Theatres, music-halls and cinemas

Theatres are much the same in London as anywhere else; the chief theatres, music-halls and cinemas are in the West End.

If you're staying in London for a few days, you'll have no difficulty whatever in finding somewhere to spend an enjoyable evening. You'll find opera, ballet, comedy, drama, review, musical comedy and variety. Films are shown in the cinemas during the greater part of the day. The best seats at the 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 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're not fond of music and singing, opera won't interest you. At the West-End theatres you can see most of the famous English actors and actresses. As a rule, the plays are magnificently staged - costumes, dresses, scenery, everything being done on the most lavish scale. Choose a good play, and you'll 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'll probably want to sit as near to the stage as possible. But if you're at the cinema, you may prefer to sit some distance from the screen. In fact, I would say, the further away, the better.

27. Read the following sentences. Observe the intonation of enumeration:

1. Presently the maid brings in tea on a trolley: a pot of tea, cups and saucers, hot water, a jug of milk, and sugar; also sandwiches, bread and butter, jam, and cakes. 2. Mary has laid the table in the usual way, and has put the right number of knives, forks, spoons and glasses for each person. 3. There's also pepper and salt, oil and vinegar and mustard. 4. On the sideboard the Browns usually have a bowl of fruit: apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, oranges or bananas according to the season. 5. I get out of bed, put on my dressing-gown and slippers and go into the bathroom. 6. On the dressing table, in front of the looking-glass, you'll see a hair-brush and a comb, a hand-mirror, a bottle of scents and a powder-box. 7. In all large towns there are plenty of restaurants, cafes, tea-rooms, and inns or public-houses. 8. One of the people in the picture is buying postage-stamps, another is registering a letter, the third is writing out a cable.

28. Read the text:

My brother and his wife have just gone back to their home in the country after spending a week with us. As we live in London, they were glad of the chance to visit as many theatres and music-halls as they could. They have a good cinema in the little town where they live, so they didn't want to see any films while they were here, but were very keen to see as many plays as possible.

During the day, my wife and sister-in-law used to visit the shops, and one afternoon they went to a picture-gallery. Then in the evenings, we would all meet for dinner and go on to a play.

We saw several plays, including two new ones, with two very promising young actresses. When I was younger, I used to go to the theatre a lot. I used to queue up for a seat in the gallery in those days. I must say I enjoy being able to have a good seat in the stalls now, and I like to book the seats beforehand to save trouble.

We saw a very good review too. The music and costumes were most attractive. The last evening before our visitors had to go home, we saw a musical comedy. I am not very fond of these myself, as a rule, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. We were all rather tired, I think, and it made a change from the serious drama that we'd seen the night before.

29.*** This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce intonation in proper speech situations. a) Listen to the dialogue "At the Theatre" sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise reading each sentence after the cassette-recorder. b) Record your reading. Play the recording back immediately for your teacher and fellow-students to detect your possible errors. Practise the dialogue for test reading, memorize and dramatize it. c) Give conversational situations with the phrases below:

1. Have you got (any seats for tomorrow)? 2. They'll do very well, thank you. 3. May I see your (tickets), please? 4. This way, please. 5. Yes, please. 6. The (play) isn't over till (half past five). 7. What did you think of (it)? 8. I thought it was splendid. 9. The whole thing was first-rate from beginning to end. 10. How much (is that)? 11. Shall I (bring you some tea, sir)? 12. Neither have I.

30. Make up a conversation with a fellow-student using any phrases from the dialogue "At the Theatre".

31. This exercise is meant to develop your ability to reproduce the text with correct intonation. a) Listen to the joke "The Bell-Boy" sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the joke for test reading. b) Listen to the narration of the joke. Observe the peculiarities in intonation-group division, pitch, stress and tempo. Note the use of temporizers. Retell the joke according to the model you have listened to.

32. Read the jokes silently to make sure you understand each sentence. Find the main sentence in the text. Split up each sentence intonation-groups if necessary. Mark the stresses and tunes. Underline the communicative centre and the nuclear word of each intonation-group. It is not expected that each student will intone the text in the same way. Your teacher will help you to correct your variant. Practise reading the jokes several times. Retell the jokes following the model above (See Ex. 31):

A man was at a theatre. He was sitting behind two women whose continuous chatter became more than he could bear. Leaning forward he said to one of them: "Pardon me, madam, I can't hear."

"You are not supposed to - this is a private conversation," she answered.

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