A Night at the Theater

Here we are outside the theatre. It is the Library Theatre which is underneath the Central 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 programme that will tell us which parts the actors are playing and how many acts there are 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, centre 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.

Cinema

I am not a great cinema-goer, but now that they have built a new cinema near my house I go and see a film occasionally. Actually it was last Sunday that I saw again the film that was produced by the Mosfilm Studio — "The Diamond Arm"⁽¹⁾. This comedy is a funny mixture of fiction and reality. The plot of the film is the following: a group of rogues⁽²⁾ were trying to smuggle⁽³⁾ jewellery into our country. They gave the jewels to the wrong man who was quite unsuspecting and who incidentally gave them away. When he came back to his town they began to follow him to get hold of the jewels . A lot of funny episodes happened during this hunt. Finally the smugglers were traced down by the militia.

Nikulin who was in the title-role is a real favourite with the public. Even though he sometimes didn't do anything funny the audience started laughing the very moment he appeared on the screen. His very face was enough to set them roaring with laughter. As for me, I am not terribly fond of him though he is an actor of some talent. Another man playing the second best role, one of the gang⁽⁴⁾, Mironov, was more to my taste. His acting was quite good. There were a couple of songs and some dancing too. There were some fantastic tricks as well. Such as a car lifted by a helicopter, pistol shots in the dark, hands moving in the light of diamonds, etc. I couldn't call it exactly a very good film, but I must say 1 enjoyed it.

There are very many state theatres in Russia, which have a permanent staff. Each of them has a great variety of shows, in Great Britain it is not like that. A play is rehearsed for a few weeks by a company of actors working together mostly for the first time, and it is then allowed to run as long as it draws the audience and pays its way - which may be for several years.

Another peculiarity of the theatre in Great Britain is as follows: there are two kinds of seats: bookable seats - seats, that can be booked in advance, and unbookable ones - those, which have no numbers and the spectators occupy them on the principle of: first come, first served. As to the names of the parts of the theatre in England they are as follows: all the front rows, as far as the barrier are the stalls. The barrier separates the stalls from the other part of the house. There are separate entrances for different parts of the theatre. The pit is the part behind the barrier. The seats there are not bookable and have no numbers. You have to stand in a queue to get in there and also for the gallery. The lower tier under the gallery is the dress-circle. People having seats there as well as in the stalls are supposed to wear some sort of evening dress.

Clubs

The club is a decidedly British institution. It is the sense of a club which is the most obvious feature of the House of Commons.

Apart from Parliament-offen called the Best Club in town — no other institution has become more utterly representative of a certain aspect of the British way of life than the club. There exist school clubs and college clubs, political clubs and cultural clubs, town clubs and country clubs. There are sports clubs of all sorts including yacht clubs and driving clubs and "The Pony Club" with a membership of 77,000. There are numerous Shakespeare clubs which appeared as the predecessors of the Scottish groups celebrating their "Nichts wi' Burns" and of Dickensian Fellowships. There are more than 820 "official" music clubs and societies belonging to the National Federation of Music Societies. With the folk revival in the late fifties folk clubs began to develop on a large scale, the main catalyst being the political and cultural ferment among the contemporary young.

In London Clubland is concentrated in the palatial houses in and around St James's Street and Pall Mall. Boodles, Brooks's, the-Athenaeum, the Reform, the Travellers, St James's, the Garrick, the Carlton, the Union, Bucks, the Turf, the Saville and the Savage, that unique Bohemian haven for artists and writers, are but a handful of distinguished Metropolitan clubs.

Among the most famous clubs of London "The Other Club" occupies a special niche. It was founded in 1911 by Winston Churchill and has developed into a powerful pillar of what is often called the Establishment. Members of the club gather for dinner once a month when Parliament is in session and their traditional meeting place is the Pirate Room of the Savoy Hotel, for it has no premises of its own. These meetings are strictly private and uninhibited; informality and gastronomic distinction jointly reign.

Limited to fifty, the list of members includes members of the Commons and the Lords and other prominent people. It was given the name "The Other Club" because it aims always to hear the other man's point of view.

If the title of this club is odd, so were many in the past. There used to be an "Everlasting Club" which failed to go on for ever; the notorious "Hell Fire" and "the Humbug"; "The Mug House" which succumbed in disorder, and "The Ugly" with a taste for disfigured faces.

Pubs

The pub has evolved over the centuries, always playing an important part in social life. Originally a stopping place for weary travellers, it was then called an inn or tavern and was one of the few places where a traveller could get food, warmth, shelter, and of course a drink. Even in those far-off days the inn was often the centre of community life in an area, and it was there that gossip and news was exchanged, and the latest political developments discussed.

Many English pubs have names which show their former use: "The Traveller's Rest", for example, or "The Coach and Horses", or "The Pilgrim's Arms". Other pubs have humorous names like "The Cat and the Custard Pot", "The Man in the Moon" (a pub in a lonely spot is often so called) or "The Who'd Have Thought It" (a pub in an unexpected place).

Eveiy pub has several rooms; originally, this was a division of classes, and still is to some extent today. The richer travellers did not want to eat and drink with the "lower orders" of the local village, and therefore certain rooms were set aside for them, usually the tap-room, lounge or private bar. Today there is a smoking-room, a lounge, and a public bar (where women do not usually drink) and sometimes a singing room.

There are generally no waiters, for the customers fetch their own drinks; but in most rooms there will be a long counter presided over by a barmaid, or barman who stands behind several large handles, the beer pumps. The English drink beer because they like it, and because it is the cheapest alcoholic drink. Spirits have a heavy tax on them, and whisky and soda, sherry or gin, although drunk by working people, are usually the preserve of richer customers.

The British drinking laws are full of absurdities. They cause plenty of irritation, but probably do not reduce the amount of drinking. Perhaps this is the reason why the drink trade itself seems little interested in attempts to get the laws radically changed. Alcoholic drinks, including beer, are allowed to be sold in any place for nine hours each day; it is for the local Justices of the Peace, to decide exactly what those hours should be. Special rules apply to clubs, and special exemptions from the normal rules may be granted by magistrates for particular occasions. Again, drinks may be sold only in establishments licensed for the sale of drink, and in practice these are either hotels or pubs, or licensed grocers or wine merchants which sell bottles to take away.

Some of the most agreeable London pubs are to be found in Holborn. The clientele is mixed: lawyers, commercial travellers, char women, bookkeepers of mature years, shopkeepers, company secretaries, clerks. Though women are not unwelcome, such pubs remain essentially male establishments. They are clubs as much as pubs-relaxed, pleasantly noisy, a great place for exchanging stories and tips.

At "The George Inn", Southwark (usually crowded with medical students these days) you can absorb the flavour of an old coaching inn and see the wooden galleries round the country-courtyard where Elizabethan players acted.

The music hall or "club" type are too numerous to mention, but there are also more than a dozen London pubs with good live jazz.

Promenade Concerts

At the Prams the audience are very mixed and there is always a high proportion of young people. The promenaders in particular are informal, these are summer concerts, and it is certainly the thing to be extremely enthusiastic. Applause is often warm and frequently begins before the last notes have died away and is often indiscriminate. As many Londoners get their first introduction to concert-going through these popular concerts, part of the audience has still to learn to differentiate between a good and a bad performance.

The Promenade Concerts are given on every week-day from mid-July to mid-September in the Albert Hall with attendances usually between 4,000 and 6,000 at each concert.

About 3,000 of the audience stand, not exclusively because it's only three shillings if you stand and much less if you take a season ticket. Many stand because they like the tradition of camaraderie that has grown up between the members of the audience and between audience and orchestra since this series of Promenade Concerts opened in 1895.

Back in those days, a young British conductor by the name of Henry Wood was concerned about the state of music in Britain. He was worried by the low standard of performance, at the lack of British musicians and the infrequent opportunities for the ordinary person to hear good music.

The successful policy of mixing classical and modem music in one programme has won acceptance for new music.

After almost three hundred years of musical sterility in Britain, a number of composers have established themselves in the twentieth century - Elgar, Britten, Bush, Hoist, Ireland, William Walton and Vaughan Williams are a few of the better known names. Many of them were heard for the first time at the Prams. Such foreign composers as Debussy, Mahler, Bartok and Shostakovitch were likewise introduced to London audiences, and today, as every concert is broadcast in full or in part, millions of listeners can enjoy the music.

The comparatively widespread interest in serious music is due to a large extent to Henry Wood's initiative. In the large provincial towns, too, seasons of promenade concerts are held. They are well attended and have played a leading role in encouraging the development of musical life in the provinces. Another Pram innovation was the employment of women members of the orchestra. It happened during the First World War when Henry Wood began accepting the best players regardless of sex.

During the course of the years a famous tradition has grown up. It began in Henry Wood's time; he was asked to compose something for the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. He arranged a set of tunes, sea-shanties and a hornpipe, and called the whole A Fantasia based on Traditional Sea-Songs. By chance he arranged it as the last item in the last concert of the series. It proved a tremendous success and was played each year as the last item. The Fantasia is still played today in its original position. At one point a hornpipe is played and the audience stamp in time to the music with their feet.

Health

You and Your Health

What Do You Know About Disease ?

Just what is disease? Disease is a change from the - condition. of good health. In disease, the normal structure or function of the body is harmed or weakened. Disease is often called sickness or illness⁰*,

A disease may last a brief time or a long time. It may be mild or severe. Some diseases such as the common cold may go away after a few days without any treatment. Other diseases require medical treatment to cure them. Still other diseases may require a lifetime of medical supervision ₄ to manage them.

Favorable standards of living help promote health. Also the body itself has defenses against disease. But now and then the defenses give way and illness occurs. Disease germs may break through the defenses. Parts of the body may begin to function poorly. Tissues⁽²⁾ in the body may grow in uncontrolled ways. Something may go wrong with certain chemical reactions in the body.

Symptoms of Illness

How do people know they are ill? Often they have symptoms such as pain, nausea, sore throat, lack of appetite_t fatigue^, or fever, However, a disease may be present without a person knowing it. Sometimes a disease is discovered during a routine health examination.

Ilnesses, that can be passed along by an infected person to a well person either directly or indirectly are called infectious or commutticable^w diseases.

In early 1900s infectious diseases were still a serious public health problem. Today as a result of improved hygiene⁽⁵⁾ and living conditions, new drugs, new kinds of medical treatment, and the widespread use of vaccines^, the picture has changed. Many diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, scarlet fever, small pox, and diphtheria have been almost wiped out. However, some of these diseases — and others — pose problems in certain areas of the

The cold Is the most common communicable disease. So far, scientists have identiied p^re thOT 100 different viruses^ capable of causing cold Symptoms. For this reason, no vaccine exists to immunize^ against colds.

Some diseases are not caused by disease-producing microorganisms. These diseases cannot be passed from person to person. No imtnunity can be produced for this diseases. They are called noncpmmunicable. Among them are most diseases of the heart, allergy and a lot of others.