MAYA: So Finn, I've done as much as I can for our project on theatre programmes. How's your research coming along?

玛雅：那么，芬恩，我已经尽我所能为我们的戏剧节目项目做了一些工作。你的研究进展如何？

FINN: OK, MAYA. I didn't know theatre programmes are called playbills in the USA till I started looking into the topic.

芬恩：好的，玛雅。在我开始研究这个主题之前，我并不知道戏剧节目在美国被称为剧单。

Even though I struggled to find many useful websites, I'm glad we picked this subject.

尽管我费了很大劲才找到许多有用的网站，但我很高兴我们选择了这个主题。

No one else on the course is doing the same as us, although it is one of the research areas of the module convenor.

课程中没有其他人在做与我们相同的事情，尽管这是模块召集者的研究领域之一。

MAYA: That might actually put some people off.

玛雅：这可能会让一些人反感。

FINN: I suppose so. Anyway, I hadn't realised there are actually companies specialising in creating theatre programmes.

芬恩：我想是的。不管怎样，我之前没有意识到实际上有专门负责制作戏剧节目的公司。

MAYA: Yes, they're quite common nowadays.

玛雅：是的，如今这种情况相当普遍。

Contrary to what many people think, theatres don't hire people to do the programmes, in fact companies buy the rights to publish programmes on the theatre's behalf – and then make their money selling advertising space within the programme booklet.

与许多人的想法相反，剧院并不雇人制作节目，事实上，公司购买了代表剧院发布节目的权利 —— 然后通过出售节目手册中的广告空间来赚钱。

FINN: It must be easier for theatres to do it that way.

芬恩：对剧院来说，这样做肯定更容易。

MAYA: Yes.

玛雅：是的。

FINN: I remember reading something about programmes in early British theatre.

芬恩：我记得读过一些关于英国早期戏剧节目的内容。

It said that the cast was always very important.

据说演员阵容始终非常重要。

MAYA: Yeah, audiences were very familiar with leading actors, and big names would draw huge crowds.

玛雅：是的，观众对主要演员非常熟悉，而大名人会吸引大量观众。

FINN: But I hadn't realised that if the programme named a famous actor, that's who the public expected to perform.

芬恩：但我当时没有意识到，如果节目提名了一位著名演员，那就是观众期待他表演的人。

And if that didn't happen, people accused the theatre of breaking their agreement with the audience.

如果这种情况没有发生，人们就会指责剧院违反了与观众的协议。

They would demand refunds, and, if they didn't get them, there were riots!

他们会要求退款，如果得不到退款，就会引发骚乱！

MAYA: Outrageous. That'd never happen now.

玛雅：太过分了。这种事现在绝对不会发生了。

FINN: No, people are too polite, even when they're disappointed if the star of the show misses a performance.

芬恩：不，人们太客气了，即使当节目明星错过一场表演时，他们也会感到失望。

MAYA: We should definitely include that information about early audiences in our project.

玛雅：我们绝对应该在我们的项目中包含这些关于早期观众的信息。

I also think it's important to mention that lots of ordinary people at that time were illiterate, so theatre programmes were of limited value in advertising plays.

我还认为值得提及的是，当时许多普通人都是文盲，因此戏剧节目在广告剧中的价值有限。

When a company of actors arrived in a town, they'd parade around the streets in their costumes, beating drums and announcing their upcoming performances.

当一群演员到达一个城镇时，他们会穿着戏服在街上游行，敲着鼓，宣布即将到来的演出。

FINN: Interesting. I couldn't imagine that happening now either.

芬恩：有意思。我也无法想象这种事现在还会发生。

MAYA: There's also an interesting comparison to make between eighteenth and nineteenth-century programmes.

玛雅：18 世纪和 19 世纪的节目之间也有一个有趣的比较。

FINN: Wasn't it in the nineteenth century that theatre programmes started to resemble programmes today?

芬恩：难道不是在 19 世纪，戏剧节目才开始像今天的节目吗？

MAYA: Yes. And, unlike programmes from the eighteenth century, they always used colour.

玛雅：是的。而且，与 18 世纪的节目不同，它们总是使用色彩。

FINN: And there was a greater variety of designs.

芬恩：而且设计的种类更多样化。

But personally, I think eighteenth-century programmes were superior because they told the theatre-goers so many things, including about the actors.

但就我个人而言，我认为 18 世纪的节目更优秀，因为它们向观众传达了许多信息，包括演员的情况。

MAYA: And about the writer, the plot, and sometimes the history of the play.

玛雅：还有关于作家、情节，有时甚至是戏剧的历史。

FINN: That's right… What should we say about theatre programmes in the twentieth century?

芬恩：没错...... 那么我们该如何评价 20 世纪的戏剧节目呢？

MAYA: I reckon the most important thing is the dramatic change they underwent during World War Two.

玛雅：我认为最重要的是它们在第二次世界大战期间经历的戏剧性变化。

FINN: When the government imposed restrictions on the use of paper.

芬恩：当时政府对纸张的使用施加了限制。

MAYA: Yeah, but that was only in the UK. In the USA, programmes – or rather, playbills – continued to be published in the same format ...

玛雅：是的，但那只是在英国。在美国，程序 —— 或者更确切地说，剧本 —— 继续以相同的格式发布......

FINN: … while here in the UK, programmes became merely a single sheet of paper folded to create four pages for text.

芬恩：...... 而在英国，节目单变成了一张对折的纸，形成了四页的文本。

MAYA: What I don't really get is that, after the war, they didn't go back to being more than one sheet, or change in any way for over twenty-five years.

玛雅：我真正不明白的是，战争结束后，它们在超过二十五年的时间里没有回到多于一页的状态，也没有发生任何变化。

I know there were paper shortages after the war, but only for five or ten years.

我知道战后确实出现了纸张短缺，但只持续了五到十年。

FINN: Strange.

芬恩：奇怪。