Theatres in London

Text 1

At the theatre

The 20th century brought great changes into the theatre. Cinema, radio, television, video altered the course of the major performing arts and created the new ones. But still there are hundreds of puppet theatres, conservatoires and philharmonics, musical comedy theatres, drama theatres and opera houses where the audiences are excited at the prospect of seeing a play and the actors are most encouraged by the warm reception.

But before going to a theatre you should book a ticket at a box-office. The most expensive seats are in the stalls, boxes and dress-circle. The seats in the balcony, pit and the upper circle are less expensive, they are cheap. Then at the entrance to the theatre the attendant tears your theatre ticket in half. He gives you your half back so that you can find your seat by its number. Another attendant shows you to your seat and sells a programme that will tell you which parts the actors are playing and how many acts there are in the play. Then you take your seat and may enjoy the play.

Vocabulary

to alter something [ʹᴐ:ltə] – изменять что-то

performing arts – исполнительские виды искусства

puppet theatre – кукольный театр

conservatory [kənʹsə:vət(ə)ri] – консерватория

philharmonic [ˌfɪləˈmɒnɪk] – филармония

opera house – оперный театр

a box-office [ʹbᴐx 'ɔfis] – касса

stalls [stᴐ:lz] – партер

boxes [ʹbᴐksi:s] – ложа

balcony [ˈbælkəni] – балкон

dress-circle [ʹdresˈsə:kl] – бельэтаж

pit [pit] – оркестровая яма

upper circle [ʹʎpə ʹsə:kl] – верхний театральный балкон

an attendant [əʹtendənt] – служащий

Task 1. Answer the questions to the text ‘At the Theater’.

1. Are you a theatre goer?

2. What plays did you see there / would like to see there?

3. Where can you get the tickets to the theater?

4. What are the most expensive and the cheapest seats at the theater?

Text 2

Theatres in London

There are many theatres in London. A famous English magazine ‘Talent Takers’ made an attempt to make a list of top ten biggest and the most famous theatres in London.

These are:

10. Lyceum theatre. The Lyceum Theatre can be found in the area of London known as Covent Garden (Westminster), which is a vibrant and exciting part of the city in the heart of London’s Theatreland. There is a huge variety of restaurants near the Lyceum to cater for every taste, as well as lots of high street shops and other tourist attractions such as the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Market and the Royal Opera House. Soho, Leicester Square and Chinatown are also within a manageable walking distance of the theatre. It has 2100 seats. It was built in 1765.

9. Apollo Victoria Theatre. The Apollo Victoria Theatre is located in the West End theatre on Wilton Road in the Westminster district of London, across from London Victoria Station. Opened in 1930 as a cinema and variety theatre, the Apollo Victoria became a venue for musical theatre, beginning with The Sound of Music in 1981, and including the long-running Starlight Express, from 1984 to 2002. The theatre is now the home of the musical Wicked, which had played eight years at the venue as of September 2014. It has a seating capacity of 2208 people.

8. The Dominion Theatre is one of the largest and most perfectly designed theatrical venues in London. It is home to a wide auditorium where every seat has a perfect view, a wealth of hospitality suites, impressive public foyers and large bar areas.

The Dominion Theatre is located on Tottenham Court Road close to St. Giles Circus. Built in 1929 by architects William and TR Millburn the Dominion Theatre in London once boasted an impressive seating capacity of almost three thousand.

7. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (commonly known as Drury Lane) is the one of the oldest theatres in England that is still in use. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663, making it the oldest London theatre. The seating capacity: 3060 people.

6. The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster, London. The theatre was built in 1910. It started out as The Palladium, a venue for different performances. It is especially linked to the Royal Variety Performances, where many were, and still are, held. From 1928 it was managed by George Black and was even a cinema for three months. During the 1930s, the theatre became the regular home for The Crazy Gang. The ‘London’ part of the name was added in 1934.

5. Palace theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. Its red-brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus. The Palace Theatre seats 1,400. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and intended to be a home of English grand opera. The theatre opened as the "Royal English Opera House" in January 1891.

4. Adelphi Theatre. Located on the Strand (Westminster), Adelphi Theatre provides weekly performances, Monday to Thursday. The Theatre came famous when six Tony Awards in the year 1997 for its production of ‘Chicago’, a musical based on a tale of deceit and murder. It was officially opened in 1809. The seating capacity 1500 people.

3. Prince Edward Theatre. The magnificent Prince Edward Theatre is located at a very busy area of Soho and located near some famous tourist spots such as Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden. Theatre is accessible via various modes of commutation such as tubes, buses, cars and taxis.

With a huge occupancy of 1618, Prince Edward Theatre is mainly categorized into three levels as Stalls, Dress Circle and Upper Circle. It was opened on April 3, 1930.

2. Shaftsbury Theatre is the Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It was built by the producer Henry Leslie on 17 December, 1888. It was the second theatre to be constructed on this stretch of Shaftesbury Avenue and is now the oldest in the street.

Early in the theatre's history, it staged mostly comic operas, and later it has been a home to light comedies, musicals and straight dramas. Seating capacity: 1400 people.

1. The Globe Theatre is located at New Globe Walk, Bankside, London was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It’s the oldest and the most famous theatres in London. It has a seating capacity of 1380 people.

Vocabulary

CambridgeCircus is a London traffic intersection (not actually a roundabout) at the intersection of ShafstburyAvenue and Charing Cross Road. The Palace Theatre is located on the west side of the junction.

Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre.

Starlight Express – a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), Richard Stilgoe (lyrics) and Arlene Phillips (choreography), with revisions by Don Black (lyrics), David Yazbek (music and lyrics for the 2nd US tour) and Alistair Lloyd Webber & Nick Coler (composer and lyricist respectively.

Wicked – a musical about good children who become bad and look for the adventures.

Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the UK, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually reigning monarch.

Leister Square [ʹlestə] – площадь Лестер Сквер

St. Giles Circus – небоскреб Сент-Жиль Секус

located off Oxford Street – расположенный неподалеку от улицы Оксфорд Стрит

matinee [ʹmᴂtinei] – утренний или дневной сеанс; дневное представление

variety theatre – театр эстрады; театр-варьете

hospitality suit – номер или небольшой зал для бизнес-встреч в неформальной обстановке

façade [fəʹsa:d] – фасад; внешняя сторона

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04