4. The exploitation of rhythm is a particular hobby-horse of Olivier, his idea is ...
5. The main problem of an actor is ...
6. To keep the audience gripped an actor must...
_____________________________________________________
to identify to some extent with his part; to keep the audience surprised and to
keep them on their toes; to keep them and to keep them gripped; to get back to lifesize people in relation; to hold the audience to your play in a theatre; to keep the
audience awake.
V. Find the synonyms to the following words:
to keep the audience awake
to identify with a role
true-to-life image
splendid (about the performance)
VI. Make up a list of advice by Olivier, how to perfect your role
SIR LAURENCE OLIVIER
Sir Laurence Olivier is world-famous for his outstanding artistic achievement
in the theatre and cinema. He directed stage and film productions that are considered
the most difficult ones in the world's repertoire. If you saw him on the stage you
would understand why he is constantly attracting the best critics’ attention. If you
saw him on the screen you would not forget the images he created.
In his work as actor and director there is some particular method, or rather his
31
own approach to acting. He relies greatly on rhythm – that is change of speed of
speech, change of expression, change of place in crossing the stage, being not so
particular about the costume or make-up. He is constantly changing because he wants
to keep the audience awake.
He wouldn't change every minute if he didn't want the public to respond. In this
he follows the advice given many years ago by Feodor Chaliapin to an actor: “Never
do what the audience expects you to do.”
Olivier is sure that no tricks will make an actor great. He is regarded as a
distinguished actor because he has qualities that widen your vision and add to your
understanding of the world. These qualities are: thorough knowledge of the play in
which he is performing, artistic imagination, physical, intellectual and spiritual
strength, a sense of display and an ability to identify with a role, or, in other words, to
take on the core of the character.
For Olivier identification with a role, a complete transformation into a
character is not a “should”, it is a “must”. He can't understand other famous actors
who in the middle of their monologues about passion, power, and death are
wondering what they would like to have for supper. He wouldn't be able to play if he
began to think about such things. Olivier is always interested in what agitates the
soul. It may seem curious what he himself says about it: “Even if I were not an actor I
would be interested in what agitates the
soul. If you want to excite people you
should know what makes them respond, what makes them agitated. So when I'm
going to play a part first of all I ask myself what kind of man my character is, and
what there is about him that might excite people. And if I couldn’t imagine the entire
man, the whole mind of title character, if I didn't feel I am that man whom I am going
to play, I wouldn’t be able to play”. With such a particular approach to acting it is no
wonder that Olivier has created many unforgettable characters, among them –
Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Doctor Astrov, Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, to
mention just a few. As Titus Olivier's terrifying quietness is quiet at the core of a
hurricane. His fury is the fury of the storm in his mind. Just as his Lear is associated
with the storm wind so his Titus is associated with the sea. When we hear Olivier
32
deliver a speech the impression is that you not only grasp the image in the character's
mind, but the pronounced words reveal the reality hidden under the surface of things.
To display the character vividly, to make us feel what is happening under the
surface, using different, unexpected modulations of the voice, using particular but
natural gestures, changing paces and expression, conveying any tiny emotion is a
very difficult task for an actor. Olivier copes with it splendidly. His ability to take on
the essence of the character is the key to his magic. This ability creates miracles on
the stage and on the screen.
VOCABULARY WORK
I. Translate the word-combinations and reproduce the sentences from the
text:
an approach to acting, to be particular about one’s costume, to make an actor
great, to be regarded as a distinguished actor, to widen one’s vision, to take on the
core of the character, to agitate the soul, to make smb. respond, to deliver a speech, to
display a character vividly, to take on the essence of the character, to hide under the
surface of things
II. Match the attributes with appropriate nouns and translate them into
Russian and make up the sentences with the Oblique Moods:
Adjectives
Nouns
outstanding
achievement
artistic
characters
stage
actor
distinguished
transformation
spiritual
modulations
complete
strength
entire
imagination
particular
productions
unexpected
knowledge
unforgettable
gestures
33
natural
emotion
tiny
approach
thorough
man
III. Complete the sentences:
1. Sir Laurence Olivier is world-famous for...
2. He directed stage and film productions that...
3. He relies greatly on rhythm - that is ...
4. He is constantly changing, because ...
5. Olivier is sure that...
6. He is regarded as a distinguished actor, as he has qualities that...
7. There is a “must” Olivier sticks to, it’s...
8. He supposes that if an actor wants to excite people, he ...
9. Due to his own particular approach Olivier has created ...
10. The most difficult task for an actor is ...
11. The key to Olivier’s magic is ...
IV. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and adverbs, where necessary and
make up sentences with active grammar.
to be world-famous ... achievement, to see him ... the stage or... the screen, to
rely ... rhythm and change ... pace ... crossing the stage, to be particular... the makeup, a sense ... display, to identify ... a role, to take ... the core ... the character, a
complete transformation ... a character, to agitate ... the soul, to excite ... people, to
happen ... the surface, to take ... the essence ... the character, a key ... one’s magic
V. Complete the sentences using the prompts in the brackets:
1. Sir Laurence Olivier wouldn’t have become world famous and wouldn’t attract the
best critics’ attention, if ... (artistic achievement,
2. difficult film productions)
3. He wouldn’t manage to keep the public gripped, if ... (to rely on rhythm, that is...)
4. If he didn’t want public to respond (to change from minute to minute)
34
5. He wouldn’t be regarded as a distinguished actor, if he hadn’t some special
qualities (vision, understanding)
6. If identification with a role, a complete transportation into a character were not a
“must” for Olivier, he ... (to agitate one’s soul, to respond)
7. If he couldn’t imagine the entire man, the whole mind of the character, he ... (to
create unforgettable images)
8. If the actor didn’t use unexpected modulation of the voice, using particular but
natural gestures, he ... (to display the personage vividly)
9. The actor wouldn’t make us feel what is happening under the surface, if … (to take
on the essence of the character)
10. But for his ability to identify with a role, the actor ... (to take on the core of the
character).
VI. Answer the questions:
1. Why does the work of Olivier attract the best critics’ attention?
2. What does the word “rhythm” mean for the actor?
3. What is the main idea of Olivier’s constant changing?
4. What are the qualities that widen our vision and add to our understanding of the
world?
5. Why is identification with a role so important for Olivier?
6. Would Olivier be interested in psychology if he were not an actor?
7. What is important for him to create a plausible image?
8. What is the most difficult task for an actor?
9. What is the key to Olivier’s magic?
10. What unforgettable characters did the actor create on the stage?
VII. Write out the phrases to describe the most precious qualities of an
actor. Describe a successful performance by an actor, who must have all the
above mentioned qualities. Being an amateur critic, use modal phrases in order
35
to underline your diffidence.
Example: His outstanding feeling of the role must have widened his vision and
added to his understanding of the world.
VIII. Write out the words, explaining the idea of the phrase “identification
with a role”, given in the text. Explain the success of Sir Laurence Olivier, using
the Oblique Moods, understanding that but for his particular approach he
wouldn’t have become so popular.
THEATRE
after W.S. Maugham
Julia Lambert, a middle-aged woman, is a famous actress. She falls in love
with Thomas Fenriell who soon leaves her for A vice Crichton, a young girl wishing
to become an actress. Tom asks Julia for a helping hand. Deeply hurt, Julia hides her
feelings and decides to revenge on Tom and Avice. For that she talks her husmbcmd
Michael, manager of the theatre, into giving Avice a part in a new play so that they
could play together.
Four hours later it was all over. The play went well from the beginning; the
audience, notwithstanding the season, a fashionable one, were pleased after the
holidays to find themselves once more in a playhouse, and were ready to be amused.
It was an auspicious beginning for the theatrical season. There had been great
applause after each act and at the end a dozen curtain calls; Julia took two by herself,
and even she was startled by the warmth of her reception. She had made the little
halting speech, prepared beforehand, which the occasion demanded. There had been
the final call of the entire company and then the orchestra had struck up the National
Anthem. Julia, pleased, excited and happy went to her dressing-room. She had never
felt more sure of herself. She had never acted with greater brilliance, variety and
resource. The play ended with a long tirade in which Julia castigated the uselessness,
the immorality of the idle set into which her marriage had brought her. It was two
pages long, and there was not another actress in England who could have held the
36
attention of the audience while she delivered it. With the modulation of her beautiful
voice, with her command of emotions, she succeeded (by miracle of technique) in
making it a thrilling, almost spectacular climax to the play. The whole cast had been
excellent with the exception of Avice Crichton. Julia hummed in an undertone as she
went into her dressing-room.
Michael followed her in almost at once.
“It looks like a winner all right.” He threw his arms round her and kissed her.
“By God, what a performance you gave.”
“You weren't so bad yourself, dear.”
“You are the greatest actress in the world, darling, but by God. You’re a bitch.”
Julia opened her eyes very wide in an expression of the most naive surprise.
“Michael, what do you mean?”
“Don't look so innocent. You know perfectly well.”
“I'm as innocent as a babe unborn”
“Come off it. If anyone ever deliberately killed a performance you killed
Avice's. I couldn’t be angry with you, it was so beautifully done.”
Now Julia simply could not conceal the little smile that curled her lips. Praise
is always grateful to the artist. Avice's big scene was in the second act. It was with
Julia, and Michael had rehearsed it so as to give it all to the girl. This was indeed
what the play demanded and Julia, as always, had in rehearsals accepted his direction.
To bring out the colour of her blue eyes and to emphasize her fair hair they had
dressed Avice in pale blue. To contrast with this Julia had chosen a dress of an
agreeable yellow. This she had worn at the dress rehearsal. But she had ordered
another dress at the same time, of sparkling silver, and to everybody's surprise it was
in this she made her entrance in the second act. Its brilliance, the way it took the light,
attracted the attention of the audience. Avice's blue looked drab by comparison.
When they reached the scene they were to have together Julia produced, as a conjurer
produces a rabbit from his hat, a large handkerchief of scarlet chiffon and with this
she played. She waved it, she spread it out as though to look at it, she screwed it up,
she wiped her brow with it, she delicately blew her nose. The audience fascinated
37
could not take their eyes away from the red rag. And she moved up the stage so that
Avice to speak to her had to turn her back on the audience. The author had given
Avice lines to say that had so much amused the cast at the first rehearsal that they had
all burst out laughing. Before the audience had quite realized how funny they were
Julia cut in with her reply, and the audience anxious to hear it suppressed their
laughter. The scene which was devised to be extremely amusing took on a sardonic
colour. Avice in her inexperience, not getting the laughs she had expected, was
rattled; her voice grew hard and her gestures awkward. Julia took the scene away
from her and played it with miraculous virtuosity. But her final stroke was accidental.
Avice had a long speech to deliver, and Julia nervously screwed her red handkerchief
into a ball; the action almost automatically suggested an expression; she looked at
Avice with troubled eyes and two heavy tears rolled down her cheeks. The episode
lasted no more than a minute, but in that minute, by those tears and by the anguish of
her look, Julia laid bare the sordid misery of the woman’s life. That was the end of
Avice.
“And I was such a damned fool, 1 thought, of giving her a contract,” said
Michael.
“Why don't you?”
“When you've got your knife into her? Not on your life.”
I. Having read the text, make a list of facts to prove that
a) the play was a success;
b) Julia Lambert was one of the greatest actresses of England and a resourceful
woman;
c) Avice Crichton was a third-rate actress.
II. Answer the questions, working with a group mate. Try to describe the
action in detail, explain its reasons and consequences. Use active grammar
structures:
38
1. Why did Julia feel happy after the performance? 2. What did Michael think
of Julia’s acting? 3. Why did Julia pretend to be naive? 4. In what way had Michael
rehearsed Avice’s big scene? What was she dressed in? 5. Why did Julia accept this
in rehearsals? 6. How did she manage to attract the attention of the audience? 7. Why
did Julia move up the stage? 8. Why didn’t the audience laugh when they were
supposed to? 9. How did Avice play? 10. What was Julia’s last stroke? 11 Why did
Michael give up the idea of signing a contract with Avice?
III. What Do You Think? Work in pairs and compare the lists you’ve
made.
1. Do you agree that the play was a success? What makes you think so? 2. Do you
think Julia to be one of the greatest actresses in England? 3. Do you find her clever
and resourceful? 4. Was Avice Crichton a promising actress?
IV. Do you agree or disagree with these statements?
1. The play was a failure. 2. Julia didn't get curtain calls. 3. Julia was in low
spirits. 4. Julia succeeded in making her monologue a thrilling climax to the play. 5.
The whole cast had been excellent. 6. Michael was not pleased with Julia’s acting. 7.
Julia hadn’t accepted the producer’s directions at the rehearsals. 8. Avice was dressed
in pale blue. 9. Julia wore a yellow dress at the dress rehearsal and the premiere. 10.
The audience fascinated could not take their eyes away from Julia's dress and the red
handkerchief. 11. Avice's lines were amusing and the audience burst out laughing. 12.
Avice was an experienced and talented actress. 13. Michael was determined to give
Avice a contract.
APPRAISING AN ACTRESS
by W. S. Maugham
The setting: Jimmie Langton, a theatre director is talking to Julia, a young
actress.
Jimmie: I’ve been at this game for twenty-two years. I've been a call-boy, a
stagehand, a stage-manager, an actor, a publicity man, damn it, I've even been a
critic. I've lived in the theatre since I was a kid just out of school, and what I don’t
39
know about the acting isn’t worth knowing. I think you are a genius.
Julia: It’s sweet of you to say so.
Jimmie: Shut up. Leave me to do the talking. You’ve got everything. You’re
the right height, you’ve got a good figure, you’ve got an india-rubber face.
Julia: Flattering, aren’t you?
Jimmie: That's what I am. That's the face an actress wants. The face that can
look everything, even beautiful, the face that can show every thought that passes
through the mind. Last night even though you weren’t really thinking about what you
were doing every now and then the words you were saying wrote themselves on your
face...
Julia: It’s such a rotten part. How could I give it any attention? Did you hear
the things I had to say?
Jimmie: Your timing is almost perfect. That couldn’t have been taught, you
must have that by nature. That’s the far, far better way. Now let’s come down to brass
tacks. I’ve been making inquiries about you. It appears you speak French like a
Frenchwoman and so they give you broken English parts. That’s not going to lead
you anywhere, you know.
Julia: I’ve always thought that some day or other I should get a chance of a
starring part.
Jimmie: When? You may have to wait ten years. How old are you now?
Julia: Twenty.
Jimmie: What are you getting?
Julia: Fifteen pounds a week.
Jimmie: You’re getting twelve, and it’s a damned sight more than you’re
worth. You’ve got everything to learn, your gestures are commonplace. You don’t
know how to get an audience to look at you before you speak. You make up too
much. With your sort of face the less make-up the better. Wouldn’t you like to be a
star?
Julia: Who wouldn’t?
Jimmie: Come to me and I’ll make you the greatest actress in England. Are you
40
a quick study?
Julia: I think I can be word-perfect in any part in forty-eight hours.
Jimmie: It’s experience you want and me to produce you. Come to me and I'll
let you play twenty parts a year. I tell you, you’ve got the makings of a great actress.
I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.
Julia: I know I want experience. I’d have to think it over, of course. I wouldn’t
mind coming to you for a season.
Jimmie: Go to hell. Do you think I can make an actress of you in a season? Do
you think I’m going to work my guts out to make you give a few decent
performances and then have you go away to play some twopenny-halfpenny part in a
commercial play in London? What sort of fool do you take me for?
I give you a three years’ contract, I’ll give you eight pounds a week and you’ll
have to work like a horse.
Notes
india-rubber face – a face that can easily assume any expression
timin – speed of dialogue or cues
come down to brass tack – come to business; talk about serious things
broken English par – parts where the actress has to speak broken English
representing a foreigner
straight part – (here) big, central part
a damned sight more – (coll.) very much more
you’ve got the makings of... – you've got all qualities needed to become...
twopenny-halfpenny – (coll.) worthless, petty
commercial play – a play that remains on because of the profit it makes rather
than due to its artistic merits
I. Answer the following questions:
1. Which of the two people did all the talking?
2. Did Jimmie Langton sound encouraging or discouraging in his conversation
with Julia?
41
3. How did Julia take his words?
4. What was Jimmie's proposition?
5. What were his terms?
Read out the lines from which you got to know about Jimmie's theatrical
background.
II. Find and read out the sentences which prove that Julia:
a) had all the makings of a great actress;
b) needed a good deal of perfection yet.
III. Read out from the conversation the sentences with the following wordcombinations:
to have the makings of, to make up; to have something by nature; to take
somebody/ something for somebody / something else; to do the talking; to be (not)
worth knowing; every now and then.
IV. Write out the favourable and critical commentaries Jimmie passed on
Julia as an actress. Arrange them in two columns:
What makings of an actress Julia had
What Julia lacked and needed to perfect
A COMIC ACTOR
Of all the farmers in our district William Twelvetree was the poorest and the
most unlucky. He was a good fellow, and very diligent, but he worked without
method and, most serious of all, he lived in dreams.
His modest farm was set in a lonely spot two miles from the town. As he had a
wife and four children to keep, life was not easy for him. His children were all girls,
and his wife did her best for them.
But William and his family were devoted. They were like a little community,
naive, honest, strangely refined and bound up in themselves. One thing only was
42
startling about them and that was William's ambition. The four children and the
mother alone were aware of its existence. To the children it was magic and wonder.
For William, who was a bright, fat little man, it was something to be pursued
tirelessly and infinitely. It was William's ambition to act in a play.
Every Christmas, for many years, the family played “A Midsummer Night
Dream” in the big kitchen, and the children were the fairies. The little girls played
well and sweetly. Isabel, his wife, who was very tall, was a splendid Titania. But only
William could play his part; he alone remembered how to employ his hands, to
nourish his dirty overcoat as though it were a cloak and to make his voice sound
poetic and touching. And at the end the family applauded each other; again William
was the important figure. He bowed low as if he were very successful, at the height of
his triumph.
Once before he had grown so fat, he had imagined himself as Hamlet or some
young king, but now he would have been glad of a minor role, something as small as
the part of the porter in Macbeth or the peasant taking the basket of figs to Cleopatra.
But not even these opportunities ever arose, and he arrived at the age of forty-five
without having once appeared upon a stage.
Then, one autumn, the local journal printed an announcement. All those
interested in drama and the birth of a dramatic society for the town of Wander were
requested to attend a meeting there.
William drove to the meeting in a milk-float. It was raining and William
walked into the hall looking like a tramp. But as he took off his overcoat he felt
happy. And nervously, he offered himself for a part.
William read the play. Each act, each scene, each line filled him with the
conviction that he had to apply for the part of a certain Duke. That, he felt, was his
destiny. He began to rehearse the part, then to take it into the field with him, then to
dream of it at night.
But at the first rehearsal it appeared that seven men besides William had
pictured themselves as Dukes. This amused the company. He had been chosen for a
monk. And arriving home, he smiled, puffed out his cheeks and looked doleful in that
43
comic way which so delighted his children.
Many weeks passed. There was in the play a young girl of extraordinary talent
who played the part of the imprisoned maiden. Her beauty was light and delicate. Her
voice, very low and soft, made the other actors give up whispering and listen. But her
singing voice was of even rarer, lovelier quality. From the first rehearsal her acting
was remarkable. By intuition she knew how to look, move, speak and carry herself.
Half the actors fell in love with her at once, William himself felt that in the scenes
with her he acted more certainly inspired by her extraordinary cleverness and beauty.
On the day of the first performance of the play he arrived early at the theatre.
Painted up and wearing a wig he made a more excellent monk than he himself had
ever dreamed. Although he had stood in readiness for half an hour, he was taken by
surprise when his cue came. He tumbled on the stage more like a clown than a monk,
and was greeted by a burst of laughter.
The girl began to sing. His self-control vanished. He began to stammer. He had
a frog in his throat. His tongue was like glass-paper. And then, worst of all, he forgot
the lines he could once repeat so well. Whispers came from the prompter. Then, when
everything seemed quite lost and hopeless, the unfortunate man invented some lines.
They, too, were hopeless.
He fled to the dressing-room. Hiding his fat face in his greasy hands, he called
himself a fool, a hopeless, idiotic failure. He wanted to apologize to the girl when the
play was over. As he saw her his heart shrank. The girl was surrounded with many
triumphant baskets of cream, red and yellow blossoms and boxes knotted with
ribbons. She was screaming with happiness. And he drove home.
There were lights at the farm. Isabel had waited up for him. The four girls
unable to sleep for excitement, embraced him joyfully. They all cried out: “How was
it? Did they applaud you? Was it good? Were you a success?” “Yes", he murmured.
“Good old daddy! Bravo!” they shouted and began to applaud him excitedly. He did
not know what to do. He felt tears on his face and he could not look at the children.
Then, suddenly, not knowing how else to cover his confusion, he began to
bow, smiling as if indeed he had been very successful, at the height of his triumph.
44
Impressions of the performance
EXPRESSING YOUR IMPRESSIONS
In life we can't do without expressing our attitude to what we see, hear or speak
about. The object may be interesting and exciting, or, vice versa, it may be boring and
then we feel disappointment.
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE
Ann: Well, how did you find the performance?
Jane: Fantastic! The cast was excellent!
Ann: No wonder, with so many stars in it. You can call it an all-star cast.
Jane: I’m fascinated by N.’s acting. He is always very good, to my mind, but
today he was at his best. Don’t you think so?
Ann: I am with you here. I greatly enjoyed the last scene of the second act
when he finds out the truth about his brother. From my point of view his acting was
very convincing.
Jane: It seems to me that the actress who played his wife was not bad either,
was she?
Ann: I believe, she might have been a bit more natural. There was something
stilted about her acting.
Jane. Was there? I’m afraid, I can't agree with you. And did you like the
scenery?
Ann: It was splendid. It contributed much to the success of the play.
Jane: I'm very thankful to you for this lovely evening. After all, it was your
idea to see this play.
Ann: Nothing to speak of.
To express your attitude use the following:
Showing you are pleased
Neutral
- I’m (very), pleased with… (It)’s very exciting.
- I find ...very exciting / marvellous / wonderful etc.
45
Informal
Great! Terrific! Fantastic! Super! Smashing!
Formal
- I can't say how pleased / delighted I’m.
- I’m very' excited /fascinated ... etc. by
- …most exciting / fascinating etc.
Showing you are disappointed
Neutral
- (Oh,) I’m disappointed
- I'm rather / very disappointed
- How boring / unexciting
- It looks/ sounds/ seems etc. rather boring (I think).
- (I'm afraid) I’m rather bored by ...
- I’m sorry but... rather bores me.
- I don’t think ... is very exciting / interesting (actually).
- It wasn’t as good / nice as I’d expected.
Informal
- (Actually,)... bores me stiff.
- … is a bore / drag.
- ... is deadly / awfully / incredibly etc. boring.
- I'm not all that keen on ...
- I’m fed up with ...
Formal
- I have to say I’m very disappointed
- ... comes as a great disappointment
I. Make conversations from the prompts below. Use formulas of eliciting /
introducing opinions.
a) to enjoy the artistry of the cast, to be at one's best, the scenery, to be
46
unanimously praised, to play the male / female lead, to amuse oneself thoroughly,
first-rate;
b) to be in splendid voice, a gifted singer, to enjoy every bit of…, to burst
ovation, to get a deep insight into the character, to play with miraculous virtuosity, to
leave the house deeply moved and fully satisfied;
c) to carry away / to be carried away, to have the opportunity, a famous
conductor, a vocal concert, orchestral passages, to be superb, to applaud;
d) to give an original interpretation of the role, to attract the attention of the
audience, the subject-matter of the play, to treat the character convincingly, to leave a
lasting impression on smb., to be touched, could not help laughing / crying
II. Work with your classmate. Try to change his / her opinion. The
expressions given below may be of help to you.
1. In my opinion the play was a complete failure. 2. I should say that the
singers were at their best today. 3. Well, I must say that the problems touched upon in
the play are not worth discussing. 4. I believe, the performance was first-rate from
beginning to end. 5. To my mind, the dancing left much to be desired. 6. If you ask
me, I consider the play to be a bore. 7. The way I see it, the play is full of humour. 8.
From my point of view the orchestral passages were superb. 9. In my view, this
horror film is a sheer waste of time. 10. I think the actor playing the title role was
stilted.
III. Trying to change someone's opinion use the following:
Neutral
But don’t you think...?
(Yes, but) do you really think...?
(Yes, but) surely you don’t think / believe...
(Yes, but) another way of looking at it would be (to say) that... On the other
hand.,,
47
Informal
No, but look,...
Well, think of it this way... Are you kidding?
You can’t mean that, surely!
Formal
But if we look at it in another light, ...
But there are other considerations. For example, ...
I wonder if you have taken everything into account / consideration. For
instance, I respect your opinion / view, of course. However, ...
III. Work in pairs. Exchange your impressions on the play / ballet / opera /
concert you liked / disliked. Discuss a) the plot: b) the acting; c) the production;
d) the scenery, light and sound effects; e) how the audience received the
performance. The list given below suggests the expressions that might be useful.
- How did you find the performance?
Merits
Demerits
- It was first-rate from beginning to end.
- Awfully dull.
- Extremely interesting.
- Just terrible.
- Wonderful.
- A sheer waste of time.
- It left a lasting impression on me.
- I was bored to death.
- I enjoyed it greatly.
- Difficult to understand
- I felt like walking out
-Did you like the actor playing?
Merits
Demerits
- Oh, yes. He penetrated deeply
- His playing didn’t convince me.
into the inner world of his
- He didn’t show talent for…
character.
- He looked awkward sometimes.
- He gave an original interpretation
- His voice sounds lifeless
48
of the role.
- He played with miraculous virtuosity.
- His acting was coloured with mild humour.
- He is a master of psychological analysis
- Did you like N’s acting?
Merits
Demerits
- Immensely. She was superb.
- No, I didn’t. She was dull.
- I certainly did.
- She was stilted.
- She made me believe everything
she did and said.
-What do you think of the playwright?
Merits
Demerits
- His plays are full of humour.
-He has no talent for writing
- Very witty.
dialogues.
- Good language.
-Very ordinary.
- His characters are vivid and real.
- He touches upon important
problems.
- Situations are very funny.
- A great master of intrigue.
- What can you say about the production?
Merits
Demerits
- Interesting.
- It lacks fantasy.
- Original.
- The rendering of the play is
- One brief scene forms the climax
primitive.
of the play.
- Old and out of date.
- It is the finest production of the play I’ve ever seen.
- It makes us think it was splendid direction.
- What do you think of the scenery?
49
Merits
Demerits
- Perfect. It contributed much to
- Dull. It didn’t play any role.
the success of the play.
- It fell short of our expectations
-The light and sound effects
- The light and sound effects
were impressive.
were out of place.
- How did the audience receive the performance?
Merits
- It burst into applause.
- The actors got many curtain calls.
- The audience was pleased (amused).
- There was applause after each act.
- It was a warm reception.
IV. Describe your impressions of a play (opera, ballet) you have seen.
Follow the plan below:
1. Going to the theatre: How did you get the tickets? Where were your seats? Was
the house full?
2. The play: Was it interesting? What was interesting? What didn't you like about it?
3. The acting: Was the cast good? Whose acting impressed the audience? In what
scenes?
4. The production: Did the production help the audience to catch the main idea of
the play? In what points of the production did you feel the work of the producer? Did
the general spirit of the production satisfy the demand of the play?
5. Designing: Did you like the scenery? How were the light and sound effects used?
6. The audience: What kind of people did it consist of? How did they receive the
performance?
Reminder: it is surprising to meet a play about ordinary people caught up in
ordinary events; the author shows a remarkable talent for writing dialogue which is
entertaining and witty; the characters are pleasant (humorous, ordinary); one brief
50
scene forms the climax of the play; the characters act out a fantasy; the audience is
made to think; until almost the final curtain; splendid direction; it was one of the
finest renderings of this part I've ever heard; 1 hear the scenery was planned and
designed by ...; his musical talent is quite exceptional; his playing sometimes reminds
me of...; the highlight of the evening was ....
the circumstances ... were complicated and painful; his deep depression; he
might have not survived another failure; implored us to cancel the performance; we
badly needed it.
to raise the box office returns; the inner voice; murdered by your own hands;
the first act concluded amid death-like silence; to faint; I was on my last legs; there
was an uproar, a crash, a storm of applause; the curtain went up ... then down again;
we were standing stunned, we were supposed to take the curtain-calls; melted the ice,
to cheer, each act heightened the success.
Control questions to theme 1
VOCABULARY PRACTICE
I. Match adjectives with appropriate nouns:
a) Adjectives
Nouns
original
movements
thunderous
scenery
miraculous
parts
orchestral
virtuosity
exuberant
scene
faded
passages
duel
applause
performing
costumes
refined
performers
unrivalled
interpretation
prominent
technique
51
b) Adjectives
Nouns
stereotyped
casting
dress
truth
dramatic
expression
artificial
calls
expressive curtain
means
character
rehearsal
sorrowful
scenery
facial
sight
unsympathetic
characters
sumptuous
roles
II. Give the synonyms to the given words:
theatre, to visit smth often, to excite admiration, to lift up curtain, to fall flat on
smb, to be a complete flop, to be boring, to be in the prime of one’s talent, to cry
encore, to hold the attention of the audience, to give food for thought, to charm the
spectators, to touch smb to tears, to tackle a problem, to get into the skin of one’s
character
III. Give the antonyms to the given words:
to be at one’s best (1), to disappoint the audience (3), to be worth watching (2),
to be out of date (3), to be a failure (3), a professional theatre (1), light applause (2),
to find a play easy to follow (1), to impress the spectators (3), to be on for a very
short time, to be a success (3), a repertory theatre (1), to leave the play indifferent
IV. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and adverbs, where necessary:
a) to offer a bellyful … drama
to grip … the audience
to keep the public … their toes
52
to identify … a role
to greet smb … a storm … applause
to be … the prime … one’s talent
to burn … one’s memory
to join … a theatrical company
to find the whole thing dragged …
b) to be represented … a lavishly designed stage
to work … its detriment
to provide a clue … the character
to dominate … the play
to have classical plays … one’s repertory
to present oneself … an exotic character
to distribute … the roles
to be responsible … the stage
to have a reputation … the original plays
c) Having graduated from a choreography school, Stella managed to join …
touring company. Her dream was to raise herself … the position … a beginner … the
position … a star and to become a prima-ballerina. At first being possessed … stagefright, she lacked … feeling, performing … the stage. But soon she learnt to keep
audience … suspense and to leave an unforgettable impression … the public. She,
being … full blaze, always identified … her role, that makes the audience forget
themselves … times and her acting took their breath …. Her personages make an
unforgettable impression … her fans and the star was always greeted … a dozen
curtain calls.
d) Read the story above and write 7 sentences, containing the reasons for
the dancer’s becoming so popular all over the world in no time.
Model: If she didn’t act on the stage with variety and resource, she would fail
to impress the public.
53
V. Correct the mistakes in prepositions if there are any:
Bernard Shaw is one from the most celebrated playwrights in Great Britain. He
is famous all over the world with his unsurpassed talent to create life images of
common people. He has been acknowledged as a master in intrigue and psychological
analysis, since the moment his first play was put at the stage. He always manages to
penetrate deeply into the inner world of the characters of so-called “small people”,
overwhelmed with their own personal interests only. Show specialized at depicting
problems, catching the significance of the time, moreover, the playwright loved to
tackle upon immortal acute problems of self-realization of a human being. Despite of
the fact bitter sarcasm dominate in the plays of the author, we cannot call his works
cruel, they are preaching.
VI. Fill in prepositions where necessary:
1. The audience burst out applauding … the all-star cast.
2. The performer of the title role stepped … the stage, wishing to take the curtain call
… himself.
3. Laurence Olivier’s key … the artistry, known all over the world due to his
miraculous virtuosity, was the fact that he tried to act his part … perfection.
4. I would have never thought that the performance of the amateur theatrical
company could leave such an unforgettable impression … me. The acting surpassed
… our expectations.
5. The play is still very acute, as it touches … the problem, which is burning even
now.
6. Though the actor was … the prime … his talent he refused … the role.
7. I’m sure, the performer … the main part was … his worst … the first-night
performance. His singing grated … our ears.
VII. Insert the necessary adjectives from the list below:
1. The performer must be a master of … analysis to create such an … interpretation
54
of the role.
2. The show was so … , that the public thought it to be a … waste of time.
3. The … acting contributed much to the … success of the play.
4. But for Helen’s ability to dance with … grace and … ease, she wouldn’t impress
the public.
5. The … audience couldn’t but burst into applause to greet the … talent of the …
cast.
6. An extremely … interpretation of a … play is able to win … praise and … interest.
_______________________________________________________________
psychological, sheer, appreciative, true, incomparable, convincing, perfect,
genuine, unanimous, classic , commonplace, supreme, original, undoubted
VIII. Complete the sentences using appropriate word-combinations from
the list below. Mind the tense and the mood used here:
1. The actor wouldn’t have captivated the public…
2. But for the supreme feeling of the dramatic truth the designer...
3. The director’s idea was...
4. Why not intensify the total effect of the show...
5. If not for artificial rhetorical style...
6. If the playwright had followed the advice of the narrow-minded
7. critics, sticking to the classical tendency in art...
8. The performer of the male lead wouldn’t make hit with the public...
9. If the problems touched on in the play weren’t so evergreen...
________________________________________________________
to provide an essential clue to the character; to evoke the atmosphere of the
dramatic event; to strengthen a production; to transform the American stage; to win
unanimous praise and world-wide glory; to introduce settings, creating gloomy and
oppressive atmosphere; to use one’s gift to create unforgettable images; to be of
great educational value.
55
IX. Complete the sentences, using the active grammar vocabulary:
1. The acting of the mature performer would arouse admiration, if…
The new original interpretation of the classical play
would…, if…
2. The critics would have called the playwright a master of psychological analysis,
if…
3. If the problems, tackled in the play, were up-to-date, …
4. If not for the sound effects…
5. The old ballet dancer wished … .
6. The spectators wouldn’t have considered the whole thing dragged out, if…
7. The marvelous performance by a celebrated foreign company would … if…
8. The performance would raise the young actor from the position of a beginner to the
position of a star, if …
9. If the director didn’t refuse to stage the play, thinking it to be a bore, …
10. If not for the brilliantly elaborated intrigue ...
11. The head master of an old fashioned, repertory theatre wished…
X. Paraphrase the following sentences, using the active vocabulary:
1. The old retired actor is in the habit of sitting at the fireplace and remembering the
time of his being in the prime of his talent.
2. I saw the show by the company long time ago but it is still burning in my memory.
3. Laurence Olivier said, that the most important actor’s skill is to keep the audience
awake.
4. Helen refused to join the company, as she hated the idea to be on tour very often.
5. Hank was greatly disappointed, understanding that the play appeared to be a bore.
6. His problem was to learn to identify with a role.
7. She looked off-colour, performing her small part, as she didn’t know how to
behave on the stage.
8. The elaborate scenery strengthened the play.
9. It is of vital importance not only to play your part brilliantly and resourcefully, but
56
to live the life of your character.
XI. Paraphrase the sentences, using the synonyms of the underlined
words:
1. The actor played so vividly, that the audience was touched by his artistry.
2. The singer was at his best, his singing impressed the audience greatly. After each
act the auditorium burst into ovation.
3. The acting of the performers was too commonplace, that’s why it left the
spectators indifferent.
4. I was charmed by the actor, I believed everything he did on the stage, as his
playing was very convincing.
5. The play was very dull, though the actors tried to keep the audience awake.
6. To my mind, if not for Olivier’s penetrating deeply into the inner world of his
personages, they would not be so real, vivid and didn’t excite such stormy feelings in
spectators’ souls.
7. The playing of the actors was so stilted, that all the spectators felt that they would
rather leave the hall.
8. The actors played with brilliance, that’s why the performance was so
extraordinary, that the spectators couldn’t but think of it long after the night. In the
morning all the newspapers said that the play had made the young performer of the
leading part very famous.
9. I was disappointed by the play. It was very ordinary, more over it was understood
that the actors hadn’t rehearsed enough before the premier.
10. The playwright is known to be a real psychologist, good at creating intrigues.
That’s why each of his creations is a success.
11. The play appeared to be too complicated. The playwright had tried to produce a
thing which could make people think, but he overdid. In the end the play when it was
shown for the first time, was a real flop.
12. The performance was great from beginning to end. The actors excited the
57
spectators’ admiration, that’s why their acting is still burning in my memory.
XII. Insert missing words:
1. Today millions of people take drama for granted. With hours and hours every
week, the viewer can have … of drama on TV.
2. His key to success was his ability to change …, and ... . He kept the audience … …
…, shouting when they were not expecting it.
3. The public was pleased by the performance. The performer of the leading part ...
deeply into the inner world of …
4. Julia Lambert was at her best that night. She had never acted with greater…, …
and ....
5. The playing of the actor astonished me, as I saw the personage from an extremely
unexpected angle. So the performer gave an ... of ... the role.
6. It is very important for a young actor to keep the audience ... if you want to ...
yourself from ... to ... .
7. Sir Laurence Olivier paid much attention to rhythm. It was his ... .
8. The first-night performance was first-rate. Public was.... No doubt it was an ...
beginning for the theatrical season.
9. The audience couldn’t but laugh every time when the actor stepped onto the stage.
As playing was … … humour.
9. I think that the work of the scenery designer was ... and evidently his creation ...
much to the success of the play.
XIII. Translate the word-combinations from Russian into English and
make up sentences with the Oblique Moods, using the structures:
вызывать кого-то на бис; затянутое представление; оглушительные
аплодисменты; антракт; комедия, которая не сходит со сцены; написать
сценарий; декорации; расширить мировоззрение; провалиться; забываться
иногда; произносить речь
58
XIV. Translate from Russian into English:
1. Если бы Алиса не закончила школу хореографии, она бы не обладала такими
богатыми знаниями танцевальной техники.
2. Актеру удалось сыграть роль в оригинальной интерпретации.
3. Если бы не его талант, то премьера не вызвала бы такое огромное количество
статей с единодушными похвалами.
4. Пьеса, будучи слишком неоригинальной, провалилась. Драматургу очень
хотелось стать мастером психологического анализа и знать, как создавать
неповторимые характеры.
5. Если бы начинающий актер знал, как можно вжиться в образ, он бы так живо
и естественно сыграл роль, что каждый зритель смотрел бы пьесу, затаив
дыхание.
6. Драматургу хотелось, чтобы его пьеса тронула зрителей до слез.
7. Я бы хотела, чтобы пьеса, которую мы собираемся смотреть, была полна
юмора, и произвела на меня незабываемое впечатление.
8. Хотя театралы Нижнего Новгорода известны как благодарные зрители, пьеса
никак не затронула их.
9. Исполнительница главной роли не справилась с ролью. Если бы не её
отвратительная игра, пьеса бы произвела незабываемое впечатление на
аудиторию.
10. Новая постановка классической пьесы потрясла зрителей. Каждый театрал
страстно желал, чтобы актеры выходили на сцену под бурю аплодисментов
своих поклонников.
11. Если бы актер знал, что эта роль сделает его знаменитостью, он бы
постарался сделать все возможное, чтобы вжиться в образ.
12. Если бы игра актеров не была такой невыразительной, то зрители бы
оценили мастерство драматурга и встретили бы исполнителей бурей
аплодисментов по окончании представления.
13. Если
бы
я
знал,
что
наш
поход
в
театр
окажется
времяпрепровождением, я бы не стал заказывать билеты в театр заранее.
59
пустым
XV. Develop the sentences into situations:
1. In my opinion if the interpretation of the role were not so dull...
2. I wouldn’t say that the performers were at their best today.
3. The critics noticed that the problems, touched upon in the play are not
4. worth discussing.
5. I believe, the performance was first rate from the beginning to end.
6. The work of designers contributed much to the success of the play
7. If the actor, playing the title role, were not so stilted...
8. If the orchestral passages were not superb performed, the impression wouldn’t be
so overwhelming.
60
Theme 2 Cinema
Encountering directors1
INTERVIEWING INGMAR BERGMAN
VOCABULARY WORK
I. Translate the word-combinations from English into Russian,
reproduce the situations.
Pre-eminence among film directors, a creation of a special world,
contacts with reality, to lack the words, enormous need for contact, to pass through
conscious mind to reach emotions, to raise a problem, a form of self-expression, to
embody ideas and beliefs, to be comprehensible for people, to suffer from an almost
complete lack of words, to mix up fiction and reality, to have an emotional impact,
intellectually difficult.
II. Match the adjectives and the nouns, translate the phrases,
make up sentences with active grammar.
Adjectives
Nouns
baffled
world
rigid
impact
private
film
emotional
actress
contemporary
communication
talented
education
comprehensible
pictures
human
equipment
sound
effort
Практический курс английского языка: 3 курс: Учеб. для педвузов по спец. «Иностр. язык»/ Под ред.
В. Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: Гуманит изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 2006 c. 39
1
61
III. Complete the sentences, using the text:
1. If his education hadn’t been rigid …
2. If the young man hadn’t gone through the difficulties …
3. If the director hadn’t found his own form of self-expression …
4. But for his mixing up fiction and reality …
5. The genesis of the artist wouldn’t have been so painful if …
6. Writing, not being Bergman’s cup of tea, ...
7. If Bergman hadn’t been sure that the idea of a book passes directly to the emotions
...
8. To express his resentment against the critics, Bergman …
9. If not for Bergman’s wish to embody ideas and beliefs …
10. To make a film more comprehensible, the director …
IV. Fill in the gaps with prepositions where necessary:
1. If any critic were asked to site a single reason … Bergman’s pre-eminence … the
directors, he would point … his creation … a special world.
2. The director’s imagination wouldn’t be so thriving if he hadn’t lived … private
world … his own dreams.
3. The boy’s problem was having few contacts … reality or channels … it.
4. When a child Bergman had great difficulty … fiction and reality as he was … the
habit … mixing them …
5. Though the life … the director looks as a genesis … a writer, but … fact he always
lacked … words.
6. Words have to pass … your conscious mind to reach … your emotions and … your
soul.
7. Bergman’s films convey … a contradiction … the two effects as they have an
emotional impact, … the other hand they are intellectually difficult.
8. While spectators are watching his films, their feelings are interfered … their effort
… comprehension.
9. His pictures are made to put me … contact … other human beings.
62
10. Bergman’s idea is to shoot … black and white and to force people to imagine the
colours.
V. Fill in the gaps with prepositions where necessary and make up
sentences with active grammar:
1. to suffer … a complete lack … words;
2. a form … self-expression;
3. to translate words … flesh and blood;
4. to go directly … the emotions;
5. to come … contact … other people;
6. to run … the theatre;
7. communication occurs … words;
8. to eliminate … language;
9. to mix … fiction and reality;
10. to succeed … understanding his profession;
11. to work directly … the emotions.
VI. Answer the questions using the prompts.
1. What is one of the reasons for Bergman’s pre-eminence among directors? (a
creation of a special world)
2. What prevented Bergman from becoming a writer? (rigid, a form of selfexpression, to lack words)
3. Why wasn’t reading so satisfying for Bergman as movies? (to pass through
conscious mind, to reach one’s soul, to go directly to the emotions, to come in contact
with)
4. What is the greatest contradiction in perception of Bergman’s films? (emotional
impact, intellectually difficult, baffled effort)
5. What is the message of Bergman’s films? (to embody ideas and beliefs, to work
directly on the emotions, to put in contact with, to influence)
6. What was Bergman’s attitude to critics, analyzing his works? (to interpret through,
63
to influence)
7. What or who might have changed Bergman’s style of work in the film “The
Touch”? (a reflection, oriented to reality, comprehensible)
8. Why did Bergman make a film in black and white? (to imagine the colours)
9. Did Bergman like to make silent films? (to occur through words, to eliminate,
excessive)
10. What were the difficulties the director faced while going from the directing in a
theatre to directing films? (technically crippled, insecure)
11. What is Bergman’s opinion concerning the young directors? (to succeed in
understanding, to be impressed, to have nothing to say)
VII. Translate from Russian into English.
1. Если бы не стремление автора тронуть душу зрителя до слез, он бы не
фокусировал внимание на судьбе отдельно взятых личностей.
2. Бергман зачастую создавал сценарии, отражавшие личности, страдавшие от
жестокости окружающего мира.
3. Для Бергмана, испытывавшего недостаток слов, кинопроизводство было
формой самовыражения.
4. С помощью кино Бергман реализовывал свое стремление к общению с
аудиторией.
5. Для людей, направленных на реальность, сложно понять интеллектуально
сложные фильмы, т.к. чувства прерываются попытками постичь главную мысль
фильма.
A powerful force of the movies.
VOCABULARY WORK
on the material of Ex. 1, p. 581
I. Give the translation of the word-combinations and recall the situations.
1
Практический курс английского языка: 3 курс: Учеб. для педвузов по спец. «Иностр. язык»/ Под ред.
В. Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: Гуманит изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 2006 c. 58.
64
to demand the serious consideration;
to be mesmerized for hours before a TV set;
a narrative told in visual images;
the supremacy of the visual image in the realm of story;
to receive nourishment primarily from visual sources;
potential for propaganda purposes;
to tap the deepest reaches of man’s spiritual life;
to articulate something of consequence;
to undergo aesthetic purification;
to exercise humanity in and through the movies.
II. Match the adjectives with the nouns and translate the wordcombinations into Russian.
Adjectives
Nouns
visual
art
propaganda
images
gratuitous
attention
spiritual
evidence
rudimentary
force
aesthetic
picture
motion
media
captivated
purposes
educational
purification
life
narrative
III. Find synonyms to the following words and word-combinations:
to influence our life, movies, plausibly, today’s life, ability of the motion
pictures, to benefit, to become popular, famous, to learn from, to elevate.
65
IV. Fill in the gaps with prepositions where necessary and make up
sentences with active grammar:
to have the impact … our lives;
to demand … the consideration given … other arts;
supremacy … the image … the realm … story;
to receive the nourishment … visual sources;
potential … propaganda purposes;
capacity … doing good;
to be vulnerable … charge;
to tap … the deepest reaches … man’s spiritual life;
to be embarrassed … them;
to exercise our humanity … and … the movies;
to persist … demanding; to make a room … man … its boundaries;
to be associated … education;
to grow … some films.
V. Complete the sentences from the list below:
1. It’s a well-known fact that nowadays motion-pictures have …, that’s why they
demand …
2. Today the love of story is proved by the children …
3. The fact that images have many uses testifies to the fact that the life of the mind
today …
4. The visual narrative media, having become unchallenged as the art of our time, is
known to be now …
5. The movies are a powerful force in contemporary life as their potential for
propaganda purposes was recognized and explained but …
6. Movies, being a young form of art, are thought to be unable …
7. But nowadays the movies have lost popularity due to the fact that television …
8. Wishing to exercise our humanity in and through the movies we …
a) persist in demanding that the movies make more room for a man within their
66
aesthetic boundaries;
b) the serious consideration given to the other arts;
c) have the impact on our lives;
d) receives its nourishment primarily from visual rather than verbal sources;
e) mesmerized for hours before a TV set watching cartoons;
f) the greatest aesthetic and educational force in the world;
g) to awaken mind and to tap the deepest reaches of man’s spiritual life
h) has stolen 5the limelight;
i) the capacity of the movies for doing good has been questioned.
VI. Answer the questions to the text:
1. Why are movies called truly an art of our time?
2. What fact proves the idea that everybody loves a story?
3. What is the main source of nourishment, received by the mind nowadays?
4. What potential of movies has been questioned?
5. Are movies still the most popular type of entertainment?
6. What do people expect from watching a motion picture?
7. Are there any films for people to grow by?
VII. Make up a situation, using the given words:
to be mesmerized for hours;
to demand serious consideration;
to receive nourishment primarily from visual rather than verbal sources;
to tap the deepest reaches of man’s spiritual life;
to undergo aesthetic purification;
to exercise humanity in and through the movies;
to captivate attention;
to arouse the mind and soul.
67
VOCABULARY WORK ON THE MATERIAL OF THE TEXT
“THE REIGN OF DISNEY” 1
I. Translate the word-combinations from English into Russian:
a string of violent gags; resemblance between the animal and the human world;
to behave like recognizable individuals; to triumph over the wicked world; the world
of the average American; to preach a moral, giving a message of optimism, of
success.
II. Insert the necessary adjectives from the list below:
1. Contemporary cartoons tend to resemble a string of … gags.
2. Disney’s animal characters are actually … beings in disguise and they behave like
… individuals.
3. Disney in fact has presented the world of the … American.
4. His stories end happily, the characters are essentially … fellows, the violence is
not too …, any satire is more than …
gentle, violent, average, recognizable, extreme, good
2.3 A talk about the cinema
A TALK ABOUT THE CINEMA
Setting: Alex Smirnov, a young film producer, who is fresh from the State Cinema Institute,
has recently made his first successful film. He is invited to the club of keen cinema-goers where he
is warmly received by a group of young people. The producer gets into a conversation with Bob, a
pupil of the senior classes, who is interested in the process of film making because after finishing
school the young man is also planning to become a producer.
Read the conversation. Try to remember the key problems, facts and most
important details.
Bob: Excuse me, but I’d like to know if the making of a film is really a long
process.
1
Практический курс английского языка: 3 курс: Учеб. для педвузов по спец. «Иностр. язык»/ Под ред.
В. Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: Гуманит изд. центр ВЛАДОС, 2004.
68
Alex: Yes, it really is. It is sometimes not only a long but a drawn out and
extremely boring process. The director, writer and producer will work on preproduction problems for months and even for some years before shooting can be
started. Long hours can be spent by actors, the crew, make-up men women while the
director may be shooting a small part of the scene with one or two actors over and
over again. To set up another scene the lights and furniture must be rearranged and it
also takes much time.
Bob: And what are the functions of the producer?
Alex: You see, the producer is a businessman, first of all. He provides financial
backing and at the same time he may assume creative responsibility. It happens very
often that the director and the producer is in reality the same person.
Bob: Do you find the work very difficult?
Alex: Sometimes it is really difficult. Especially when more than a hundred of
people may be living on location. A lot of different problems may come up. And the
producer takes care of them.
Bob: Do you mean to say you don’t have any helpers?
Alex: No, I don’t mean this. The producer manager is responsible to me. He
works out a budget from the script and controls the cost. He is also responsible for the
organization of the personnel.
Bob: I am so interested to learn who is in charge of photography.
Alex: It’s the director of photography who is an expert in it. He is in charge of
the composition of scenes and of the art of lighting. He is helped by cameramen and
electricians. But it is the cameraman who handles the camera. Besides there is a crew
of sound-recording men on the set.
Bob: I suppose that today music has become a part of the contemporary film. Is
it always composed for films?
Alex: For some films the music director, together with the producer, will
commission an original score to be written. For other films the music director will
make selections from existing music and probably make his own arrangements.
Bob: I can see that a film combines so many of the arts (music, graphics,
69
language) and a good producer should be a versatile person and should have good
knowledge of all these arts.
Alex: Quite so. The people who make films should have knowledge of many
things. Besides a film maker should be in touch with his time. The success of any
film depends on the ability of the producer to catch and to reflect the significance of
the time in which it is made.
Bob: Do you think documentary films have become more popular of late?
Alex: I think documentary films have always played an important role in our
lives. They are the result of recording life as it exists at a particular moment before
the camera. The producer organizes his material and together with the help of
narration explains it. Of late people have got more interested in current events and
documentary films have really become windows to the world.
Bob: And I personally appreciate most of all the art of cartoonists. Cartoons
entertain the young and the old. Don’t you think animated cartoons today deal not
only with fairy tale subjects?
Alex: Sure. Animated cartoons today are connected with modern life and
problems of interest to our contemporaries. agree with you that the art of a cartoonist
resembles the work of a jeweler. A lot of talent and skill goes into producing a
cartoon film. Now cartoons have justly become an independent branch of film
industry. They are popular both with children and grown-ups. And to cap it, all I must
admit I also appreciate the ability of cartoonists to bring inanimate objects to life, to
humanize animal and plant kingdoms – all this provides the charm of animated
cartoons.
Bob: Don’t you think that the invention of TV undermined the position of
cinema?
Alex: Some people really thought that TV would spell the end of cinema. And
in reality for some time TV reduced cinema attendance. But then Central Television
in its programmes started to pay a great deal of attention to films popularizing them.
Today the position of cinema has been stabilized.
Bob: And what do you think of the cinema of the future?
70
Alex: It’s clear to all cinematographists that the function of the cinema can’t be
limited to showing films only. Cinema houses should become real cultural centres
which could offer lectures on history of national and foreign cinema, discussions of
new films, meetings with the people who make them. Cinema art must unite and
elevate people’s feelings, thoughts and will. It must stir to activity and develop the art
instincts within people. Art must be a source of joy and inspiration to people.
I. Read out and then write out:
1. professions of people who work in the cinema;
2. the duties of the producer, the producer manager
II. Comment on the following sentences:
1. It happens very often when the director and the producer is in reality the same
person.
2. More than a hundred people may be living on location.
3. He works out budget from the script and controls the cost.
4. Functions of the cinema can’t be limited to showing films only.
III. Discuss the following question:
Why do many people dream of becoming students of the State Cinema Institute?
VOCABULARY WORK
I. Give the definitions of the word combinations and translate them into
Russian:
a film producer, a director, pre-production problems, shooting, a crew, a
location, a director of photography, a cameraman, an electrician, a music director, a
versatile person.
II. Translate the word-combinations and reproduce the sentences from the
text:
to get into conversation, to set up a scene, to provide financial backing, to
assume creative responsibility, to live on location, the composition of scenes, to
compose music for films, to make selections from existing music, to combine many
71
of the arts, to catch and reflect the significance of our time, to become windows to the
world, interest to our contemporaries, to develop the art instincts.
III. Match the adjectives and the nouns. Make up sentences with active
grammar:
Adjectives
Nouns
keen
film
drawn-out
backing
financial
person
creative
cinema-goer
original
life
versatile
industry
recording
responsibility
animated
events
current
process
IV. Fill in the gaps with prepositions:
1. The producer gets … conversation … Bob, a pupil … senior classes.
2. The crew will work … pre-production problems … months and even … years …
shooting can be started.
3. The light must be rearranged to set … another scene.
4. The producer manager is responsible … working … a budget … the script.
5. The director … photography is … charge … photography, he is helped …
cameramen and electricians.
6. A film-maker must be … touch …his time, as the success … any film depends …
the ability … the producer to catch and to reflect the significance … the time.
7. The documentary films are the result … recording life as it exists … a particular
moment … the camera.
8. Animated cartoons are popular both … children and grown-ups.
9. I can’t but appreciate the ability … cartoonists to bring inanimate objects … life,
as it provides the charm … animated cartoons.
72
10. Cinema art must stir … activity and develop the art instincts … people.
V. Insert the necessary adjectives from the list below:
1. The process of film-making is known to be … and extremely …, as the crew has to
work on … problems for months and years.
2. The producer id in charge of providing … backing and assuming … responsibility.
3. Sometimes the music for … films is commissioned or selected from existing
music.
4. …films have always played an … role in our lives reflecting the … events and
having become windows to the world.
5. … cartoons are connected with … life and problems of interest to our
contemporaries thus the genre has become an … brunch of … industry.
6. Cinema houses should become real … centres which could offer lectures on the
history of … art and … cinema.
7. Cinema must stir to activity and develop the … instincts within people.
drawn-out, boring, pre-production, financial, creative, contemporary, existing,
documentary, important, current, animated, modern, independent, film, cultural,
national foreign, art.
VI. Finish the sentences using the phrases given below:
1. Making a film is not only a long but …
2. Long hours can be spent by actors, the crew while the director …
3. The producer is a businessman; he is in charge of …
4. The producer-manager must assist the producer, …
5. The director of photography …
6. It is the function of the music director …
is in charge of the composition of the scenes and of the art of lighting;
may be shooting a small part of a scene with one or two actors;
to commission an original score to be written;
73
a drawn out and extremely boring process;
providing financial backing and at the same time he may assume creative
responsibility;
working out the budget from the script and controlling the cost
VII. Expand the sentences using the key-words given in brackets:
1. Documentary films always played an important role in our life … (life as it exists,
narration, current events, windows to the world)
2. Animated cartoons are connected with modern life and problems of our
contemporaries … (talent, skill, independent branch, popular with…, to provide
the charm)
3. Some people thought that TV would spell the end of cinema … (to reduce cinema
attendance, to popularize, to stabilize)
4. It’s clear to all cinematographists that the function of the cinema can’t be limited
to showing films only … (cultural centres, unite people, elevate feelings, stir to
activity, to develop the art instincts, inspiration)
VIII. Complete the sentences using the active grammar and wordcombinations from the text:
1. If Bob hadn’t been interested in the process of filmmaking he, … (to get into
conversation) with the director.
2. The shooting wouldn’t be known as a drawn-out and extremely boring process, if
the crew … (to work on pre-production problems) for months and even years.
3. The producer wouldn’t be called a versatile person if he … (to provide financial
backing and at the same time assume creative responsibility).
4. If sometimes more than a hundred of people were not living on location, so many
problems … (to come up for a producer to take care of).
5. The director of photography wouldn’t be able to cope with all his duties if he …
(not to be helped by a crew of cameramen and electricians).
6. If the music director didn’t commission an original score to be written, the music
74
director … (to make selections from existing music and make his own arrangements).
7. If a filmmaker were not in touch with his time, he … (to reflect the significance of
the time).
8. If documentary films didn’t play an important role in our life, they … (to become
more popular of late).
9. The cartoons wouldn’t be so popular both with children and grown-ups if they …
(to be connected with modern life and problems of interest to our contemporaries).
10. If TV didn’t reduce cinema attendance the art critics … (to think TV to spell the
end of cinema).
11. If cinema were not aesthetic and educational force nowadays we … (to hope
cinema must unite and elevate people’s feelings).
IX. Answer the following questions:
1. Why is filmmaking called an extremely boring and drawn-out process?
2. What are the functions of a producer? What makes his work so difficult?
3. What is the producer manager in charge of?
4. What professionals are responsible for photography?
5. Is music always composed for films?
6. Why should a good director be a versatile person?
7. Why have documentary films become so popular lately?
8. What is the secret of popularity of cartoons?
9. Has TV really undermined the position of cinema?
10. What is the future of cinema?
11. What profession would you choose if you were in film-making busuness?
12. What function should cinema fulfill?
XI. Make up a situation using the given word combinations and active
grammar structures.
To be a drawn out process, to live on location, to commission an original score,
to combine so many of the arts, to catch and to reflect the significance of the time, to
75
become a window to the world, to resemble a work of a jeweler, to stir to activity and
develop the art instincts within …, to be a source of inspiration to people.
Remakes
MAKE IT AGAIN
VOCABULARY WORK
I. What three words are used to explain one of the reasons for remaking
films? Give their explanations.
II. Divide the text into 3 logical parts. Match the words from different
columns with each other to make word-combinations:
a)
scarce
audience
ample
screen-play
talented
pictures
capable
judgment
remade
cast
intelligent
director
good
budget
brand new
movie
entertaining
story material
~ Make up sentences with each of the matches using the str. But for…
~ Under what circumstances can remakes surpass the quality of the original?
b)
favourable
cast
timely
story
to correct
story material
same
economic situation
available
theme
new
stars
fresh
mistakes
legendary
screen techniques
76
~ Make up sentences with each of the matches using the str. If… to prepare
arguments for remaking films.
~ Agree with your partner who is for remaking films.
~ Disagree with your partner who is for remaking films.
c)
subsequent
plot
to improve
production
to require
moral values
original
renderings
antiquated
original story
not workable
updating
successful
script
~ Make up sentences with each of the matches using the str. I wish… to
prepare arguments against remaking films.
~ Agree with your partner who is against remaking films.
~ Disagree with your partner who is against remaking films.
III. Make up a dialogue, in which the partners stand for different ideas in
reference to remakes.
The genres the movies
THE FAMILY OF GENRES
The most profitable movies of the present fit the pattern of genres established
in the thirties of the previous century rather well: a musical, a scientific movie, a
gangster film, a horror film and a thriller. The generic pattern of the Golden Age of
Hollywood is still very much with us nearly a hundred years later. But they have
undergone some changes.
Within five years after the advent of sound (1926) they have become wellestablished and have remained the dominant models with varieties until today.
The musical and the western are perhaps most clearly defined. The lines
which separate gangster from detective and from mystery films are less sharp. Horror
films and science fiction sometimes seem to merge, but the war film is always clearly
77
identified, as is the usually romantic, historical adventure. The “woman’s” film or
“tearjerker” of the forties always clearly identified itself.
Meanwhile, the comedy, the broadest of genres continually throws off new
variations – which on closer examination often reveal their roots in earlier comedies.
During the fifties, as Hollywood came to uneasy terms with the new medium
of television, most of the classic genres began to feed on themselves. Westerns
flourished as never before thanks to the wide screen and widespread use of colour.
Historical films throve too for the same reason. Other genres, however, deteriorated.
The musical came to depend more and more on Broadway for stage adaptations,
losing the cinematic originality which had made it one of the superior genres of the
thirties. Comedy and the tearjerker met in the person of Doris Day.
Throughout the sixties, as the film industry began to recover its health, the
pattern of genres expanded. New variations were developing as filmmaking moved
on location. Detective films turned into secret agent (spy) films which usually
depended on the conventions of the chase.
The Black Power Movement of the sixties may not have accomplished much
politically – still less economically – but culturally it had a truly profound effect. For
the first time in the nation’s history, Black people – one fifth of the nation have been
liberated from the cultural ghetto. They are no longer nonpersons in the media world,
but seen and heard daily on television and cinema screens.
Tasks to the text:
1. Write out and study the names of the genres of films.
2. Translate and practice the reading of the following words:
genre, generic, ghetto, gangster, romantic, romance, medium, media, flourish,
deteriorate, advent, horror.
3. Match the names of film genres with their definitions:
1. comedy
a. a full-length film in a cinema programme
2. musical
b. a film that makes one experience a sudden
sharp feeling of excitement
c. a film that inspires horror and fear
3. tearjerker
78
4. thriller
d. a drama of light and amusing character
typically with a happy end
e. a film dealing with real events in history
5. gangster film
6. horror film
f. a film depicting historic events of the past
on a grand scale
g. a women’s film that moves one to tears
7. secret agent film
8. tragedy
9. historical film
h. a film made by photographing a series of
drawings
i. a cinema film of recent events
10. epic film
j. a film of popular science events
11. war film
13. newsreel
k. a film showing some aspect of human and
social activity
l. a film consisting of musical numbers and
dialogues that develop the plot
m. a film about criminals
14. popular-science film
n. a film about spies, detectives
15. animated cartoon
o. a film of serious or solemn kind with a sad
end
p. a film about war
12. documentary
16. feature film
The history of cinema
THE HISTORY OF CINEMA
The basic principles underlying the cinema had been known for centuries
before the moment of invention in the mid-1890-ies.
In 1888 the great American inventor Thomas Edison decided to become
involved with moving pictures. There was a considerable amount of research and by
1891 W. Dickson, Edison’s assistant had come up with a workable solution.
There were a number of other inventors working quite independently in
Europe including B. Acres, R. W. Paul in England and E. Reynard in France.
In Los Angeles T. Tally separated the darkened projection room from the rest
of the auditorium and life-sized pictures were shown there.
Tally’s success attracted a lot of followers. Those movie houses were dark
79
noisome places repulsive to the rich. But there were plenty of common people and
they kept coming.
More famous than any other American picture of that time was “The Great
Train Robbery”. It was produced by Edwin S. Porter, one of the pioneers of the
movies in 1903 and became a classic overnight. It had the running time of 10 minutes
and told a story of crime in the Far West. Gilbert M. Anderson got his start in that
film and then became the movie cowboy and the daddy of horseopera heroes.
More than any other director D. W. Griffith was responsible for developing
the art of filmmaking. Between 1908 and 1916 Griffith directed hundreds of movies.
In these movies he invented many filmmaking skills that are still used today.
At that time directors always kept the camera in the same place when they
were making movies. Griffith thought if he moved the camera, his movies would be
more exciting.
Griffith’s most famous movie was “The Birth of a Nation”. It was about the
American Civil War and the years that followed. The movie was very popular and it
made Griffith famous.
The 1920s were the years of silent film with stars like Charles Chaplin,
Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Rudolf Valentino, the Marx
Brothers. The most famous movies of the 20s were “The Gold Rush”, “City Lights”,
“Modern Times”.
In the early years of the 20th century a number of technicians were busy
inventing a talking film. An American inventor I. D. Forest succeeded in making a
short talkie. In 1928 the first American talkie was shown in England. It gave rise to
the production of British talking films. “The Good Companions”, “I was a Spy”,
“Rome Express” were the most popular British films produced in the early1930s.
In the 1920 – 1930s Alexander Korda, a cultural Hungarian, began to work on
his British films. His film “The Private Life of Henry VIII” with Charles Laughton,
an outstanding actor from the London stage playing the title role, established Korda
as the leading director and producer in Great Britain.
In the following years Korda produced a number of other films including
80
“Catherine the Great”, “Rembrandt”, “Knight without Armour” , “The Four
Feathers”, “The Thief of Baghdad” , “The Ghost Goes West” and others in which
players like Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh, Gertrude Lawrence,
Maw Moms and Rex Harrison were a great success.
In 1935 Korda opened his Denham Studios; another large studio, Pinewood,
was opened in Buckinghamshire. The studio was supplied with the best equipment.
Other studios at Elstree, Boreham Wood, Twickenham, Beaconsfield, Sound City and
Isleworth continued to produce films too.
In America during 1920 – 1930s filmmakers in Hollywood founded large
companies such as Paramount, Twenties-Century Fox, etc. Well-known American
writers like F/S/ Fitzgerald, W Faulkner did screen plays.
The period from the beginning of the 1930s to the beginning of World War II
has been called the “Golden Era” of American cinema. It was the era of the John Ford
western Stagecoach”, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in “Gone with the Wind”, of
gangster movies, etc.
Since the end of World War II there were interesting movements developing
in European film: Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, English “Free Cinema”,
Das Neue Kino in Germany. Filmmakers did their work well, got some return
sufficient to cover expenses and provide money to continue their work.
The 1960s were the years of the Hollywood Renaissance. Cassavetes and
Coppola, Scorsese, Mazursky and Ritchie belonged to the generation of the sixties.
They started with small cheap films. It was only after they had broken into the
industry establishment that the tide turned to “blockbusters”.
For example, “The Godfather” was the first real blockbuster. The film was
sure to be profitable because of the huge success of the novel by Mario Puso in
paperback.
Directed
by
the
famous
filmmaker
Francis
Coppola
“The Godfather” was far ahead of the second-place film on the list in 1972.
The most significant fact about American cinema in the 1970s was that
“movies” had changed quietly but surely into “films”. As little as ten years ago
movies were regarded as mass entertainment, of some sociological or political
81
significance perhaps, but certainly beneath serious consideration by nearly all
academic scholars. In the 1970s the situation was different. Film study in colleges
and universities experienced an explosive growth.
The film production between 1979 – 1984 was not significantly different in
style or approach from the films of the1970s. The industry was still focused on youth
market. Remakes still dominated. Horror films, kid’s capers, and other genres that
appealed to young people came down the assembly line at an increasingly fast pace.
All this was punctuated, as it was five years ago, by occasional films for adults and
once or twice a year, a film blockbuster or melodrama – that caught the imagination
of the country.
Tasks to the text:
I. Translate the word-combinations into Russian and read out the sentences
from the text:
life-sized pictures, the pioneers of the cinema, a movie cowboy, a horseopera, a
talkie, a screen play, a blockbuster, a remake, a kid’s caper.
II. Answer the following questions:
1. When and where was the cinema invented?
2. Who was the godfather of the cinema?
3. What does the name of D. W. Griffith say to you?
4. What names of celebrated British actors have you learnt from the text?
5. What British film studios do you know?
6. What American film companies are world famous?
7. When were they founded?
III. Make a list of film genres mentioned in the text.
IV. Write out filmmaking professions mentioned in the text.
Supplement
Translate the texts from Russian into English
Великий оптимист
В январе 1926 года в Калифорнии братья Уолтер и Рой Диснеи открыли
82
свою студию. Первым популярным персонажем Диснея мог стать … кролик. Но
братьев обманули, отсудив у них право на экранизацию «Освальда –
удачливого кролика».
Это подтолкнуло Уолтера начать работу над новым персонажем –
веселой, энергичной мышью по имени Мортимер. Вскоре имя мышонка
сменилось на более звучное – Микки-Маус. В 1927 году вышли два первых
мультфильма о его приключениях. Они были черно-белыми и немыми, а
Микки-Маус – поджарым, хвостатым и злым.
Но уже в третьем мультфильме под названием «Пароход Вилли»
появилась озвучка голосами, шумами и музыкой. Вскоре вышел и первый
цветной фильм с Микки-Маусом – «Концерт». В последующие восемь лет
мультфильмы Диснея ежегодно получали премию «Оскар, а всего за свои
работы компания взяла 29 статуэток.
Парад Оскаров
Успех
Микки-Мауса
дал
Диснею
возможность
воплощать
в
мультфильмах и множество других идей. Дисней быстро догадался, что доход
можно получать еще и с «побочной», сувенирной продукции. Микки-Маус и
компания появились на одежде, эмблемах, о них начали выпускать комиксы, а
еще они стали игрушками.
Все
это
позволило
заработать
деньги
на
первый
в
истории
полнометражный мультфильм «Белоснежка и семь гномов». До этого
считалось, что анимационный фильм не способен долго удерживать внимание
зрителя; «мультики» демонстрировались лишь перед показами фильмов в
кинотеатрах.
Над картиной три года трудилось около 300 художников. Бюджет
составил неслыханную тогда в кино сумму – полтора миллиона долларов. Но и
успех мультфильма оказался невероятным: перекрыть сборы от «Белоснежки»
смог только фильм «Унесенные ветром». На церемонии вручения «Оскара»
триумфатору Диснею кроме главной статуэтки вручили еще семь маленьких
дубликатов – по числу гномов из фильма.
83
В стране чудес
Триумф следующих полнометражных мультфильмов – «Пиноккио»,
«Дамбо», «Бэмби» - сделал маленькую студию Диснея крупной голливудской
кинокомпанией, с большим штатом персонала и самым современным
техническим оборудованием. Вскоре Уолт Дисней начал осуществление еще
одной своей давней идеи: постройку «Диснейлэнда». Он должен был стать
парком-мечтой, местом, где даже взрослый человек почувствует себя снова
ребенком,
очутившись
в
волшебном
мире,
населенном
выдуманными
персонажами.
Диснейлэнд открылся 17 июля 1955 года – это событие транслировал
телеканал Эй-би-си в прямом эфире. И уже в первую неделю работы парк
посетило 170 тысяч человек – настоящее паломничество!
Tasks to the text:
1. Put 15 questions to the texts.
2. Cover the content of each of the texts in sentences with active grammar.
THE PUBLIC IMAGE
(extract)
Muriel Spark
Off the screen Annabel Christopher looked a puny little thing, as in fact she
had looked on the screen until fairly recently. To those who had not seen her in the
new films, or in publicity pictures, she still looked puny, an English girl from
Wakefield, with a peaky face and mousey hair. Billy O’Brien had known her since
she was twenty, that is to say, for twelve years. She had then just married his friend
Frederick Christopher, with whom he had been to a school of drama. Frederick was
then a young actor who had finished his first season with a repertory theatre. Annabel
had played small parts in British films, always being cast as a little chit of a thing as
she was. Presently they were all out of work again and filling in time with temporary
jobs. Annabel was a waitress in a coffee-bar. Frederick taught elocution and voice
production to a sixth form group in a grammar school. Billy O’Brien went on the
84
dole, started writing dramatic criticism for little reviews in order to get the theatre
tickets. Then he went back to Belfast to work in his uncle’s grocer’s shop for a while,
to tide him over the winter. Billy turned up three years later having done many jobs
and played many parts in many theatres. He had turned a theatre critic for a new
magazine and was now hoping to get a column in a national paper.
Annabel was now in demand for small parts in films, always of the same
type: she was called for whatever a little slip of a thing was needed – the typist who
just happened to return to the office for the parcel she had forgotten when the fatal
argument was in progress in the boss’s room next door, the little housemaid whose
unforeseen amorous exchanges with the delivery boy waylaid the flight plans of the
kidnappers, the waif on the underground railway who was one of those who never got
home to her lodgings at Poplar; and then she played a more prominent part as the
nurse wrongfully accused of stealing drugs, and who woke up by and by in a private
room of a hospital in Bangkok under the watchful eyes of a “nurse” whom she
recognized as a former patient of hers; and she played many other parts.
But in those earlier times when she began to be in demand in English films,
she had no means of knowing that she was, in fact, stupid, for, after all, it is the deep
core of stupidity that it thrives on the absence of a looking-glass. Her husband, when
she was in his company with his friends, and especially with Billy O’Brien, tolerantly
and quite affectionately insinuated the fact of her stupidity, and she accepted this
without resentment for as long as it didn’t convey of her any sense of contempt. The
fact that she was earning more and more money than her husmband seemed to her at
that time a simple proof that he did not want to work. The thought of his laziness
ragged her against all contrary evidence and emerged in unpleasant forms, unforeseen
moments, embarrassing, sometimes in public, from her sharp little teeth: “Sorry, I’ve
got to go home to bed. I’m the worker of the family.”
And more and more, Frederick stayed at home all day in their Kensington flat,
living on her money, reading book after book – all the books he had never leisure to
read before. He had craved for this contribution to his life.
By the time he was twenty-nine years of age his undoubted talent had been
85
tested only a few times in small productions and then no more. In reality Frederick
was an untrained intellectual. Perhaps he was never happier in his life than in those
long mornings at home while reading various literature on the theme of “The Dance
on Death”, and annotating Strindberg, while Annabel was at the studios, or was
working out of the country for a few weeks, with her meagre skill and many
opportunities to exercise it.
He thought of her as doing something far different from anything he wanted to
do. She always agreed with him in this, being uncertain, anyway what he meant.
When he talked of “creating” a role, she agreed with whatever he said about it,
because it was something she had heard continually since she attended the school of
drama; everyone spoke of creating a role, and of great acting. She had very little tail,
apprehension of what they meant. In practice her own instinctive method of acting
consisted in playing herself in a series of poses for the camera, just as if she were
getting her photograph taken for private purposes. She became skilled at this; she
became extremely expert. Ten years later, with the assistance of Luigi Leopardi, she
was recognized as a very good actress on the strength of this skill.
Notes:
a grammar school (GB) – a type of secondary school providing academic
courses.
the dole (coll.) – weekly payment made to an unemployed worker; to be/ to go
on the dole - receive/begin to receive such payments.
Tasks:
1. In no more than 3 sentences say what the above text is about.
2. Transcribe and practise reading of these words:
drama, dramatic, grammar; nation, national, fatal, elocution, column,
undoubted.
3. Suggest the Russian equivalents for the following:
small parts, a more prominent part, publicity pictures, small production, voice
86
production, elocution, undoubted talent, meager skill, in public, to create a role, to
be in demand.
4. Find synonyms for:
unemployed, to have a strong desire for smth., to flourish, to become
professional, to sponge on smb., minor roles, with the help of smb., insufficient skill.
5. Find the opposite for:
leading parts, to be employed, a permanent job, clever, to decay, to reject,
pleasant, sharp, trained, unqualified, certain.
6. Write the three forms of the verbs:
to cast, to wake up. to fill, to teach, to need, to steal, to accept, to crave.
Control questions to theme 2
VOCABULARY WORK
I. Match the words from the two columns:
Adjectives
Nouns
colour
idea
star-studded
acclaim
screen
epic
wartime
film
joint
impression
art
version
obscure
poster
lasting
director
captivating
portrayal
universal
production
II. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and adverbs where necessary:
a)
to have an influence ... smb
to come ... contact... smb
87
to adapt a novel... the screen
to be dubbed ... Russian
to come alive ... the screen
to make a hit … the public
to cast smb ... advantage
to leave a deep and lasting impression ... smb
to arouse ... unanimous praise
to dominate ... the screen
b) Kid’s capers are the films ... different age groups. Such films arc
unchallenged, as they are the best films to influence ... the development... spiritual
outlook of the next generation.
The most popular movies nowadays are various screen adaptations. It must be
mentioned that there isn’t a greater responsibility than to adapt a literary work ... the
screen. Sometimes it is rather challenging to bring ... life ... the screen the personages
of world-known books. If a director exercises too original interpretation ... the
characters ... his production, he can not appeal ... the audience, though a celebrity
may star... a title role.
III. Insert the necessary attributes from the list below:
1. 1. They say that today it is difficult to define a more influentialart than so-called ...
art of ... picture.
2. 2. It goes without saying that movies are undergoing ... purification to
3. become a real part of ... culture.
4. The film appeared to be a ... flop because of... visual images and ... montage.
5. The jury decided that “The Lord of the Rings” deserved the title of the most....
screen adaptation.
6. 5. The production is considered a ... waste of time, as the plot is... and … 6.
marvelous movie is not only entertaining, but it is a... narrative,
7. having a great ... and ... impact on people’s ... development.
88
The
8. But for the ... message of the film, it wouldn’t have moved peoples of different
countries to tears and gained ... acclaim.
9. 8. If the ... actor didn’t feel the character of the
personage,
he would surely
fail to create a ... portrayal of the personage.
___________________________________________________________
rudimentary, complete, mass, incoherent, slow-moving, memorable,
humanistic,
impressive,
aesthetic(2),
motion,
incomprehensible,
banal,
educational, beginning, universal, visual, sheer, spiritual
IV. Suggest synonyms to the following words and word-combinations:
a. cinema-house, film, wide screen, cinema-goers, showing, star-studded film, the
screen-version, a slow-moving film, an actor of great promise.
b. to shoot a film, to make a screen version of a film, to be released, coproduction, to
be mis-cast, main part, small part.
V. Suggest antonyms to the following words:
a colour film, a sound film, a title part, convincing acting, to be mis-cast, a
gripping plot, to succeed in, to bring to life on the screen.
VI. Paraphrase the following sentences, using the active vocabulary:
1. But for the actor’s convincing acting he wouldn’t have gained the best actor award.
2. The film deals with the most acute problems of modern society, but still arouses a
great interest as if people want to perceive the important ideas of the gripping film.
3. If the acting of the actors were not so sincere, the movie wouldn’t have won
universal acclaim.
4. Andy wouldn’t invite you to a funny comedy as he is fond of sad films of a serious
kind with a sad end.
5. I wouldn’t feel so depressed now, if the film were not so slow-moving.
6. The critics wouldn’t announce the new film by a famous director to.be empty of
serious content, if the subject-matter were not so difficult to understand
89
7. The director’s aim was to teach actors to transform themselves to the characters of
their personages.
8. Soon a new film, directed by an unrivalled director will be released and all the
movie-fans will have an opportunity to enjoy it.
VII. Complete the sentences using the phrases given below:
1. The production was worth seeing …
2. If the beginning actor …, he …
3. The director’s purpose was …
4. To strengthen the production …
5. If I were in the actress’s shoes, I …
6. The producer, I suppose, shouldn’t have interfered in the process of audition …
7. The critics got offended by the director’s …
8. The craving to tease the society may …
9. Ascold’s dream was …
__________________________________________________
to be accepted at the festival and awarded the first prize; to work at his own
approach to the character, to captivate the audience by the original interpretation; to
fail to cast to advantage; to bring out the subject’s essential nature; to introduce the
work of trick-photographers; to refuse the role, being afraid to appear unattractive;
to neglect one’s straight remarks concerning inconsistent montage; to be nominated
for best costume designing; to lead to complete misunderstanding
VIII. Develop the sentences into situations:
1. Artistry is a result of hard work, talent is not so important.
2. Cinema is not only a rudimentary art today, it is a part of contemporary mass
culture.
3. If not for lavishly decorated settings, the film wouldn’t be so fascinating.
4. Bred Pit is famous for his outstanding wish to escape stereotyped casting.
90
5. Financial backing is one of the most important aspects of film-making.
6. Today actors are partially substituted by personages, created with the help of
computer.
7. A successful film is a result of collective work of a great amount of people.
IX. Explain the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:
a newsreel, a co-production, an adaptation, an open-air theatre, a crowd scene,
a climax, a dubbed film, a message of a film, the second edition.
X. Fill in the gaps with prepositions and adverbs, where it is necessary:
1. No other art form has the same emotional impact ... formulating of
2. the children’s character and their personality.
3. A human being was always craving for listening ... a story, the love ...story is
realized through our admiration ... visual images.
4. Nowadays the life ... the mind today receives its nourishment ... visual sources.
5. The movies’ potential ... propaganda purposes was immediately recognized.
6. Some critics doubt the capacity ... the movies ... doing good.
7. The movies now are not so disturbing ... intellectuals, as television
8. has stolen ... the limelight.
9. Since we have to live ... the movies, we would prefer not to be embarrassed ...
them, we want the chance to exercise our humanity ... and ... the movies.
10. The spectators persist in demanding that the movies make more room ... a man ...
their aesthetic boundaries.
11. ... the other hand it is out of the question to take the fun ... movies in order to fit
them ... the traditional earnestness associated with education...
XI. Make up situations on the basis of the given words and wordcombinations:
1. to interpret great work of literature on the screen
to demand serious consideration
91
to broaden one's outlook
to create memorable portrayal
to exercise one’s humanity in and through ...
to be overwhelmed by admiration
to bring to life on the screen
to preach a message of optimism
to come in contact with. . .
2. to have an impact on our lives
to demand serious consideration
a narrative told in visual images
to testify to one’s aesthetic taste
educational force
to exercise our humanity
thought-provoking plots
full of serious content
to come alive on the screen
ample budget
92
REFERENCE BOOKS
1. Аракин В.Д. Практический курс английского языка. III курс. -М., 2006
2. Ступников И.В. The World of Cinema. -М., 1988
3. A Graded English Course. II course. Английский язык для студентов
факультетов иностранных языков педагогических вузов: Кошурникова
Л.Д., Бойцова Т.А., Жигалев Б.А. -Нижний Новгород: НГЛУ им. Н.А.
Добролюбова, 1995.
4. A Graded English Course. III course. Английский язык для студентов
факультетов иностранных языков педагогических вузов: Сальникова
Н.Н., Ильина С.Ю. -Нижний Новгород: НГЛУ им. Н.А. Добролюбова,
1997.
5. Foley М., Hall D. Advanced Learners’ Grammar. England. 2003
6. Golovichinskaya L.S. Reading and Talking English. -М., 1971
7. James M. American Film Now. New York.
8. Johnson K., Morrow K. Approaches. A Language Activation Course for
Intermediate Students. Cambridge, 1979.
9. Tretyakova T.P. Situational Dialogues. -М., 1989
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