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--- lesson 22 By heart |
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--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. |
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--- Which actor read the letter in the end, the aristocrat or the gaoler? |
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Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. |
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In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night. |
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One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter. |
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Yet this is not always the case. |
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A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years. |
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In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. |
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Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, |
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he always insisted that it should be written out in full. |
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One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, |
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after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. |
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The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. |
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Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his bands. |
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He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat. |
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But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual. |
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It was simply a blank sheet of paper. |
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The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines. |
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The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. |
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Then, squinting his eyes, he said: 'The light is dim. Read the letter to me.' |
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And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. |
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Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, |
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the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my glasses.' |
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With this, he hurried off the stage. |
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Much to the aristocrat's amusement, |
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the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner. |
