Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Theatre
I. Learn the following vocabulary , look up the words you don’t know in a
dictionary. Make up your own situations with them.
Shows
a puppet show
an opera
a ballet
a musical comedy
a musical
a circus performance
Genres a comedy
a tragedy
a romantic comedy
a farce
an entrance ticket
the boxes
the pit
the balcony
Points to discuss.
Use your active vocabulary while talking about the theatre.
1. How do you choose a performance? Do you choose a certain playwright, a
certain play, a genre, a actor/actress, a director, a theatre etc? Which of these
factors are the most important for you?
2. Do you read reviews before seeing a performance? Do you follow the advice of
your friends/parents? Do you choose the performance by yourself?
3. What are you favourite genres/ Moscow theatres/actors/actresses/?
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4. Where do you prefer to sit in the theatre?
5. Who are the people who create a performance? What qualities should they
possess?
6. What do you usually do when you come to the theatre? Does the atmosphere of
the theatre put you in a special mood?
7. Give a list of top ten Moscow actors and actresses. Account for your point of you.
8. Give a list of the most striking Moscow performances and account for your
choice.
9. What’s your attitude to commercial theatre projects? Are their quality worse than
the one of repertoire theatre performances?
10. Will the theatre be ever ousted by the cinema or TV? Which form of
entertainment do you prefer?
11. What makes a good actor/actress? Do they have an easy life in Russia?
12. What is your attitude to TV versions of performances shown on TV, channel
Culture, for example?
13. What is your attitude to modernised versions of classical plays? Account for it.
14. Write a review of a performance that struck you/ or that you didn’t like very much.
Be ready to give a presentation of this performance in class. If you have the
programme or the booklet about the performance, bring it to class.
Examples of reviews.
Review One
Three comrades
Not long ago I saw one of the most striking performances of the Sovremennik theatre “Three
comrades”, an adaptation of Remarque’s famous novel . I was impressed by the direction of
Galina Volcheck . The artistic director caught the spirit of the novel very well and
represented it on stage. The performance was close to the book. That night Chulpan
Hamatova was in the cast. She performed the role of Pat Holman. Chulpan gave a marvellous
performance of a person who is seriously ill with TB, who understands that her days are
numbered, and wants to forget about it. She doesn’t give up, she wants to live and to love. Her
cheerful nature and ability to love attracts Robby and his friends. Pat brightens his love and
brings joy and meaning into his life. He, in his turn, loves the girl tenderly and looks after her
despite her catching disease. His love to Pat is self-denying. Chulpan’s acting is amazing. Her
voice is powerful and her face is very expressive. She wonderfully reveals the emotional state of
the character . She puts her heart and soul into the role and charges the audience with
electricity. That is why Moscow theatre-goers starting talking about her as a talented theatre
actress in 1999 after the first-night of “Three comrades”. Since then she has played a number
of interesting roles, but Pat remains one of her best ones. For Galina Volchek the idea of true
friendship is also important. You can’t help admiring the three fiends who stand by each other
in trouble, whatever happens. At the end Otto even sells his favourite car to get a big sum of
money and to give Robby an opportunity to spend the last days of Pat’s life with her in the
sanatorium which is expensive. The acting of Sergey Yuskevich is magnificent in the scene,
where he parts with his car for the sake of his friend. The performance is also a strong protest
against fascism which destroys people’s lives. Lenz, one of the friends, is killed by fascists
because of his ideas. The performance is wonderfully staged. The scenery and the music
create the necessary atmosphere- sometimes the atmosphere of sadness and sometimes the
atmosphere of joy. The soundtrack tos the performance is marvellous. Galina Volchek also
uses the surround volume system to create the atmosphere of Berlin( trams, cars, etc). the
sea, the forest. For example, you can here the sound of the cuckoo bird who promised Pat that
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she would live 100 years. But unfortunately the girl died in the sanatorium and Robby ‘s life was
empty again.
The end of the performance is powerful when you see the three friends and Pat flying
somewhere up in the car when they were all alive and happy. This performance preaches the
ideas of true love and friendship which are stronger than everything else.
Discussion points:
Use the vocabulary in bold while talking about the performance.
1) What is the performance “Three comrades” about?
2) What can you say about the acting?
3) What can you say about the direction?
4) What is the message of the performance?
Review two
Theatre in London
Most British cities have a theatre, but London has the greatest number. There are over
50 theatres in London’s West End, the area in London with most theatres , and about
35 smaller fringe theatres. A successful play may run for months, even years.
In recent years, musicals have been very successful. About 5 million people,
many of them tourists, go to see a musical every year in London.
Going to the theatre is not only popular, but also expensive. Not many young people
can afford to go. It is possible to get cheaper tickets by going to afternoon performances
called matinees or by buying stand-bys, half-price tickets which are sold half an hour
before a performance starts.
Britain has a long tradition of drama. British theatre began in the thirteenth
century , before the time of Shakespeare, with a serious of short stories from the Bible
called The Mystery Plays. Even today, every four years in York and Chester, ordinary
people still perform these plays.
Acting, both by amateurs and professionals, is still very much alive in Britain.
The most famous British theatres are the National theatre and the Barbican. The
Royal Shakespeare Company performs both at the Barbican and in Stratford-on-Avon,
where Shakespeare was born. These theatres receive money from the government so
that they can perform several plays a year. In spite of this money from the government ,
many theatres including the National Theatre and the Barbican find it difficult to survive.
There are many smaller theatre groups in Britain . Some of them receive money
from the government to perform plays which are contemporary and experimental.
Opera and ballet life is also interesting in Britain. Several first –class orchestras
are based in London. Opera of the highest quality is performed in London. The Royal
Opera House at Covent Garden in central London is leased by the government to the
Covent Garden Opera House trust, which receives a government grant. Seasons of
opera are performed there and also of ballet by the Royal ballet , which has in recent
years been one of the most successful British ventures in the arts.
(From “Highlights by L.V. Kvedchenya )
I Learn the vocabulary in italics and make your own situations with it.
II Discussion points:
British theatre
4) Can you see any advantage of theatre over film, or is theatre just old-fashioned?
American Theater
Theater in the United States has been strongly influenced by European drama,
but the "musical" is of truly American origin. The musical is a play with spoken
lines, songs, and dances. It was not until the 1940s and the production of
"Oklahoma" that musicals began to change in style and content. Although the
basic plot of "Oklahoma" presented an uncomplicated love story, the characters in
the play seemed more like real people, and, instead of the routine dancing, ballet
was introduced. Since "Oklahoma" many successful musical plays have appeared
on the American stage. No longer just light and amusing, they often deal with
serious themes, accompanied by sophisticated music and dancing. One example
is "West Side Story", a modem version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the
story of young lovers who die tragically. Set in New York City, it portrays
tense and hostile relationships between Puerto Ricans and native New Yorkers.
Another highly successful musical play was "My Fair Lady", the musical
version of a play by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. The first
important American playwright of serious, nonmusical drama was Eugene O'Neill,
who wrote deep and sensitive analyses of human relationships. O'Neill remains
this country's most important dramatist, and his plays are performed frequently.
Other notable modern American playwrights include Thornton Wilder, Lilian
Hellman, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Arthur Miller. These names are
only a few from the long list of contributors to the contemporary stage. The
American palywright who is most widely known today is Arthur Miller. His play
"Death of a Salesman" has been performed in countries throughout the world.
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This work captures with sympathy and understanding the heartbreak of an
unsuccessful man who cannot manage the forces in his life.
Two important developments in recent years are the "theater of the absurd" and
the "black theater". There are also some controversial experiments with
electronic music and lighting, body movements to replace spoken words in
expressing ideas, and even spontaneous audience participation in some
performances. Black theater presents plays about black people, written by black
playwrights, and performed by black casts. Originally, drama about blacks carried
messages of protest against racial prejudice. Today, although this theme of protest
is still present, black theater is increasingly concerned with blacks as individual
human beings and their problems as ordinary people. In recent years theatrical
performances by blacks have increasingly stressed black music: spirituals,
gospelsinging and jazz and ragtime melodies.
New York City is the theater center of the United States. Most
important new plays are produced there. For years young actors, actresses,
and playwrights have gone to New York, hoping to find success.
The New York theater world is divided into two parts. One centers
around Broadway, which is one of the city's most important streets. Almost all
the large commercial theaters are located on or near Broadway in the
midtown area. Most Broadway theatergoers seem to prefer musicals and
sophisticated dramas or comedies featuring one or two highly paid stars.The
other New York theater division, off-Broadway, has no definite geographic
location. Off-Broadway theaters are found throughout the city in buildings
once used as garages, offices, and stores. Rents are low, and there is just
space enough for small audiences. Sometimes there is no raised stage.
Then the cast performs in the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by
the audience. This arrangement is known as "theater-in-the-round".
Many theater groups are active outside New York. There are profes-
sional companies in almost every major city. Some of them follow
repertory schedules. Different plays are performed several times by the
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same group of actors within a period of a few weeks or months. There are
also traveling acting companies that tour throughout the country. In
addition, there are nonprofessional university and community theater
groups.
Unlike many other countries, there is no nationally subsidized theater in
the US. Some acting companies receive financial help from the National
Endowment for the Arts, foundations, and a few communities. However,
many theater groups suffer from lack of adequate financing. Frequently
commercial theaters must charge very high prices for tickets in order to pay
production costs and to make some profit. As a result, many people who
love the theater cannot afford to go often.
( Н.Д. Токарева, В. Пеппард “What it is like in the USA).
Discussion points:
1). Summarize the contents of the text about American Theatre using the
vocabulary in the bold.