Text 4 Playing Hurleys

Text 3 Confessions of a would-be actor

… On leaving school, I joined an amateur dramatic society, full of enthusiasm but rather short on experience, technique and timing. For some years, I was restricted to bit parts in sketches, satirical revues and one or two slapstick comedies. My finest hour came when I had to stand in for a member of the cast who had been taken ill – I was the general male understudy – and take the part of the villain in a Victorian melodrama; lost of overacting and asides of the audience. I had only a very short rehearsal beforehand and I thought my performance was reasonably competent. The producer, however, suggested that I took up some less public hobby, like pottery or rug-making. Nobody ‘discovered’ me. What I had always wanted was to play the hero in something like “Romeo and Juliet” or to have a leading part in an Oscar Wilde comedy of manners. When I turned fifty, however, I began to accept that it was probably not going to happen. You can imagine my surprise and delight, then, when some nights ago I learned that I had landed the title role in Shakespeare’s classical play “Macbeth” with the Royal Shakespeare Company, I couldn’t believe my luck! Macbeth: that superb monologue before Duncan’s murder, the passages with the witches on the heath, that fantastic rehearsal, with co-stars Olivier and Glenda Jackson, was a dream. And with the first night to follow – ten curtain calls – bouquets – reviews the next day: “Smash hit! “Don’t miss it!” “A box office winner!” “ Triumph for new Macbeth!” “A star is…” And then I was awakened by that horrible ringing sound of the alarm clock in my ears…

I had only a very short rehearsal beforehand and I thought my performance was reasonably competent. (this utterance consist of 2 adjacent intonation groups which are in coordinative relations which means that these two parts are equally sematicaly important. The most typical tone sequence of coordination is the reduplication of tones. In this case we’ve used two High falling tones as it is a straightforward statement and the speaker’s attitude is quite neutral.)

I couldn’t believe my luck! (this utterance sounds quite emotional, as the speaker’s attitude is rather energetic and lively. The typical tone here is high emphatic falling tone, which adds more emotional coloring to the whole phrase.)

Triumph for new Macbeth! (this utterance is emotionally colored and the speaker’s attitude is rather energetic and enthusiastic, that’s why the High emphatic falling tone is suitable in this case to show this expressiveness.)

Overacting - a composite word, which has 2 stress pattern, where the primary stress is put to the rout of the word – acting, and the secondary to the prefix – over.

Rug-making – a composite word, which consists of a noun and a verb, in English such words are usually hyphenated and have primary stress on the first word. The word expresses one entire idea and the first word is more semantically prominent than the second one.

Text 4 Playing Hurleys

Jane and himself put the ball in the middle of the street. Then they hit their hurleys on the ground, clashed them three times and then scrambled for the ball. They game was on. It was vigorous. It was interrupted once or twice when irate mothers ran out to take their children’s best Sunday clothes from the dusty road, brushing them angrily, and shaking their fists before departing. They replaced the lost goalposts with rocks. Once the ball hit a window and all of them stood like statues waiting for the result, ready to run if the reaction was hostile. Nothing happened so they continued to play. Jude’s side was defeated. The combination of Jane, Pat Fane and Jonjo was too powerful. Jude himself was fast and slick, but Tip was too slow and heavy and even the little tricks he used like putting the hurley between his opponent’s legs to trip him were unavailing in the end. So they had to take to argument. It was a goal! It wasn’t a goal! It went outside the stone. Didn’t it? Yes it did! No it didn’t! You stupid idiot, are you blind? The veins in their necks stood out as they tried to outshout each other. This led to a lot of heat and a lot of vigour. It developed into a furious struggle between Jude and Jane. Each time the ball came to them, they slashed and heaved and threw their bodies at one another until one got the victory and belted the ball away. Sometimes Jane won those struggles and sometimes Jude, and they glared at one another like animals. Now! See! I told you! Jude had cuts on his knees and Jan’s stocking were torn. They were egged on by the others. The street was a canon of shrill screams and shouts being deflected into the sky.

It was a goal! It wasn’t a goal! (in this 2 utterances we observe emotional coloring, which can be conveyed by the means of the high emphatic falling tone combined with the irregular prehead. The speaker’s attitude is energetic and enthusiastic.)

You stupid idiot, are you blind? (this utterance is emotionally colored and the speaker’s energetic attitude is expressed by the high emphatic rising tone as it is an emotional question, which shows irritation.)

Jude had cuts on his knee and Jan’s stocking were torn. (this utterance represents a combined tune consisting of 2 adjacent intonation groups which are in coordinative relations which means their equal semantic importance. The most typical tone sequence of coordination is reduplication of tones. In this case we’ve used 2 High Falling Tones as it’s a straight-forward statement and the speaker’s attitude is neutral)