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British theatres
Until reccently the history of the english theatre has
been build
around actors rather then companies. It has been hard to
find any London
theatre that even had a consistent policy. There are no
permanent staff
in British theatres. Apply is rehearsed for a few weeks
by a company of
actors working together mostly for the first time and it
is allowed to
run as long as it draws the odious and pays it's way.
Another peculiarity of the theatres in Great Britain is
an follows:
there are two kinds of seats, which can be booked an advanced
(bookable), and unbookable once have no numbers and the
spectators
occupy them on the principal: first come - first served.
And ancient
times plays were acted inside churches and later on the
market places.
The first theatre in England "The Blackfries"
build in 1576, and "The
Globe" build in 1599, which is closely connected with
William
Shakespeare. Speaking about our times we should first of
all mention
"The English National theatre","The Royal
Shakespeare company" and
"Covent Garden".
"Covent Garden" used to be a fashionable promenade
- it was, before
then, a convent garden - but when it became overrun with
flower-sellers,
orange-vendors and vegetable-growers, the people moved to
more exclusive
surroundings farther west, such as "St. Jame's Square".
The first "Covent Garden theatre" was build in
1732. It was burnt
down in 1808 and rebuild exactly a year after. It opened
in September
1809, with Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Since the
middle of the last century
"Covent Garden" became exclusively devoted to
opera.
Now "Covent Garden" in busier than ever, it is
one of the few
well-known opera houses open for 11 months of the year and
it employs
over 600 people both of the Opera company and the Royal
Ballet.
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