WORDBUILDER 7 Giai Tri Mua Vui

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Wordbuilder

Guy Wellman

HEINEMANN

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Reading 1

Spend some time trying to absorb the language of the theatre and stage contained in
this text.

Confessions of a would-be actor

After playing Joseph in a nativity play at the age of five and a half, -1 can still
remember the three lines I had - my theatrical career really took off. I was chosen
to be the back end of the pantomime horse in our school end-of-term Chrismas
show. Success there, or rather lack of it - the horse's seams came apart soon after
our first entrance - led to my being given the job of stagehand for all future

productions. Even scenery falling over in the middle of an Italian light opera and

last-minute panic over the missing set for an ancient Greek tragedy failed to
persuade our drama teacher that I would be less of a risk on stage than off. (That,
in fact, is not strictly true. I did have a walk-on part once in a French bedroom
farce - as an apparently dumb police constable - but to everyone's horror I tried to
exit with the wrong character at the end of the wrong scene, stage left instead of

stage right.)

On leaving school, I joined an amateur dramatic society, full of enthusiasm but
rather short on experience, technique and timing. For some years, I was
restricted to bit parts in sketches, satirical revues and one or two slapstick

comedies. My finest hour came when I had to stand in for a member of the cast

who had been taken ill -1 was the general male understudy - and take the part of
the villain in a Victorian melodrama; lots of overacting and asides to the

audience. I had only a very short rehearsal beforehand and I thought my

performance was reasonably competent. The producer, however, suggested that I

took up some less public hobby, like pottery or rug-making.

Not deterred, I joined a repertory company as stage and costumes manager,
also responsible for props and make-up. And I was their prompter as well. During
my time with them I wrote a number of scripts, most of which were rejected, but one
of which was accepted and performed. It turned out to be the most terrible flop. I
didn't do much acting there -just one part, if I remember rightly, in the chorus of a

musical, a revival of West Side Story. Nobody 'discovered' me. What I had always

wanted was to play the hero in something like Romeo and Juliet or to have a

leading part in an Oscar Wilde comedy of manners. When I turned fifty, however,

I began to accept that it was probably not going to happen.

You can imagine my surprise and delight, then, when some nights ago I learned that
I had landed the title role in Shakespeare's classic play Macbeth with the Royal
Shakespeare Company. I couldn't believe my luck. Macbeth: that superb monologue
before Duncan's murder, the passages with the witches on the heath, that fantastic

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow speech in Act Five, Scene 5. The dress

rehearsal, with co-stars Olivier and Glenda Jackson, was a dream. And with the

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Entertainment

Practice 1

[1] On the right are some of the ways we classify films. On the left are some film titles.
Match each title with the most appropriate kind of film from the column on the right,

1 Last Days of the Black Rock Gang a cartoon
2 Bridge over the Seine a western

3 John loves Mary loves Tom loves Judy a science fiction movie
4 Born to be a Star a disaster movie
5 Light Years from Yesterday a travelogue
6 The Blood of the Innocents in White a documentary
7 The London to Glasgow Express a war film

8 Avalanche a (Hollywood) musical
9 Goldilocks at the Teddy Bears' Picnic a horror film

10 Wildlife and the West a blue movie
11 Bonaparte and Alexander a thriller
12 Casablanca to Cape Town in 20 days a historical film
13 Life begins at Midnight in Amsterdam a romantic comedy

[2] In what situation might you say the following? Match each question with one of the

situations on the right.

1 What's on? You want to know whether the actors are any good.
2 Who's in it? You can't see a free seat anywhere.

3 What's it about? You need to know what time to get to the cinema.
4 Where's it on? You're thirsty.

5 What time does it start? You're leaving the cinema with a friend.

6 Where shall we sit? There are three cinemas in town and you don't know

which is showing the film you want to see.

7 Where's the bar? You haven't a clue what to go and see.

8 What did you think of it? It might be a horror film and you wouldn't enjoy that.

[3] Here are some of the categories for the annual Academy Award Winners. Each
winner gets an Oscar. Look back over the past few years - not just this year - and
note down who you would give your awards to for as many as you can of the
categories below. If you don't know the name of the person involved, then just give
the name of the film. If you are working in a group, compare and discuss your notes
with a partner.

Best film
Best Actor
Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress
Best Director

Best Original Screenplay (script)
Best Screen Adaptation

Best Cinematic Photography
Best Editing

Best Special Effects
Best Original Score (music)
Best Costumes / Wardrobe
Best Title Sequences / Credits
Best Short (film)

Special Award for Services to the Cinema Industry, the motion picture business,

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Game

There are, of course, more aspects to film-making than those listed above. Match
each person (1 - 5) with what they would say (a - e).

1 Director
2 Producer
3 Continuity Girl

4 Clapperboard Man

5 Cameraman

a Can't you get on with the shooting? This is costing me money.

b Scene 24. Take 25!

с Your make-up's thicker and you're wearing a different dress.

d Clear the set! This is supposed to be a film studio! Get those damned extras out

of here! Action! Cut!
e Rolling!

Reading 2

Finally in this unit - leaving aside nightclubs and floor shows, variety shows

and puppet shows, music-hall and carnivals, fairgrounds and fashion
parades, a song about the circus:

The whole thing's fake. The sawdust's like cake.

The tent itself's unsafe, and it tilts.

The singer's songs don't rhyme. The band can't keep in time.
And the chap can never climb on to his stilts.

But the one saving grace in this fifthrate place
-The only act that's guaranteed to please —

The only reason that I go to this rotten awful show

Is that tiny little girl on the trapeze.

The juggler drops the balls. The tightrope walker falls.
And performing fleas are always such a pain.

The fire-eater's bald. And the audience are appalled
As the lion-tamer's mauled yet again.

The clowns aren't funny. It's a total waste of money.
I don't know why they have shows like these.

The only thing worth seeing in the whole performance being
That young twenty-year-old girl on the trapeze.

The ventriloquist moves his lips. The acrobat always trips.
And the conjuror's got no tricks left up his sleeve.

The high-diver's head is like a square loaf of bread.
I wouldn't be seen dead in there, believe me.

If it wasn't for the fact that there's this super little act
That gets me going weak at the knees,

I think you know the reason why I come back every season:

It's that middle-aged girl on the trapeze.

The ringmaster stutters. The comedian mutters.
And the strong-man splutters in despair.

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Entertainment

The Russian sword-swallowers have lost all their followers;

So many knives they've borrowed stay below.

And the disappearing rabbits with their rather special habits,
Keep appearing just as rapidly as they go.

So even now, I must confess, the thing I like the best
-I don't know if there's anyone who agrees —

I've really just come back for that one threeminute act
-It's that elderly artist on the trapeze.

Practice 2

[1] Write or discuss the answers to these questions.

1 Which clip from a particular film would you never tire of seeing?

2 What trailers have you seen recently that really made you want to go and see the
film?

3 Can you think of any scenes from films you think should have been cut? Or can you
think of any entire film you think should have been banned?

4 Which of these features do you, in general, like a film to have:

a a happy ending? f larger than life or true-to-life characters?

b a complicated plot or a g (in the case of foreign films) subtitles or

simple storyline? dubbed dialogue?

с lots of action? h lots of close-up shots of people's faces?
d a political or social message? і long sequences of desert, jungle, etc?
e totally naturalistic dialogue? j a fair number of stars or a cast of 'unknowns':

5 What can the cinema offer that the theatre can't - and vice versa?

6 Which plays have you seen which you have also seen the film of? How did the two
versions compare?

7 Would you let your ten-year-old son go off to Hollywood to be in a film, with or
without you there?

[2] Write a favourable review for a play you have seen.
[3] Write an unfavourable review for a film you didn't like.

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