Cambridge IELTS 20 · Listening · Test 3 · Part 3

Listening Test 3, Part 3: answers explained

The recording and its 10 questions (21–30). Every answer is explained with the words that give it away.

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Part 3 recording

Play it once, as in the exam, and answer the questions below as you listen.

Questions 21–30

Multiple choice
21 Finn was pleased to discover that their topic
22 Maya says a mistaken belief about theatre programmes is that
23 Finn was surprised that, in early British theatre, programmes
24 Maya feels their project should include an explanation of why companies of actors
25 Finn and Maya both think that, compared to nineteenth-century programmes, those from the eighteenth century
26 Maya doesn't fully understand why, in the twentieth century,
Matching
27 Ruy Blas
28 Man of La Mancha
29 The Tragedy of Jane Shore
30 The Sailors' Festival

Answers explained

Answer the questions first: finding the evidence yourself teaches more than reading it. The answers stay folded until you ask.

Question 21

B

What you hear

No one else on the course is doing the same as us

Why

Finn mentions that nobody else on the course has chosen the same subject, and that makes him glad. B reflects that. A is wrong because it is one of the module convener's research areas, so the convener knows it well. C is contradicted by his struggle to find useful websites.
Question 22

A

What you hear

theatres don’t hire people to do the programmes

Why

Maya says that contrary to what many people think, theatres don't hire people to do programmes: companies buy the rights and earn money from selling advertising space. So the mistaken belief is that theatres pay companies. B and C are never raised.
Question 23

C

What you hear

people accused the theatre of breaking their agreement with the audience

Why

Finn hadn't realised that if the programme named a famous actor, the public expected that person to perform, and otherwise accused the theatre of breaking its agreement with the audience. The programme worked like a contract. Refunds and riots followed, but nothing about free distribution.
Question 24

A

What you hear

they'd parade around the streets in their costumes, beating drums and announcing their upcoming performances

Why

Maya describes actors arriving in a town and parading in costumes, beating drums and announcing upcoming performances, because ordinary people couldn't read programmes. That is the companies promoting their own plays. Performing outdoors and touring are only incidental to the explanation.
Question 25

C

What you hear

18th century programmes were superior because they told the theatregoers so many things

Why

Finn personally thinks eighteenth-century programmes were superior because they told theatregoers many things about the actors, and Maya adds the writer, the plot and sometimes the history of the play. Both stress information. Colour (B) belonged to the nineteenth century, and originality is never discussed.
Question 26

B

What you hear

after the war they didn't go back to being more than one sheet or change in any way for over 25 years

Why

Maya doesn't get why British programmes, after the war, stayed as a folded single sheet for over 25 years when paper shortages lasted only five or ten. They failed to develop for so long. A is wrong because American playbills kept their format, and C isn't mentioned.
Question 27

F

What you hear

Good enough to put in a frame on the wall

Why

Of Ruy Blas, Finn calls the programme decorative and Maya says it is good enough to put in a frame on the wall, and its images are beautiful. That makes it resemble an artwork. Finn's note on Man of La Mancha is explicitly not about pictures.
Question 28

E

What you hear

we can learn how the production was created and the thoughts and feelings of the cast

Why

Finn picks Man of La Mancha not for its pictures but for articles by members of the theatre company, from which we learn how the production was created and what the cast felt. That is insight into the show. Option F is the contrasting one, for Ruy Blas.
Question 29

B

What you hear

the earliest surviving document to have been printed on Australia's first printing press

Why

Maya's copy for The Tragedy of Jane Shore is now in a museum and is said to be the earliest surviving document printed on Australia's first printing press. That gives it historical significance for a country. Said to be isn't controversy, so A is not the choice.
Question 30

D

What you hear

British Library’s digitised collection of programmes that was started a few years ago

Why

Maya describes the Sailors' Festival programme as coming from the British Library's digitised collection, started only a few years ago and already holding over 200,000 programmes. A collection begun recently is the recent project in option D. Finn's remark that he wishes he had known about it during his research is a reaction, not the comment being matched.

Part 3 audioscript

Part 3 · audioscript

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

FINN OK, Maya. I didn't know theatre programmes are called playbills in the USA till I started looking into the topic. Even though I struggled to find many useful websites, I'm glad we picked this subject. No one else on the course is doing the same as us, although it is one of the research areas of the module convener.

MAYA That might actually put some people off.

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

MAYA Yes they are quite common nowadays. 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.

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

MAYA Yes.

FINN I remember reading something about programmes in early British theatre. It said that the cast was always very important.

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

FINN But I hadn't realised that if the programme named a famous actor, that's who the public expected to perform. And if that didn't happen, people accused the theatre of breaking their agreement with the audience. They would demand refunds and if they didn't get them, there were riots.

MAYA Outrageous! That'd never happen now.

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

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

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

MAYA There's also an interesting comparison to make between 18th and 19th century programmes.

FINN Wasn't it in the 19th century that theatre programmes started to resemble programs today

MAYA Yes and unlike programs from the 18th century they always used colour

FINN And there was a greater variety of designs. But personally I think 18th century programmes were superior because they told the theatregoers so many things, including about the actors.

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

FINN That's right. What should we say about theatre programmes in the 20th century?

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

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

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

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

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

FINN Strange.

Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30. Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.

MAYA I got some pictures of programmes we could include on the slides for our presentation.

FINN I found a couple too Maya. Let go through and see what we think

MAYA Um oh this is an old one for a play called Ruey Blass

FINN Never heard of that. But the programme looks very decorative.

MAYA Good enough to put in a frame on the wall. The images are just beautiful. Finn, what did you find?

FINN I've got some pages from a programme for Man of La Mancha. I thought this was a good programme to show, not because of the pictures, but because it contains articles written by members of the theatre company, so we can learn how the production was created and the thoughts and feelings of the cast.

MAYA Good. I've got a copy of a programme that's now in a museum. It's for The Tragedy of Jane Shore and it's said to be the earliest surviving document to have been printed on Australia's first printing press

FINN Fantastic!

MAYA Another programme to talk about is for The Sailors Festival. It comes from the British Library's digitised collection of programmes that was started a few years ago. It already comprises over 200,000 programmes which is amazing!

FINN Huh. Wish I'd known about it while I was doing my research.

Part 3 recording

Questions 21–30

Answers explained

Question 21

Question 22

Question 23

Question 24

Question 25

Question 26

Question 27

Question 28

Question 29

Question 30

Part 3 audioscript