way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

125 Discuss the following questions with a partner and share your answers with the class. 1 Do you think going to the theatre is an activity for the rich or something everyone can enjoy nowadays? 2 Does visiting the theatre in the 1600s sound like more fun than nowadays? Why?/Why not? 3 Predict which of today’s low culture activities might be seen as high culture 100 years from now. Give a reason why this might be. SPEAKING 8 However, some years after Shakespeare’s death, the large open-air theatres became smaller indoor theatres that catered exclusively to aristocrats who could afford high-priced tickets. For poor workers it was impossible to pay these prices. Thus, Shakespeare’s plays became exclusive, high culture. Shakespeare’s high culture influence has endured through the ages. For instance, classical music giants Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Chopin all wrote instrumental pieces based on the play Hamlet . At least 25 operas have been inspired by the story. Two of the world-famous poet TS Eliot’s most celebrated poems, The Waste Land and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock quote Shakespeare’s words directly. Hamlet even gets a mention in A Christmas Carol , written by that other iconic figure of English words, Charles Dickens. So we can see that almost everything that is now ‘high’ culture was ‘low’ culture (or popular culture) once. Who knows, 100 years from now, maybe the punk movement or reality TV shows will be regarded ‘high’ culture too. 0 How is Shakespeare’s work considered nowadays? as high culture 1 Why were the theatres built in Southwark? (Give one answer.) 2 What did noblemen have to be careful about? 3 Why did people go to the theatre in the daytime? 4 Why were no women seen on the stage? 5 Why were the theatres such health risks? 6 Why did the Church refuse to give actors certain religious rites? 7 Why were poor people no longer able to see plays easily? 8 What can be said about Shakespeare’s influence on other famous musicians and writers? Expand your vocabulary: Antonyms Read through the article again and underline 11 words which have prefixes that create antonyms. The first one is highlighted for you. Make a list of the words in your notebook and write their opposites next to them. Example: disapprove(d) – approve(d) LANGUAGE 9 M p. 48 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv