Театральное Исскуство Великобритании, обычаи и традиции в сравнении с Казахстаном

This section is in advanced English and is only intended to be a guide, not to be taken too seriously!

This popular British rhyme is often spoken on Bonfire Night, in memory of the Gunpowder Plot:

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason that gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

The smell of gunpowder smoke and the snap and crackle of bonfires will fill the capital in the run up to Bonfire Night. Thousands of revellers will line London's parks to "ooh" and "aah" as the city explodes into colour, in remberance of Guy Fawkes (Guido Fawkes) and his foiled plot to blow up Parliament and the King in 1605.

Guy Fawkes was born in Yorkshire in 1570. A convert to the Catholic faith, Fawkes had been a soldier who had spent several years fighting in Italy.  It was during this period that he adopted the name Guido (Italian for Guy) perhaps to impress the ladies!

'Guy Fawkes Day' also known as 'Bonfire Night' or 'Fireworks Night' by some, marks the date, November 5, 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators attempted to kill King James I and the Members of Parliament and to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

This conspiracy arose as a reaction to the persecution of Catholics under the rule of King James, a Protestant. Infuriated by the failure of King James, the son of the passionately Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, to grant more toleration to Catholics. Four other Catholics joined with Fawkes in his plans including Robert Catesby. Catesby made a fatal error and invited other Catholics to join the plot until there were 60 plotters in all, you try keeping a secret when 60 people know about it.

Thomas Percy rented a cellar beneath the Palace of Westminster and 36 barrels of gunpowder were placed in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament. But Francis Tresham betrayed the conspiracy in a letter to his brother-in-law Lord Monteagle, warning him not to attend parliament. Monteagle told the government and Fawkes was caught red handed in the cellars under Parliament, with a box of matches in his pocket and a guilty expression on his face! His fellow conspirators fled but many were killed or arrested and 9 members of the 60+ plotters, including Fawkes, were hung, drawn and quartered in January 1606.

Comedians down the ages have said that he was "The only man ever to have entered Parliament with honest intentions."

In London, bonfires were lit to celebrate the discovery of the plot soon after Fawkes was discovered and In 1606 Parliament agreed to make 5th November a day of public thanksgiving and ever since then the day has been celebrated with fireworks and bonfires. However, it is not a public holiday.

November 5 and any other day appointed for church bells to be rung is also called Ringing Day. On this day bells are rung by order of Parliament to mark the deliverance of the King and his government at the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot. It is customary to give the ringers money and drinks.

Children used to make stuffed figures with masks as effigies of Guy Fawkes. They would call these figures guys and display them in the streets, using the traditional formula of "A penny for the guy" when asking passersby for money (which was spent on fireworks or wood for the bonfire). The guys then became the centre-piece of bonfires on the night of November 5 when fireworks light up the sky over most of Britain. But this practice has died out in recent years. The fear of strangers, the fact that children are not allowed to buy fireworks and the negative association with begging, have all but put and end to it.

Many people still hold bonfire parties and BBQs (even though it is usually really cold) and invite their friends to gather around the fire with them. However, because of the rising number of accidents that occur every year many communities hold professionally organised public displays. Some of the venues for these public bonfires are in parks, fields, and on hills.

Some of the traditional food eaten at this time of year includes:-

Sausages (called bangers), a good hearty soup, baked potatoes, bonfire toffee, toffee apples and parkin - a sweet, sticky cake.

New laws were introduced to control the use of fireworks in 2004 with an £80 on-the-spot fine for anyone caught breaking them. They include:-

It is an offence for any person under the age of 18 to possess adult fireworks in a public place (all fireworks except sparklers and party poppers).

It is an offence to possess category 4 fireworks (professional display fireworks) unless you are a licenced pyrotechnics professional. 

It is an offence to supply fireworks to anyone under the age of 18. 

It is an offence to use fireworks between 11 pm and 7 am apart from:

- November 5th – until 12 midnight;

- New Years Eve – until 1 am;

- Chinese New Year – until 1 am;

- Diwali night – until 1 am.

It is an offence for any person to throw, cast or fire any firework into any highway, street, thoroughfare or public place.

One of the largest organised events in the UK is the Bridgwater Carnival in Bridgwater, Somerset dating back to the 1605 gunpowder plot. The procession is held each year on the Thursday nearest to November 5. It is an illuminated procession that takes about two hours to pass with over 130 entries made by various local carnival clubs. After the carnival, an annual squibbing display is held along the Bridgwater High Street when over 100 squibs (small fireworks) are set off simultaneously.

Another famous event is held in Lewes (see above), but even though it's the town's most famous event people from outside the area are actively discouraged from attending because it is so dangerous. To mark the demise of 17 protestant martyrs, who were burnt at the stake in front of the Star Inn, now the Town Hall; 17 burning crosses are carried through the town, and a wreath-laying ceremony occurs at the War Memorial in the centre of town. Ladies' and men's races which involve pulling flaming tar barrels "the barrel run", take place along Cliffe High Street at the start of the evening. A flaming tar barrel is also thrown into the river Ouse; which is said to symbolise the throwing of the magistrates into the river after they read the Riot Act to the bonfire boys in 1847. The festivities culminate in five separate bonfire displays, where the effigies are destroyed by firework and flame. Up to 80,000 people have been known to attend this local spectacle, coming from all over the South and sometimes further afield.

What is British Humour?

In popular culture, British humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain types of comedy and comedic acts from the United Kingdom. Many UK comedy TV shows typical of British humour have become popular all round the world, and, for good or bad, have been a strong avenue for the export and representation of British culture to an international audience, but like many things the "typical" British sense of humour doesn't really exist.

There are many different kinds of humour, and often culture and tradition plays a big part in how funny you may find something, or not. A perfect example of this can be found in the comments on a post in the "Have Fun With English" site - Nine Words Women Use.

A to Z of Types of Humour

Adviser: the comic adviser gives uncalled for advice in a Punch prototype. For example: Advice to people who want to buy a puppy: Don't. You'll often find this kind of humour in Doctor Doctor jokes.

Anecdote: any interesting event, either having to do with a celebrity or something smaller, that helps the humourist make a point.

Aside: a thought added as if something the speaker was saying reminded him of it.

Banter: good-natured back and forth joking.

Black (Dark) humour: taking topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo and treating them in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness. For example: The 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove was about nuclear warfare and the annihilation of life on Earth, but it was also very, very, funny.

Blue humour: humour based on offensive subjects like sex, body parts, and bodily functions.

Bull: a humourous statement that is based on an outrageous contradiction. Ex: "The best people have never had kids."

Burlesque: a form of satire. Burlesque ridicules any basic style of speech or writing. (Parody makes fun of specific writings.)

Caricature: exaggeration of a person’s mental, physical, or personality traits, in wisecrack form.

Clown: to act stupidly, often to make other people laugh.

Conundrum: a word puzzle that can’t be solved because the answer is a pun. For example: Why do cows wear bells? Because their horns don’t work.

Epigram: clever, short saying about a general group. Mostly satire about mankind.

Exaggerism: an exaggerated witticism that overstates the features, defects, or the strangeness of someone or something.

Farce: light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.

Freudian Slip: a funny statement which seems to just pop out, but which actually comes from the person’s subconscious thoughts.

Gag: a short joke or quip.

Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration.

Innuendo: "an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad or rude". Used a lot in British sitcoms of the 70s like Are you Being Served.

Irony: a leading part of humour. Irony is using words to express something completely different from the literal meaning. Usually, someone says the opposite of what they mean and the listener believes the opposite of what they said.

Joke: short story ending with a funny climactic twist.

Limericks: five-line rhyming poems, which intend to be witty or humorous, and are sometimes obscene with humorous intent.

Nonsensism: inclusive of the epigram and the wisecrack, it is any kind of funny nonsense in speaking form. Nonsensism includes all kinds of absurdity without realistic logic and makes a general observation of absurd reference, often found in limericks.

Parody: humourous version of any well-known writing. For example: Weird Al Yankovic’s "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi".

Practical Joke: a joke put into action. You hear an oral joke, sees a printed joke, and feel the practical joke. The trick is played on another person and the humour comes from what happens. These kinds of jokes are often played on April Fool's Day in the UK.

Quip: a smart, sarcastic retort.

Recovery: a combination of blunder and wit, where a person makes an error, and then saves himself with a fast correction.

Repartee: includes clever replies and retorts. The most common form is the insult.

Sarcasm: using witty language to convey insults or scorn.

Satire: wit that is critical humour. Satire is sarcasm that makes fun of something.

Sitcom: (short for Situational Comedy) a funny television or radio show in which the same characters appear in each programme in a different story.

Situational Humour: this is comedy that comes from your own life. No one in your audience will have heard it and it can get a group used to you. This type of humour is based on a humourous situation that you have experienced. Situational humour is the bread and butter of sitcoms like Friends.

Slapstick: a boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes, like slipping on banana skins. It gets its name from a paddle designed to produce a loud whacking sound, which was formerly used by performers in farces.

Switching: a common form of switching is changing the main parts of the story, such as the setup or the punch line, and creating a new joke.

Understatement: making something that is regular or large seem extremely smaller or less. Intentionally down- sizing a large object.

Wisecrack: any clever remark about a particular person or thing. Wisecracks are quick wordplays about a person.

Wit: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter.

Wordplay: a humorous play on words with witty verbal exchanges.

Another example of the darker side of British humour (only joking) can be found every year, in the Christmas cracker.

This section is in advanced English and is only intended to be a guide, not to be taken too seriously!

Burn's Night - January 25th

Robbie Burns was born on the 25th January 1759 and died on the 21st July 1796. He is the best known Scottish poet and every year he is commemorated by Scots all over the world with haggis, whisky and a big party.

The centre of every Burns Supper is the steaming haggis, a pudding of sheep organs, oatmeal and savoury spices, which is ceremoniously piped in and then addressed with the reading of the poet's brash Ode To A Haggis.

In it, Burns, who revelled in Scottish tradition, praises the most famous of his country's dishes, named after a mythical Highland beast with two long legs and two short legs to enable it to run around hillsides. The ode begins: "Fair fa your honest sonsie face/ great chieftain of the puddin' race!/ Weel are ye wordy of a grace/ as lang's my arm."

After the dinner of haggis, neeps (mashed turnip) and tatties (creamed potatoes) and a variety of mutton pastries washed down with copious glasses of whisky, there are toasts. The toasts are usually given by someone who knows something about the poet and his work.

To round out the festivities, there is a ceilidh highlighting Scottish music, song, poetry and dancing.

Candlemas Day - February 2

Candlemas is the last festival in the Christian year that is dated by reference to Christmas; In the West, the date of Christmas is now fixed at December 25, and Candlemas therefore falls the following February 2. In Christian eyes this festival celebrates the presentation of Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth, as Jewish custom required, and the purification ceremony of the Virgin Mary at the same time. It was believed that women were impure for six weeks after giving birth and after the birth of their children, all Jewish mothers went to the Temple for the ceremony called the Purification.

The English name, 'Candlemas, refers to the custom of blessing and distributing candles and carrying them in procession before the mass. The light of the candles is symbolic of Christ as the light of the world all the candles should be made of beeswax.

On the Pagan side it occurs in the middle of winter, with the promise of spring. Due to the poor weather at the time of year, it was almost impossible to have a bonfire festival and candles are thought to have been used as a replacement to move the ritual indoors. Some people believe that the Celtic Sabbat of Imbolc, which was celebrated in pre-Christian Europe (and especially the British Isles) at about the same time of year. This festival marked the mid-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The term "Imbolc" translates as either "in milk" or "in the belly," and marked the birth and nursing of the spring lambs as a sign of the first stirrings of spring in the middle of winter. It may also have been celebrated with the lighting of candles, as slightly longer days begin to be noticable at this time of year.

Candlemas Superstitions

Predicting the weather

Candlemas is around the time that bears emerged from winter hibernation to inspect the weather as well as wolves, who if they chose to return to their lairs on this day was interpreted as meaning severe weather would continue for another forty days at least. In the United States and Canada, Candlemas evolved into Groundhog Day celebrated on the same date.

An ancient Scottish rhyme tells us:-

If Candlemass day be dry and fair,

The half o' winter to come and mair

If Candlemass day be wet and foul.

The half o' winter gane at Yule.

This means that if it is nice on Candlemas Day you can expect six more weeks of yucky, winter weather, if it isn't nice on Candlemas Day, the weather should get nicer. A sort of Catch 22 situation.

Life and Death

The eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations of greenery were removed from people's homes and churches. If all traces of berries, holly and so forth weren't removed there would be a death among the congregation before the year was out.

A rhyme called "Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve" by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674) goes:-

"Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the bays and misletoe ;

Down with the holly, ivy, all,

Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall."

Another tradition holds that anyone who hears funeral bells tolling on Candlemas will soon hear of the death of a close friend or relative; each toll of the bell represents a day that will pass before the unfortunate news is learned.

Bad Luck

Sailors are often reluctant to set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in disaster — given the frequency of severe storms in February, this is not entirely without sense.

The Edinburgh International Festival

With dictionary look up. Double click on any word for its definition.

This section is in advanced English and is only intended to be a guide, not to be taken too seriously!

There is no 'one' Edinburgh Festival. It all began in 1947, with the aim of providing 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Right from the start people were inspired to put on shows of their own, and these soon grew into the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Since then half a dozen or so festivals have grown up around it in August and early September, and collectively these are often know as 'the Edinburgh Festival'.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is often called the Edinburgh Fringe and sometimes just "the Fringe". Often at the fringe people will visit more than one event per day, in fact some people pride themselves on fitting in as many events as possible.

The key venues used are the Usher Hall (capacity 2,300), the Festival Theatre (1,800), The Edinburgh Playhouse (2,900), the King’s Theatre (1,300), the Royal Lyceum Theatre (650), The Queen’s Hall (920) and The Hub (420).

Conclusion:

To jump up, all the said information role of the theatre, traditions and customs is Great Britain in our life.

During the preparation to the control work I’ve compared traditions and customs of great Britain and Kazakhstan.

Knowledge of traditions and customs develops the interconnection between different countries, respect and mental outlook.

Application

The State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre      State Academic Russian Drama Theatre named after M.Yu. Lermontov

Kazakh State Academic Drama Theatre               Theatre of Young Spectator

named after M.O.Ayezov

The Theatre “ARTiSHOCK”                                                      Puppet Theatre "Sesame"

Covent Garden Theatre                                                                   Global theatre

Dominion Theatre

Kazakhstan

Great Britain

List of uses of literature

www.wicipedua.org

http://www.roh.org.uk/

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/

http://www.edemvlondon.ru/shakespeares-globe-theatre/

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/

http://www.wok.kz/en/whats_on/show/almaty/theatre/

http://www.virtourist.com/asia/almaty/34.htm

http://www.protech.co.il/portfolio.aspx?id=67

http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/aprilfool.htm

http://www.learnenglish.de/britishculture.htm

http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/theatres_kazakhstan.shtml

http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/kazakhstan_culture.shtml

http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/kazakhstan_culture1.shtml

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45149

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/DominionTheatre.htm

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