II. Vocabulary Practice. 54. Explain the following words and phrases as they have been used in the text

54. Explain the following words and phrases as they have been used in the text. Translate them into Ukrainian:

recorded theatrical performance; well-known Brit­ish thespians; continuous theatrical activity; the growing network of smth.; low come­dy; to give rise to a host of brilliant native-born actors; glamorous singing stars; to attain international celebri­ty; to be unable to afford smth.; hair-raising melodra­mas; performance and production standards; to be raised to a new level; the nation's foremost serious playwright; (to be) familiar with smth. (smb.); at the same time; less costly "off Broadway" productions; to find an outlet for one's work.

READING 2

55. Read the text and speak about the peculiarities of the modern American theatre.

Theatre and Music in the United States: The Present

The Unites States is an international center of culture. Its major cities (like New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles) regularly host many concerts, art exhibitions, lectures, and theatric performances. And on a smaller scale, the same is true of smaller cities. Some of the world's greatest museums, orchestras, theatres, and concert halls located in the United States. Performances and exhibitions are usually very well attended. Tickets can be hard to get, despite their high prices! Many cities also have large communities of artists, actors, dancers, and musicians.

Theatre in America is especially healthy in the hundreds of regional and university groups around the country. But it is Broadway with its some 40 major professional stages and the over 350 off-Broadway experimental the­atres that bring to mind American playwrights such as O'Neill, Miller, Saroyan, Williams, Inge, Albee, Jones, Simon, and Shephard. There are over 15,000 professional actors in New York alone, and another 20,000 or so in the state of California. Over 16,000 professional musicians and composers live in New York, and almost 23,000 more in California. The competition is intense.

The theatre in the United States, is not state-supported (is not national­ly subsidized). It does not survive because it is financed by cities or states. Many Americans tend to see culture and the arts as areas that the government should not interfere with. They do not see government as the patron of the arts. In addition, people who like jazz, for example, do not see why their tax money should be used to support the pleasures of those who prefer classical music (or vice versa). And those who like rhythm and blues aren't very im­pressed by the argument that opera will make us all more civilized. Ameri­cans feel that each person should be willing to support and help pay for his or her own favorite cultural activity, whatever it may be.

The Metropolitan Opera Association, the Met, is a good example. The 14-acre Lincoln Center — whose buildings also house the New York Philharmonic and the equally famous Juilliard School of Music — was paid for largely through gifts and donations from thousands of individuals, private groups, corporations, and nonprofit foundations. Of the Met's annual budget of around $75 million, only 5 per­cent comes from governmental sources, whether city, state, or federal. The other 95 percent is made up by individual contributions, ticket sales, and so on.

Each year brings a new scare ("Will the Met Go Broke?"), and each year this in turn brings in just enough dimes and dollars from private citizens to continue. One result is that the Met cannot compete internationally with many government-supported opera houses in attracting highly paid international stars. But still, the international status gained by a singer being able to say "I sang at the Met" is great enough to attract all but the most greedy to New York. Another result of the Met's precarious financial resources is that it has fiercely loyal supporters who feel that it is very much their opera. Still, a night at the Met is often less expensive than at comparable operas. Much the same situation can be seen with dance and ballet. The fame attached to American modern dance does not depend upon government backing and money. Rather it comes from the originality and quality of individuals such as Graham and Cunningam, Joffrey and Tharp, and their students now teaching and dancing throughout the world.

Perhaps nowhere are New York's extreme contrasts more obvious than ⁿ the Times Square area, around 42nd Street and Broadway. Beneath the bright neon signs of Times Square, you'll find some of New York's most elegant theatres and some of its sleaziest "adult" shows and shops. Times Square is named after the New York Times, which for years has had its headquarters there. The New York Times is considered among the best newspapers in the country.

Times Square is the beginning of the theatre district — the area where Broadway plays are performed. Most "Broadway" theatres are located east or west of Broadway on streets in the 40s and 50s. Broadway has long been the center of theatre in the United States. Many plays open in other cities with the hope of eventually making it to Broadway. Thirty of New York's theatres are on the side streets running east and west of Broadway, with the largest contingent in 45th Street. It is here, in smallish, unassuming buildings, where the famous plays and musicals are staged, and contrary to popular belief, it is rare for stars to have their names up in lights. Usually there is a billboard with a floodlight on it, announcing the play and its cast.

To put on a Broadway show, whether it is a musical or a straight play, costs an enormous amount of money at least four times more than in London. Show-goers in Greater New York are absolutely guided by the newspaper critics, whose reports they follow pretty slavishly. Very few New Yorkers will go near a theatre carrying a play or musical that has been "banned" by the majority of critics. The first night audience is a glittering one, but the most important persons are the critics, a small number of men (and occasionally a woman or two) with inscrutable faces watched hopefully or sardonically by everybody present.

Success on Broadway is the sweetest thing that can happen to a name in show business. They say there is no success like it. It is one of the strange things about Broadway that a first night audience will clap and cause a num­ber of curtain calls with little regard to the quality of the play and their own feelings. Normally, the cast, producer, and other keenly interested in the play folk gather after a first in Sardi's, a smart, traditional restaurant on New York's 44th Street after supper.

A definite disadvantage of Broadway plays is the price of tickets. The hit play or the hit musical is in such demand that tickets change hands "under the counter" for more than 50 dollars. You can, however, get half-price tickets if you go to the TKTS booth in Times Square on the day of the play. Or, perhaps, you'd prefer to go backstage. There are tours of the stage of current Broadway plays, led by the stage managers, directors, and even famous actors!

In addition to Broadway there are Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theatres. Most of these theatres are in the Village and the East Village. (The category that theatre falls into actually depends on its size — with Off-Off being the smallest — not on its location.) They are found throughout the city in build­ings once used as garages, offices and stores. 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 "theatre-in-the-round".

Plays at these other theatres tend to deal with a wider range of subjects and to be more experimental — some say more interesting - than plays on Broadway. They may involve audience participation — that is, the audience becomes part of the play. And at some Off-Off Broadway play, you feel like you're part of the play because the theatre is in someone's living room!

While New York is almost overpowering in its cultural offerings it is just the major, not the only, cultural center in the United States. Many theatre groups are active outside New York. There are professional companies in almost every major city. Some of them follow repertory schedules. Different plays are performed sev­eral times by the 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 theatre groups.

I. Comprehension Check

56. Say if the statements are true or false.

1. Americans are lovers of the arts; they attend the nu­merous concert halls, museums, theatres, exhibitions.

2. To be subsidized is to be supported by individuals, pri­vate groups, etc.

3. The Metropolitan Opera Association is a good exam­ple of a state-supported cultural center.

4. American theatres are not state-supported because many Americans would not like to see government in­terfere with the repertory, casting and financial resources.

5. There are all sorts of amateur and professional theatres in the US.

6. To be an Off-Broadway or an Off-Off-Broadway the­atre depends on the location of the theatre.

7. New York is undoubtedly the most important cultural center in the US.

II. Vocabulary Practice

57. Explain in English the meaning of the following word combinations:

to be state-supported, professional stage (actor, musician, company), to host a concert (theatrical performance, etc.), to be very well attended, an experimental theatre, the competition is intense, the patron of the arts, individual contribution, international status, government backing, to be overpowering in its cultural offerings, repertory schedules, Off-Off-Broadway theatre, theatre-in-the-round, audience participation.

58. Give the English equivalents for the following Ukrainian word combinations:

склад дійових осіб, афіша, поставити спектакль, прем'єра, викликати на біс, глядачі, аплодувати, сцена, грати (у спектаклі), квитки за півціни, популярна п'єса, піти за куліси.

59. Complete the sentences using the words from the box.

luxury performance staging attraction plays unprofitable rank public

The theatre in America is less popular than the cinema. With the popu­larity of television, the theatre lost a great deal of its (1)________. Be­sides, theatre tickets are so expensive that the theatre is a (2) ____________.

Many theatres risk (3)_______ serious intellectual plays. Produc­ers avoid them as (4)________. They are sure the (5) ____________ won't like them as one goes to the theatre to relax. They think that if people don't expect to be entertained and amused at the theatre, they would rather stay at home. Most of new (6)________ are presented first on Broadway. Plays shown off Broadway, though modestly staged in small theatres, (7)________ with the best Broadway (8) _________________ in profes­sional skill.

READING 2

60. Read the text and be ready to speak about the most famous British theatres and actors.

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