A. At the theatre
We went to see a new production of Hamlet last night. The sets1
were incredibly realistic and the costumes2 were wonderful. It
was a good cast3 and I thought the direction4 was excellent. Toby
Cartwright gave a marvellous performance5. It got rave reviews6 in the papers today.
- 1 scenery, buildings, furniture on the stage or in a studio
- 2 clothes the actors wear on stage
- 3 all the actors in the performance
- 4 the way
- 5 the director had organised the performance
- 5+6 note these typical
- 6 collocations got very enthusiastic comments
Dance usually refers to modern artistic dance forms; ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ usually has a more traditional feel, unless we say modern ballet.
A comedian is a person who entertains people by telling jokes. They may have a show of their own or they may feature in a show with lots of different entertainers. [people whose job it is to entertain others] The people who watch a show are the audience. Viewer is only used about someone watching a
TV programme.
Language help
When we refer to a performing art in general, we can leave out the definite article, e.g. Are you interested in (the) cinema/ballet/opera/theatre? But: Would you like to come to the cinema/ ballet/opera/theatre with us next week? [particular performance]
B. At the cinema
- ANNA: Our local cinema’s showing Spectre again next week. Do you fancy going to see it?
- BETH: Yes, that’d be great. I love the opening scene1 at the carnival in Mexico City. The James Bond films are always set2 in great locations.
- ANNA: Yes, and I think the film really captures3 the human side of James Bond.
- BETH: That’s right. A lot of work went into the script4 for this, and the dialogue5’s particularly good, I think.
- ANNA: Do you know who the director6 was?
- BETH: Sam Mendes, I think. He didn’t write the screenplay7, though. I’m not sure who wrote that. The score8 is by Thomas Newman. He also wrote the music for Skyfall.
- 1 part of a play or film where the action happens in one place
- 2 take place
- 3 represents very accurately
- 4 the words of a play or film
- 5 conversation written for a book, play or film
- 6 person in charge of making a play or film
- 7 text for a film including instructions for actors and camera operators
- 8 music for a film
C. Other words connected with events in the arts
- The Opera Society are doing a performance of Don Giovanni.
- The National Theatre has a very large and versatile stage. [area above ground level where actors perform]
- What’s on at the cinema/theatre, etc. next week? (note the two prepositions)
- Sometimes they use our school hall as a venue for concerts - it’s a little small but is otherwise quite good.
- There was an actor on TV last night promoting an interesting new play he’s appearing in at The Globe. [providing publicity for; noun = promotion][acting; noun = appearance]
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