Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 78, Scene a Play.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 78.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development and in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's episode is going to be about going to the theater to see a play.
Let's go.
I ran into my neighbor Dennis yesterday afternoon.
He asked me if I wanted two tickets to the theater.
He had season tickets but couldn't go to this performance.
It was opening night of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
I jumped at his offer immediately. and invited Lucy to come along.
We arrived at the theater half an hour before opening curtain.
We had the tickets in hand and didn't need to pick them up at the will-call window.
The doors to the theater were open and we handed our tickets to the ticket takers standing in the doorway.
We looked for our seats and were pleasantly surprised to find that we had some of the best seats in the house.
I thought we'd be sitting in the balcony. but we were in the orchestra section in the center.
This was great.
The lights dimmed and the curtain went up.
At the end of the second act, there was an intermission.
Lucy and I went into the lobby and bought drinks from the bar.
After about 15 minutes, the lights flickered and we went back to our seats.
After the last act, the audience gave the actors a standing ovation.
This was the best play I had seen in ages.
The acting was superb, and the staging and direction were fresh.
I couldn't have asked for a better theater experience.
I owed Dennis big time for giving me his tickets.
In this episode, we went to the theater to see a play.
I begin the story by saying, I ran into my neighbor Dennis yesterday afternoon.
To run into someone means to meet someone whom you weren't expecting to meet.
Dennis asked me if I wanted two tickets to the theater.
A theater is a place where you go and see a play, a live, dramatic performance.
Dennis had season tickets.
Season.
S-E-A-S-O-N tickets are tickets for several different performances by the same person, group of actors, in this case during a certain period of time.
Usually, season tickets for a theater include all of the performances for the four or five months, perhaps more, when the theater is having performances.
You can have season tickets to a lot of different kinds of events.
You could have season tickets to professional football team or to a college football team or to a professional soccer team.
That means you have tickets for all of their games, throughout the entire year, throughout the season when they are playing.
Sometimes the season can go across two different calendar years.
It might start in September and end in May of the following year.
But we would still call those season tickets.
I say that Dennis had season tickets but couldn't go to this performance, couldn't go to this particular night when the play was being performed.
It was opening night of shakespeare's the tempest.
I say opening night is the first night that the play can be seen.
It's the first night of the performance of the play or concert or whatever the event is.
This was shakespeare's the tempest, one of my favorite shakespeare plays actually.
I say that i jumped at his offer.
To jump at something means to immediately accept it, to enthusiastically accept it.
The beautiful woman asked me to dance and I jumped at the opportunity.
For some reason, my wife didn't like that.
I'm not sure why.
I say that I invited Lucy to come along, to come with me.
We arrived at the theater half an hour before opening curtain.
So we arrived at the building where the play was going to be performed 30 minutes before it began.
Opening curtain is when the play begins.
I say we had the tickets in hand.
We had them with us. and didn't need to pick them up or get them at the will call window.
A will call window is a place where you get your tickets, if you have already purchased them in advance, before the performance.
Sometimes you buy a ticket and perhaps you don't have a chance to get them mailed to you, although nowadays a lot of these things are done electronically.
If that happens, you can go to the theater, to the will call window, and that's a place where you pick up tickets you've already paid for typically.
I say, the doors to the theater were open and we handed or gave our tickets to the ticket takers.
A ticket taker does exactly what you might expect.
He takes your ticket from you and allows you into wherever you're going, in this case, the theater.
Lucy and I looked for our seats and were pleasantly surprised meaning it was a good surprise to find that we had some of the best seats in the house.
The expression the best seats in the house means the best place to sit in order to see some event, for example, in a theater or a stadium.
The best seats in the house would be the seats perhaps right next to the theater stage or right next to the performers house.
Here doesn't refer to an actual house where you live.
We don't mean the best chairs in your home.
We mean the best place to sit in a auditorium or theater in order to see and enjoy the performance.
I say, I thought we would be sitting in the balcony.
The balcony B-A-L-C-O-N-Y is the section of seats that is above the main floor where the seats are.
It's sort of like the second or perhaps third or fourth floor area above the main floor where you sit, what's sometimes called the orchestra section, the section that would be right next to the orchestra if there were an orchestra for a musical performance, such as an opera.
The balcony is either on the side of the theater or in the back of the theater, above the main floor of the theater.
Sometimes balcony seats aren't very good because they are located at a greater distance than the seats that are on the main floor or the orchestra section.
I say that the lights dimmed and the curtain went up.
To dim, D-I-M, means to make the lights get darker slowly.
So you are lowering the level or the intensity of the light.
Dimming the lights doesn't mean turning the lights off completely.
It just means making them darker or making the area where you are darker.
I say the lights dimmed and the curtain went up.
The curtain went up means to say that the performance began.
The curtain here refers to a large piece of material, usually made of cloth, that hangs at the front of the stage.
When the play begins, the curtain goes up or sometimes the curtain is drawn on both sides.
It moves on both sides, so that you can then see the actors and what is called the scenery, the physical background for the play.
I then say, at the end of the second act, there was an intermission.
The word act here is used to describe a section or part of a play.
When we talk about a play in three acts, there are three major parts of the play or three major sections of the story.
Intermission.
I-N-T-E-R-M-I-S-S-I-O-N is a break between sections of the play.
Typically there's one intermission in a play that comes somewhere in the middle of the play or a little after the middle of the play.
Intermissions are generally short.
10 or 15 minutes is typical.
This intermission was 15 minutes.
After the intermission was over, after the 15 minutes were over, the lights flickered.
To flicker, F-L-I-C-K-E-R, is for the lights in a theater or anywhere to quickly come on and off.
This could happen because you're having electrical problems, but when it's done in a theater, it's a way of indicating to everyone who is standing outside the theater or inside the theater that the play is going to start again.
That intermission is now over.
It's a sign for you to go back and sit down in your seat.
This has nothing to do with the popular photography website Flickr, which is spelled without an E, for some reason.
I say that after the last act, the audience gave the actors a standing ovation.
A standing ovation, O-V-A-T-I-O-N, is when everyone stands up on their feet and claps.
That's called a standing ovation.
I say, this was the best play I had seen in ages.
In ages means in a very long time.
The acting was superb, that is, excellent.
And the staging and direction were fresh.
Staging S-T-A-G-I-N-G is the design and organization of the things on the actual stage where the play is performed, where they put the chairs, where they put the table and so forth.
Direction refers to what the director does.
The director is the person who tells the actors how to say their lines, how to act, how to behave during different parts of the play.
All of that would be part of the direction.
I call the direction fresh.
Fresh here means new.
It doesn't seem as though The director just took old ideas and put them up there.
He came up with something new.
I close the story by saying, I couldn't have asked for a better theater experience.
I owed Dennis big time for giving me his tickets.
The expression could not have asked for is used to explain certain ideal conditions, to explain that the situation was as good as I could hope for.
It's the best possible situation.
It could not have been better.
That's why we say, We couldn't have asked for more.
It wouldn't be possible because this was already so good.
To owe someone big time means very much to be in someone's debt, to have to pay someone back a great deal because of something they have done for you.
In general, the term big time just means very much.
And that's what I'm saying at the end of the story.
Now let's listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.
I ran into my neighbor Dennis yesterday afternoon.
He asked if I wanted two tickets to the theater.
He had season tickets but couldn't go to this performance.
It was opening night of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
I jumped at his offer and invited Lucy to come along.
We arrived at the theater half an hour before opening curtain.
We had the tickets in hand and didn't need to pick them up at the will call window.
The doors to the theater were open and we handed our tickets to the ticket takers standing in the doorway.
We looked for our seats and were pleasantly surprised to find that we had some of the best seats in the house.
I thought we would be sitting in the balcony, but we were in the orchestra section in the center.
This was great.
The lights dimmed and the curtain went up.
At the end of the second act, there was an intermission.
Lucy and I went into the lobby and bought some drinks from the bar.
After about 15 minutes, the lights flickered and we went back to our seats.
After the last act, the audience gave the actors a standing ovation.
This was the best play I had seen in ages.
The acting was superb and the staging and direction were fresh.
I couldn't have asked for a better theater experience.
I owe Dennis big time for giving me his tickets.
Thanks to our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say, for her wonderful scripts.
And thanks to you for listening.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
