Choose the correct answer

READING 2

Pre-reading:

1. Have you ever watched the ballet? Tell the class about your impressions.

2. What do you know about the famous ballet dancers?

Sibley and "Manon"

Ballet fans will no doubt have read James Kennedy's article about Anto­inette Sibley. In it he mentioned the new ballet "Manon" which Kenneth MacMillan created for her and Anthony Dowell and which made its very successful debut in March.

She herself talked revealingly about this new work in an interview which appeared in "The Times" of 7 March and from which we have taken the following extract.

"To have a three-act ballet created for you," she said, "is absolutely the most important thing in a dancer's life. One has to search one's heart and soul for the truth to bring alive whatever the choreographer intends. But it's so tre­mendously fulfilling to have the chance to do it and know that a little bit of you, something of the way you moved, is going to become part of ballet."

By coincidence, she and Dowell had seen Visconti's production of the Puccini opera while they were dancing at last year's Spoleto Festival. They were so bowled over by it that on getting back to London they told John Tooley, Covent Garden's general administrator, he simply had to get that production for the Royal Opera, and were surprised how non-committal he was. The explanation came shortly afterwards when MacMillan gave them both a copy of Prevost's novel for their holiday reading.

How much help was the book in creating the character in movement?

"Well, the ballet is nearer to the book than the opera, but where Ken­neth has been so clever, I think, is in simplifying it and making it all clear. When I first read it I found all those jumps in time confusing, one person telling another about what happened in the past.

I think Manon really was just a girl who wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Because she had been so poor, she wanted sensual things and the kind of happiness wealth can bring, then she fell in love with someone who was poor. And when she finally made up her mind what she really wanted, it was too late. But I suppose she could have said 'No' when her brother tempted her to the other kind of life; she wasn't really that innocent."

She relies a lot on the music and is delighted to be dancing to Massenet. "It's so wonderful to have really passionate music again, music you can sing when you come home.

I get all my motivation, as they say now, from the drama and from the music. These are what get me moving, enable me to find something inside myself that goes into the role. I have to be able to listen to the music, that is why I cannot dance to electronic music, because I simply do not know how to hear those “plinks and plonks and bumps."

(from magazine "Time ")

VOCABULARY 3

Actors and Actresses

the leading role (the lead) part players performer minor characters actor playing the leading role (the lead, the starring actor) to be in the title role musician conductor composer bass tenor soprano contralto company scene-painter stage designer costume designer stage hand (scene shifter) producer director-producer

director dancer prompter characters in order of their appearance to be in the cast to act the part (role) of acting curtain call to encore to present a bouquet of flowers to take (receive) a [curtain] call (to take one's call; to take the curtain) to receive an acclamation to applaud / to clap to burst into applause theatrical activity touring company to rehearse rehearsal dress rehearsal at rehearsal on tour

CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER

1. He.....on stage for only one scene.

a) appeared b) emerged c) entered d) erupted

2. He played the lead in a.....production of "Macbeth".

a) memorable b) memorised c) recalled d) reminded

3. Her.....as a tragedian took her to every part of the world.

a) fame b) glory c) renown d) status

4. Halfway through the first act, the leading man forgot his......

a) declamations b) lines c) parts d) speeches

5. He soon made a.....for himself on the stage.

a) fame b) popularity c) reputation d) regard

6. When he forgot his lines the.....whispered them from the side of the stage.

a) messenger b) prompter c) pusher d) reminder

7. Public figures, such as actors, are often reluctant to talk about their.....lives.

a) individual b) particular c) personal d) private

8. I doubt if I will be.....enough to play tomorrow.

a) fit b) healthy c) recovered d) sound

9. Miss Best was proud to be.....out for special praise for her performance.

a) distinguished b) selected c) separated d) singled

10. Don't.....shouting for ability as a dramatic actor.

a) identify b) imagine c) mislead d) mistake

11. For the first night's performance the.....had to be called in to take the part because

the leading lady was ill.

a) deputy b) reserve c) substitute d) understudy

12. The highlight of his acting career was the opportunity to play the.....of Hamlet.

a) characterisation b) part c) personage d) play

13. The actors have to.....before they appear in front of the strong lights on stage.

a) cover up b) do up c) make up d) paint up

14. He gave the best performance of his acting career in the.....of Othello.

a) action b) personage c) role d) theme

15. That comedian is very good at.....; he can take off the President perfectly.

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