Appraisal of Production/Performance and Acting (Favourable Reception)

It is indeed a blockbusting performance.

The production tends to gather full houses/audiences. The production is played/plays to capacity audiences.

The play was a great/tremendous success/box office success.

The performance is fully booked up.

The audience was quite engrossed in the performance.

The performance went off very well.

The play had/got good/fovourable reviews.

The play was well/favourably/enthusiastically received.

We were in raptures over/enthralled by what was going on the stage.

The cast brought their characters to life quite successfully.

Their acting has evoked much praise from the critics.

The play features the prominent actress/actor N as...

The debutant; debutante is able to hold the stage among mature actors/such re­nowned/distinguished/eminent actors as...

A faultless performance/a very finished performance

His presence in the cast made the performance a significant event in the theatrical world.

He gave a convincing portrayal/characterization of...

A versatile actor, he tried his hand at many different parts.

The actress seems to penetrate into the very soul of her character.

She has a keen/thorough insight into her character inner world.

She can instill/infuse life even into a cardboard part.

Her character is imbued/infused/instilled with life and vitality.

She managed to incarnate her character superbly. She has a remarkable command of the art of reincarnation.

Her Juliet has won favour with thousands of theatre fans.

Her acting/performance leaves an impression of remarkable freshness and sincerity.

On the stage, before the audience,in her costume and make-up, she is no longer her­self: she is the charactershe is playing.

Her face is mobile and expressive on the stage.

She brought the house down with her performance./The scene virtually brought the house down.

The house rose to their feet to cheer/hail the actors.

The audience burst into thunderous applause/applauded heartily and enthusiastically.

His appearance was hailed with long applause.

There were several shouts of ‘encore’ and ‘bravo’.

The actors took 3 curtains/curtain calls.

After the performance the audience surged to the stage pelting the actress with nosegays.

We went backstage to present the actors with bouquets of flowers and congratulate them on their success.

Appraisal of Production/Performance and Acting (Criticism)

It was uneven acting, eloquent and touching in places (at times), ineffective in others(at others).

It was a slipshod performance.

There was nothing special about his performance, it was only average.

Sometimes the actors hammed it up a bit and sounded artificial and insincere.

The whole cast was so weak-kneed that the lines were merely spoken and nothing more.

The actor persistently forgot his lines/missed his cues two times. He had to be prompted. He should never be offered more than a walk-on part.

It was not an awe-inspiring performance.

The play had/got poor/unfavourable/terrible reviews.

The performance dragged on.

There were a few displeased hisses in the audience./The audience hissed/hooted the actor off the stage. Some of the audience even thumped on the floor. One of the audi­ence even pelted the actor with an egg.

The public was quite unresponsive/responded but coolly, however hard the actors tried.

Vocabulary

Translate the following sentences from English into Russian.

1) The play was rathersuccessful.

2) The performance was a tremendous success.

3) It’s a very interesting production but too unusual to be a box office success.

4) They put on a musical of “Jane Eyre” but it was a flop.

5) What sort of reviews did it get?

6) What were the reviews like?

7) It had favorable reviews.

8) It was reviewed in “The Observer”.

9) The productionwas enthusiastically received.

10) The play was well received by the critics

11) Pinter’s new play was given a cool reception both by the public and the critics.

12) The new production of “The Rivals” by Sheridan was given an enthusiastic reception at the National Theatre yesterday.

Fill in the gaps with the words from the list below. Act out the dialogues.

Dialogue 1

- Well, and now that the ____________ is over, what’s your impression ____________ it?

- Everything is just wonderful! The play itself, the ____________, the stage effects, the ____________ were too marvelous ____________ words.

- You are right, especially the acting – that was simply ____________.

- You know, at times I completely forgot myself. And what an____________ audience! Did you ever hear such ____________ applause from spectators every time the curtain ____________?

- I’ve never seen an audience ____________ so much before. I think there were more than five curtain calls. I clapped so much that my ____________ even now.

List of words: applaud, performance, bursts of, for, went down, palms hurt, beyond description, acting, appreciative, staging, of.

Dialogue 2

- Oh, hello! Where have you been?

- To the theatre. I was lucky enough to get the ticket before the performance.

- What did they present?

- They were showing “School for Scandal” by the great English playwright Sheridan.

- Is it still on? It has been on the ____________ for a long time, hasn`t it? I thought it had been ____________.

- No, it has such a ____________ reception that it just can`t be taken of now. People still want to see it and there is a queue outside the theatre every night in spite of the “____________” sign.

- Well, how did you like it?

- Oh, it was ____________. Too marvelous for words. Really, I was so deeply impressed by the play that I can hardly put into words what I think of it. It’s one of the best productions I’ve ever seen.

- What about the ____________?

- Sergeev and Petrova in the leading roles were superb. Their acting is so natural and true-to-life that you simply forget that you are watching a play. I was completely ____________ by their performance. Not only the main roles, but even some of the ____________ ones were performed by People’s Actors of Russia. The audiences brought the house down after every scene. I’ve never seen such an enthusiastic audience. The actors got many ____________ and were presented with large bouquets of flowers.

- So you’re not sorry to have gone?

- No, I’ve never enjoyed a show more. Now I’m looking forward to the first night performance of “Macbeth”. Would you like to join me next Saturday?

- Most ____________!

- Then I’ll book two seats over the phone.

- All right. I think I must be going now. See you later.

List of words:curtain calls, taken off, splendid, willingly, bill-boards, cast, sold out, supporting, carried away, favourable.