Practice 1
Skim the following passage and find out at least three sentences that use the lexical cohesion devices.
Sentence 1:_______________________________________________________________________________
Sentence 2: _______________________________________________________________________________
Sentence 3: _______________________________________________________________________________
Read the passage again and do the exercises that follow.
Playwriting
[1] What is Britain’s biggest growth industry? Playwriting, apparently. According to a recent report by Arts Council England, the amount of new writing produced by mainstream, subsidised theatre has more than doubled in the last six years. Many of these plays have opened in large theatres, with impressive ticket sales. As one of the report’s authors, playwright David Edgar, argued in the Guardian last week,something has happened over the last decade that few people could have predicted: new writing became an honest-to-goodness success story.
[2] But while dramatists like Lucy Prebble, Polly Stenham and Jez Butterworth have all received plenty of attention in the last few months, what’s less well known is the process by which new plays make it on to the stage. Few writers operate in isolation; nor do they turn up to first rehearsals with scripts fully formed. Behind every success story stands a small army of producers, associate directors, agents and editors—and it’s editors, in particular, who play a crucial, if largely unsung, role. With so much new work in circulation, how do script departments forge strong relationships with writers, to help them produce their best work? And how do they handle plays that don’t make the grade?
[3] The National theatre’s literary department is on the fourth floor of the organisation’s concrete HQ. The office isn’t what you would call glamorous: there are fluorescent lights buzzing, a carpet that has seen better days. But your eye is drawn to one side of the room where, on shelf after shelf, there’s an A-Z of neatly filed scripts, from medieval mystery cycles to Caryl Churchill—every play the National has ever staged, plus titles it is considering. The literary department is part archive, part foundry, a place where scripts are commissioned, developed, bashed into shape and polished to perfection. It is presided over by literary manager Sebastian Born, who has worked on hundreds of new plays in the last 30 years,from scripts by the UK’s biggest playwrights to first-time studio pieces. He manages a team of three,making this one of Britain’s largest literary departments.
[4] The job sounds simple but isn’t, explains Born, a 56-year-old with a precise, professorial air. “We present [artistic director] Nick Hytner with options, then make sure the script is in the best possible shape,” he says. “If it’s a new piece, it can mean working on the play, or helping the writer work on the play. Or it might be a translation of an existing play, where you’re trying to get an English version that captures the spirit of the original.”
[5] Some works are commissioned years in advance, then painstakingly teased out in workshops and readthroughs. An increasing number are devised collaboratively, or based on improvisation, but they still need a script for the production crew. Some writers evolve slowly, says Born: “Alan Bennett’s scripts develop over time, like laying down sedimentary strata.” Others—such as The Power of Yes, David Hare’s recent anatomy of the financial crisis—go from first draft to first night in months. (519 words)
New Words and Expressions
playwriting /'pleɪraɪtɪŋ/ n. 剧本创作；剧本编写
mainstream /
meɪn
striːm/ n. 主流；主要趋势
subsidise /
sʌbsɪdaɪz/ vt. 给津贴；资助；补助
playwright /
pleɪraɪt/ n. 剧作家；编剧
predict /prɪ
dɪkt/ vt. 预言；预测
honest-to-goodness adj. 纯洁的；未搀假的
dramatist /
dræmətɪst/ n. 剧作家；编剧
make it 成功；做到；办成
in isolation 孤立地
turn up 出现
rehearsal /rɪ
hɜːsl/ n. 彩排；演习
script /skrɪpt/ n. 脚本；剧本
an army of 一大群；一大批
associate director 副导演；副总监
agent /
eɪdʒənt/ n. 代理人
circulation /
sɜːkjə
leɪʃn/ n. 流通；发行量
forge /fɔːdʒ/ v. 建立
literary /
lɪtərəri/ adj. 文学（上）的
concrete /
kɒŋkriːt/ adj. 混凝土制的；具体的
glamorous /
ɡlæmərəs/ adj. 富有魅力的；独特的
fluorescent /
f lɔː
resnt/ adj. 荧光的
fluorescent light 荧光灯；日光灯
medieval /
medi
iːvl/ adj. 中世纪的；中古的
mystery cycles 神秘剧
stage /steɪdʒ/ vt.＆ vi. 上演；演出
archive /
ɑːkaɪv/ n. 档案馆，档案室
foundry /
faʊndri/ n. 铸造厂；工厂
bash /bæʃ/ v. 猛击；痛击
polish /
pəʊlɪʃ/ v. 修正；擦光
preside over 负责；主管
painstakingly /
peɪnz
teɪkɪŋli/ adj. 费力地；辛苦地
tease out 挑选出；梳理
read-through n. 通读；读审
collaboratively /kə
læbərətɪvli/ adv. 合作地；协作地
improvisation /
ɪmprəvaɪ
zeɪʃn/ n. 即兴创作；即兴演说
evolve /ɪ
vɒlv/ vi. 进展；发展
sedimentary /
sedɪ
mentri/ adj. 沉积的；沉淀性的
strata /
strɑ:tə/ n. 地层；社会阶层
sedimentary strata 沉积岩
anatomy /ə
nætəmi/ n. 分析；解剖