Unit eight. All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players

All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, poet and actor

Discuss this before you read the text.

1. How do you understand the epigraph to this unit? Do you know what
Shakespeare's play it comes from?

2. How often do you go to the theatre? Can you call yourself a theatre­
goer?

3. When did you last go to the theatre? What did you see? Did you enjoy
the play (the show)? What did you enjoy most: the actors, the scenery,
the music, the costumes, etc?

4. What theatrical genres do you prefer: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy,
drama, musical or operetta?

5. Have you seen any musicals? Can you tell the difference between a
musical and an operetta?

6. Do you know any English or American playwrights? Can you remember
any plays written by them?

7. Have you ever been to any English or American theatres? What did you
see? What were your impressions?

PART 1

Read the text and make sure that you understand it. The list of new words on p. 190 will help you.

PYGMALION'S FAIR LADY*

It would hardly be an exaggeration to assert that My Fair Lady is the most popular musical created in the last century. Among those made rich and famous by the smashing success of My Fair Lady were Alan Jay Lerner, who wrote the

'Pygmalion's Fair Lady // English Monthly, 1964; Lerner A. J. My Fair Lady. Penguin Bo­
oks, 1977. —

Parti

book and lyrics, and Frederic Loewe, who did the music (both Americans); Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews (both British), who starred; and - to coin a phrase -last, but not least, George Bernard Shaw, the English playwright on whose best play Pygmalion the musical was based.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) wrote his Pygmalion in 1913. The name couldn't have been chosen more correctly. Like the hero of a Greek myth -the king of Cyprus and a gifted sculptor - who once made a marble statue of a beautiful girl and fell in love with his own creation, Henry Higgins, a famous professor of phonetics, challenged by a task that seemed impossible to cope with, succeeded in transforming a Cockney flower girl into a glamorous aristo­crat by improving her accent, and felt he couldn't do without her.

Eliza is a Cockney, i.e. a working class Londoner born in a particular place in the East End who speaks with a specific Cockney accent, without observing grammar rules and distorting the words she uses. In the opening pages of Pyg­malion Shaw tried to record her actual way of speaking, but he was able to keep it up for no more than a few pages, and reverted to normal English spelling for the Cockney flower girl, giving a special remark to the readers: " Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to represent her dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as unintelligible outside London."

Bernard Shaw didn't have to rack his brains to create his Professor Hig­gins. He simply endowed his hero with many features of his own. Like Henry Higgins, Bernard Shaw was known to have no manners, to be domineering and merciless to people around, to possess a specific kind of wit that was capable of making a laughing stock of anyone he wanted to ridicule, and at the same time was lucky enough to have irresistible charm that attracted people to him.

The play was immediately appreciated by theatrical directors and had a long and extremely successful run both at home and abroad a long-long time before Alan Jay Lerner came across it. After seeing the play more than once and carefully reading Shaw's text, he was convinced that sooner or later he would change it into a musical.

In 1952 he sat down and began to struggle with the task he had set himself. He worked on it for four years, writing a song here and a bit of dialogue there. At one point he was on the verge of dropping the whole thing. " I just couldn't get it in focus, " he once said to a friend. But the Lady wouldn't stay dropped. He went back to his work and, with Loewe, put together five songs.

Lerner was particularly impressed by Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins in Pygmalion. He realized that in Rex Harrison he had found a Higgins, who would act rather than sing his songs. He tailored his material to Harrison's style, the result being, among other magnetic songs, the gentle, reflective I've grown accustomed to her face.

For Julie Andrews, who played Eliza Doolittle, Lerner and Loewe wrote the dreamy / could have danced all night, the revengeful Just you wait and the de­lightful Wouldn't it be loverly.

Unit eight

The stage version of My Fair Lady opened on Broadway in 1956 with Julie Andrews as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and quickly won the hearts of theatre-goers.

(to be continued)

Names

Alan Jay Lerner ['sebn djei 1з: пэ] Frederic Loewe ['fredrik '1эш] Rex Harrison [reks 'hasnssn] Julie Andrews ['d3u: li 'cendru: z] George Bernard Shaw [dp: d3 Ъз: пэё Eliza Doolittle [I'laizg 'du: litl]

New Words

smashing ['smaejin] ad/оглушительный (об успехе), сокрушительный

star [sta: ] v играть главную роль

playwright ['pleirait] л драматург

соре (with) (/справиться, выдержать

distort [dis'to: t] v искажать

keep up (phrasal verb) поддерживать (на определенном уровне)

revert (to) [n'v3: t] увозвращать(ся), снова прибегнуть (к)

apology [g'pDisdsi] л извинение

desperate ['despargt] adj безнадежный, доведенный до отчаяния

abandon [s'baendan] i/зд. отказываться (от), бросить

unintelligible [, Anm'telid33bl] adj непонятный, неразборчивый, невразуми­тельный

rack one's brain(s) ломать себе голову rack v напрягать, загружать

endow [m'dau] v наделять

wit л остроумие, ум

laughing stock посмешище

ridicule ['ndikjud] v высмеивать

irresistible [.in'zistsbl] adj неотразимый, непреодолимый

on the verge of на грани

verge [v3: d3] л край, грань

reflective [n'flektiv] adj задумчивый

revengeful [n'vencftful] adj мстительный

delightful [di'laitful] adj очаровательный, восхитительный

Parti

Questions for discussion.

I.What was the challenge Professor Higgins was faced with and accepted?

2. How long did it take Alan Jay Lerner and Frederic Loewe to change
Bernard Shaw's play into a musical? Why did it take so long?

3. Why did Lerner tailor his lyrics to Harrison's style?

4. Eliza Doolittle was a Cockney flower girl. Do you know anything about
Cockneys?

EXERCISES

Find English equivalents in the text for the following (you may think of better Russian translations).

1. Можно без преувеличения утверждать, что...

2. Среди тех, кто стал богатым и знаменитым благодаря оглушитель­
ному успеху «Моей Прекрасной Леди», были...

3. Название было выбрано более чем правильно.

4....увлеченный задачей, которая казалась почти невыполни­
мой...

5. Пьеса была немедленно высоко оценена театральными режиссе­
рами и долго и успешно шла на сценах Англии и за ее пределами
задолго до того, как...

6....время от времени записывая слова песни, иногда часть диа­
лога...

7. В какой-то момент он был готов бросить всю эту затею.

8. «У меня просто не было ясного представления»...

9. Но Леди никак не позволяла себя бросить.

10....который будет играть, а не просто петь его песни...

11. Он подгонял свой материал под стиль Харрисона, в результате
среди других запоминающихся песен получились такие, как...

12....и очень быстро завоевала сердца театралов.

VOCABULARY

Read and translate these sentences into Russian so as to have a better idea of how these words can be used.

smash v, smash n, smash-up n, smashing adj

1.1 dropped the glass and it smashed (разбился вдребезги).

Unit eight

2. We heard the smash of plates in the kitchen.

3. The police claim to have smashed another criminal group.

4. Jimmy smashed up his car on the motorway.

5. He smashed his fist down on the table and demanded immediate service.

6. If a new play (book, film, etc) is a 'smash hit', it is a great success,
e.g. I predict this play will be the smash hit of the season (=...will have
a smashing success).

7. A 'smash-up' is a serious road or railway accident.

e.g. Three people were seriously injured in the smash-up.

star v, n

1. She has a starring role in a new TV show.

2. Dustin Hoffman starred in a lot of very good films.

3. She became a film star at the age of ten.

cope (with) v

1. 1 wonder how you cope with three small children on your own?

2. She couldn't cope with her feelings and burst into tears.

3. The factory coped with the sudden increase in demand without any
problems.

distort v, distorted adj, distortion n

1. The newspaper gave a distorted account of what had happened.

2. The journalist was accused of having distorted the facts.

3. His face was distorted with anger.

4. He said it was a deliberate distortion of what he had said.

keep up (phrasal verb)

1.1 need to buy a belt to keep my jeans up.

2. Her job is to keep up correspondence with the foreign partners.

3. Keep up the good work.

4. How do you keep up your English?

5. It's a good project. Keep it up, don't stop!

6. I can't keep up with all these changes in fashion!

7. 'Keep up appearances' means to behave in an ordinary way when one
is in a difficult situation.

8. He did his best to keep up appearances and pretend that nothing
terrible had happened.

9. 'To keep up with the Joneses' means to compete with one's neigh­
bours/friends/ acquaintances socially, especially by buying the same
expensive new things that they buy.

e.g. Oh, she only bought those new curtains to keep up with the Joneses!

Parti

revert v

1. We shall not fail to revert to your enquiry.

2. After the settlers left, the land gradually reverted to (снова преврати­
лась) desert.

3. He has changed a lot. I hope he won't revert to his old habits.

4. When the owner dies his collection will revert to the state.

apology n, apologize v

1. Please, accept our apologies for any inconvenience we have caused.

2. I owe you an apology. I was rather bad-tempered yesterday.

3. The Director sends his apologies for being unable to attend the
meeting.

4. I must apologize for not replying to your letter sooner.

5. She kept us waiting for more than an hour and didn't even apologize!

6. You'd better apologize to him, or he'll never talk to you again!

desperate adj, desperately adv, desperation n, despair n

1. The old lady was desperate for money.

2. She confessed that she was desperate to get a job.

3. Their case seemed desperate, for there was no one to help them.

4. It was the last desperate attempt to save the company.

5. He looked around desperately (in desperation), but saw nobody to help
him.

6. My noisy neighbours really drive me to despair.

abandon v

1.He abandoned (= left) his wife and children before they officially divorced.

2. The captain is always the last to abandon the ship.

3. The rescue team abandoned all hope of finding the mountaineers.

4. The game had to be abandoned (= stopped, cancelled) because of
heavy rain.

intelligible adj, unintelligible adj

1. This report would only be intelligible to experts.

2. She was murmuring something unintelligible; we couldn't make
anything out.

rack v, n

1. The verb 'to rack' means 'to torture', cause great mental or physical
pain, or trouble.

2. Though the injuries were still racking his body, he remained calm and
cheerful.

Unit eight

3. She was racked by / with doubts (guilt, fears, etc).

4. 'To rack your brain(s)' means to think very hard.

e.g. I racked my brains all day but I still can't remember his first name.

5. As a noun 'rack' means a frame or shelf, which is used to hold things:
a plate rack, a luggage rack, a car-roof rack.

6. Electronic books take up less space, and one rack of discs replaces
a roomful of paper books.

endow v

1. 'To be endowed with sth' means to naturally have a good feature or
quality.

e.g. Eliza turned out to be endowed with both looks and brains.

2. 'To endow' also means 'to donate', 'to make a donation', i.e. to give
money or valuable things to people or organizations such as colleges,
hospitals, research centres, etc. in order to help them.

wit n, wits n pi, witty adj

1. Wit is an ability to say things that are clever and amusing. He is a person
of great wit and charm.

2. His sharp wit had them all smiling.

3. If he weren't such an unusually witty speaker, his lectures wouldn't
collect such great audiences.

4. He was endowed with talent and wit by his famous parents.

5. His witty remarks are, no doubt, worth being put down.

6. 'Wits' means 'intelligence',
e.g. It was a real battle of wits.

7. He didn't have enough wits to put up with his failure.

8. Mary didn't even say 'hello' when we met her at the theatre. I don't
know what had happened to her. I'm at my wits end! (Ума не приложу!
Я в полной растерянности!)

ridicule n, v, ridiculous adj

1. As a noun 'ridicule' means unkind laughter or remarks to make someone
or something seem stupid. The corresponding verb is an action of
similar meaning.

2. That idea, which used to be ridiculed, turned out to be extremely
fruitful.

3. Your refusal to accept that offer is just ridiculous.

verge n, v

1. His theory was so often ridiculed that he was on the verge of giving up further work on it.

Parti

2. In spite of all the criticism and ridicule the team felt that they were on
the verge of a great discovery.

3. Twice she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

reflect v, reflection n, reflective adj

1. The moon reflects the sun's rays.

2. The trees on the verge of the lake were reflected in the water.

3. The value of the national currency reflects the state of the country's
economy.

4. Do you think the play reflects how the author really felt about his heroes?

5. Has it ever occurred to you that the coast line of Russia's Far East is
a mirror reflection of the coast line of North America?

6. 'Reflection' also means careful thought (размышление).

e.g. A moment's reflection would have shown that the speaker's main idea was absolutely wrong.

7. The expression 'on reflection' is used when you want to say that you
have thought about something carefully and changed your opinion,
e.g. At first I thought what they suggested was absolutely crazy, but on
reflection, I realized that there was some truth in what they said.

8. The adjective 'reflective' means thinking quietly.

e.g. He was in a reflective mood and did not want to be disturbed.

revenge n, get (take) revenge (on), revengeful adj

1. Hamlet was seeking revenge for his father's murder, so he took revenge
on his uncle.

2. Eliza wasn't revengeful by nature. She was just in a revengeful mood
when she was inventing a punishment for Mr Higgins for his unfair
attitude to her.

3. The verb 'to revenge' means to do something in revenge for harm done
to someone, especially to oneself: to revenge a defeat / an injustice /
an insult.

delight n, delighted adj, delightful adj

1. For the first time in my life I really appreciated all the delights of country

life. 2.1 read the book you gave me with great delight. (= I enjoyed reading the

book.)

3. It was a great delight to spend a holiday at the seaside.

4. To my delight he agreed to sing for us.

5. (I'm) delighted to meet you. I've heard so much about you.

6. Thank you for the invitation. We shall be delighted to come.

7. It was a delightful evening.

8. The delighted audience applauded loudly.

Unit eight

GRAMMAR

Names of people are usually used without articles.

However the + plural surname can be used with the name of the whole

family:

the Smiths = Mr and Mrs Smith (and the children)

The + singular name can be used:

a) to distinguish one person from another of the same name.

We have two Mr Bennetts. Which do you want? - I want the Mr Bennett who signed this letter.

b) with an adjective to describe a person,
the wonderful Rex Harrison.

A / an + singular name means:

a) belonging to this particular kind of person.

Lemer realized that he had found a Higgins who would act rather than sing his songs.

b) can be used before a person's name if you don't know the person
yourself.

There's a Dr. Butler on the phone. Do you want to talk to him?

3. Put a /an, the in the spaces.

1. Are we talking about... Tony Blair, who used to be the Prime Minister?

2. Have you heard that... Johnsons are moving house?

3. He realized that in Rex Harrison he had found... Higgins, who would act
rather than sing his songs.

4. I found myself sitting next to... Bill Clinton! Not... Bill Clinton, of course,
but someone with the same name.

5. That couldn't be... Jenny Watson I went to college with. She had
changed beyond recognition.