Text 9.Subsidized and commercial theatres (ingreat britain)

Theatres in Britain are of two types: subsidized and commercial.

Subsidized theatres are publicly owned, and supported from public funds by a subsidy from the Arts Council [au] (совет искусств) and/or the local authority. They have a permanent company of directors, actors, designers,etc., and each season stage several productions, which are presented in repertory. The most well-known are:

Company theatre

The Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal ShakespeareOr: The RSC (colloq.) Theatre

The National Theatre (Company) The National Theatre

Or: The National (colloq.)

The English Stage Company The Royal Court Theatre

The National Theatre (in the sense of the building) is a whole complex consisting of three theatres of varying size and design, situated on the south bank of the Thames beside Waterloo Bridge. The theatres are:

· The OlivierTheatre, the largest (1160 seats), named after Laurence Olivier, a famous actor and first director of the National Theatre, 1962 – 1973.

· The Lyttleton Theatre, a medium-sized theatre (890seats), named after Oliver Lyttleton, first president of the National Theatre Council.

· The Cottesloe Theatre, a very small theatre with movable seats or experimental productions, named after the president of the South Bank Council, which was in charge of the whole project.

The National Theatre was opened in March 1976, although at first performances took place only in the Lyttleton Theatre. Now all three are in use. From 1963, when the National Theatre company was founded, until the new buildings were opened, the company performed at the Old Vic, aVictorian theatre formerly called the Royal Victoria Theatre, near Waterloo Bridge. The Old Vic had its own company, the Old Vic Company, until 1963, when it merged with a company from the Chichester Theatre Festival under Laurence Olivier, to become the National Theatre company.

Most provincial towns of a certain size have a subsidized theatre. Among the better-known are:

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre The Nottingham Playhouse

The Liverpool Repertory Theatre The Bristol Old Vic

The Oxford Playhouse The Belgrade Theatre

Civic theatre is often used of those theatres which are built and supported by a city.

Regional theatre denotes a theatre (or theatres collectively) outside London. It is generally preferred to provincial, which often has a pejorative connotation, suggesting second-rate.

Commercial theatre

Commercial theatresare those which receive no subsidy and are therefore run on a commercial basis. This means that they have to cover all their costs from the sale of tickets, besides which they hope to make a profit. A commercial theatre is simply a building, with no resident company. It is privately owned, and run by a manager, who arranges with a director to stage a particular production. The director then arranges auditions, which any actors who are free may attend, casts the play, rehearses it, and then the production opens. Since only one production is put on at a time, it does not alternate with others, as in the subsidized theatre, but is presented every evening, sometimes twice, as long as enough tickets are sold to make commercially profitable. When the income from the sale of tickets falls below a certain level, the play is taken off, and the theatre manager arranges for another production to be staged, usually by a different director, who chooses mainly different actors.

Most of the London theatres (over 30) are of this type. Since they are nearly all situated in the West End (i.e. the western part of the centre), this name is sometimes used to denote the London commercial theatres collectively.

e.g. “Oliver” had a long and successful run in the West End.

Runis used both as a verb and as a noun with reference to the system practiced in the commercial theatre, whereby, one production is presented every evening as a long as it is financially worthwhile.

Here are some more examples:

· There are several musicals running in London at the moment.

· The play ran for two years.

· “The Mousetrap”, by Agatha Christie, has been running for over 20 years. This is claimed to be the world’s longest-ever run.

In the case of long runs, the cast may be changed.

Note that although commercial theatres are privately owned, we do not call them private theatres. A private theatre is one which is not open to the public, for example, in someone’s house, or in a palace.

10. Answer the following questions taking into account the information given in the text:

1) Which type of theatre has a permanent company of directors, actors, designers? – a subsidized theatre

2) What are the most well-known subsidized theatres in Great Britain? - The Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, The English Stage Company

3) Where is the National Theatre situated? – is situated on the south bank of the Thames beside Waterloo Bridge

4) What are the three auditoriums that the National Theatre hosts? - The OlivierTheatre, the largest , theatre The Lyttleton Theatre, a medium-sized theatre, The Cottesloe Theatre, a very small theatre

5) What is the director in a commercial theatre responsible for? – He is responsible for arranging auditions

6) How long does a production run in a commercial theatre? – It is long as long as it is financially worthwhile