Unit 12. Text: A night at the theatre

LEISURE TIME

Text: A night at the theatre.

Grammar: Sequence of Tenses

Практические цели: Ознакомление лексического материала по теме "Leisure time" и закрепление активной лексики в речевых упражнениях, развитие умений и навыков монологической речи. Введение новой грамматической темы: “Sequence of Tenses” и выполнение грамматических упражнений на закрепление.

A night at the theatre.

Here we are outside the theatre. It is the Library Theatre which is underneath the General Library in Manchester. We are going to see a modern play which is very popular with theatre-goers.

Passing through the revolving door and down the stairs we come to the box office where the tickets are sold. Luckily we booked our seats a few weeks ago or would not be able to get in, because for this play all the seats had already been sold. It is so popular that this is the second time it has been produced here.

We leave our raincoats in the cloakroom. At the entrance to the theatre itself an attendant in uniform tears our theatre tickets in half. He gives us our halves back so that we can find our seats by their numbers. Another attendant shows us to our seats and sells us a program that will tell us which parts the actors are playing and how many acts there in the play. Then we take our seats about halfway down the auditorium.

All around us people are settling down into their seats, reading their programmes, passing chocolates. Everybody is excited, looking forward to the play. We all have a clear view of the stage because the seats are set on wide steps which slope down to the level of the stage. On the front row, you are so close you can smell the paint on the scenery but not too close to spoil your view of the actors. Even on the back row you have a perfect view of the stage because this is a small theatre.

This auditorium holds only 300 seats, but many theatres are much larger. In a small theatre you can always be sure to hear and see everything and really feel that you are with the actors in everything they do and in all the places they visit. But many plays are still produced in very large, old theatres where it is difficult to see and hear properly if you are in the back rows. There are sometimes so many stalls (ground-floor seats) in these theatres that they are divided into orchestra stalls, center stalls, and rear stalls, with the pit behind them. Above, there is the dress circle and boxes, then the balcony and, high above, the gallery, or the “gods”!

The auditorium seems to be full now. In a few minutes the play will begin. The attendants close the doors and draw the curtains over them. The warning bell rings to tell everyone the play is about to begin. People whisper excitedly. Slowly the lights begin to come up on the stage.