Theatre Part X (Final)

Tasks for Chapters 28-29

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What seemed the most scaring for Julia in the talk with her son on the first day of his arrival?

This was his suggestion that if she went into an empty room and someone suddenly opened the door there would be nobody there.

2. How did Julia prepare for the play?

She studied her part. Julia did not deliberately create the character she was going to act by observation; she had a knack of getting into the shoes of the woman she had to portray so that she thought with her mind and felt with her senses. Her intuition suggested to her a hundred small touches that afterwards amazed people by their verisimilitude; but when they asked her where she had got them she could not say.

3. How did she act at the dress-rehearsal? Why?

 Julia spared herself. She had no intention of giving all she had to give till the first night.

5. Who did Julia talk to about her conversation with Roger? Why? What did she need to get from the conversation?

 She talked to Charles and she expected him to be sympathetic 

6. Describe the state Julia was in before a first night? Compare her attitude towards first-night acting with the bygone years?

In bygone years she had been intolerably nervous before a first night. She had felt slightly sick all day and as the hours passed got into such a state that she almost thought she would have to leave the stage. But by now she had acquired a certain nonchalance. Throughout the early part of the day she felt only happy and mildly excited; it was not till late in the afternoon that she began to feel ill at ease. She grew silent and wanted to be left alone. She also grew irritable. Her hands and feet got cold and by the time she reached the theatre they were like lumps of ice. But still the apprehension that filled her was not unpleasant.

7. Who did she meet while wandering the streets of London at noon, 6 hours before the first night? Where did they go?

Julia met Tom, who offered her to have tea with him.

8. What thoughts accompanied Julia when she visited Tom's place?

The love that had consumed her then, the jealousy she had stifled, the ecstasy of surrender, it had no more reality than one of the innumerable parts she had played in the past. She relished her indifference.

9. Why did Julia change her attitude to Tom? What phrase does Julia pronounce to herself at the end of chapter 28? Comment on it.

Julia understood that she no longer cared two straws for him she.

“Love isn't worth all the fuss they make about it”. I think, sometimes people too dramatize whole speaking and thinking about love in the momets (and with people) where it’s impossible, where it doesn’t exist.

10. Was the first night a success for Julia? For Avice? Why?

The first night was success for Julia, as she deliberately killed Avice’s performance.

11. What was Tom's attitude towards Avice's acting? How does the scene in Julia's dressing-room characterize him?

Tom found Avice’s acting a rotten one. It characterized him as a person who only wanted to be with people who could introduce him to the high society.

12. Why do you think Julia refused to supper with Tom that night?

Julia refused to supper with Tom that night, because it was the end with him, she didn’t love him anymore.

13. How did Julia spend that night? Was it typical of her? Why did she prefer this?

Julia wanted to be alone and it wasn’t typical for her. This woman understood that she would never have another moment like this in her life.

14. What was peculiar about Julia's appearance and order at the Berkeley? Do you feel that night was somehow significant to her? Why?

Julia was without any make up because it was so unusual moment when she didn’t care about her appearance. She looked at herself at the mirror and thought about her life.

15. How does she reflect about the day passed? Does she feel satisfied? Why? Prove your point of view.

Julia was satisfied with her meetings with Tom because she realized her indifference towards him. "It was an amusing experience."

16. Describe the place in a restaurant where Julia was having supper? What was special about it? Why had she chosen to be seated there?

The room in which she sat was connected by three archways with the big dining-room where they supped and danced; amid the crowd doubtless were a certain number who had been to the play. How surprised they would be if they knew that the quiet little woman in the corner of the adjoining room, her face half hidden by a felt hat, was Julia Lambert. It gave her a pleasant sense of independence to sit there unknown and unnoticed. They were acting a play for her and she was the audience.

17. What conclusion did Julia come to while sitting at the Berkeley and "throwing prudence to the winds?"

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. But there's the illusion, through that archway; it's we, the actors, who are the reality.