# Играй так, чтобы зритель забыл свою родную мамочку!



## IrinaD

Нужно перевести следующую фразу на американский английский:

Играй лучше! Играй так, чтобы зритель забыл свою родную мамочку!

(Действие происходит на следующей площадке.)

Мой вариант: Act better! Act so that viwer forgot his own mother!

Это слишком дословно. Как можно получше перевести?


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## LilianaB

I would say _so that the viewer, or audience, would forget their own mother_. There might be some other phrase, but I can't think of any right now.


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## gvozd

Blow their minds.


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## LilianaB

Yes, I agree. I like it. Play so you would blow their minds off.


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## rusita preciosa

gvozd said:


> Blow their minds.




(There is no expression "blow their minds off").


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## LilianaB

Yes, the standard form of the idiom is _it will blow your mind_. Some people say _It will blow your mind off_. Maybe they confuse it with _it will knock your socks off_, almost the same thing.


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## IrinaD

Спасибо за помощь. А как правильнее сказать, act или play?


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## Sobakus

IrinaD said:


> Спасибо за помощь. А как правильнее сказать, act или play?



В отношении отыгрывания конкретной роли я бы сказал act. А вообще, по-моему, оба правильны.


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## rusita preciosa

I'd say for your context only *act* will work. When talking about acting, *play* is not used by itself; it is usually *play a role / play Hamlet *etc...


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## LilianaB

No, it is not true. You can say "the actors were playing really well in X's last movie".


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## rusita preciosa

I actually thionk that, if you want to keep the the 'tone' of the sentence, in your case, there is nothing worng with not using an established English expression and instead just translate almost literally.
Act better. Act so that the audience forget(s) who their mama is!

(whether to use *forget* or *forgets* is up to you: if it is normal speech, forgets is better; for more 'refined"/ old-fashioned speech use subjunctive forget).


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## rusita preciosa

LilianaB said:


> No, it is not true.


Er... I don't know how it contradicts what I wrote, but OK, *LilianaB you are right*. 
Enjoy!


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## LilianaB

Hi, Rusita. I thought you meant "play" cannot be used as an intransitive verb, that's all. This is what it really looked like. Is the piece about a play rehearsal or shooting a movie? This may also make a difference.


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## Enquiring Mind

We can avoid the *act* versus *play *dilemma by using a more general verb relating to "performing" or "doing". Assuming this is a stage or film director giving his actors a pep talk in colloquial language, I think any of the following would be okay. Although the Russian is comparative (лучше), not superlative (найлучше), I think the director still wants the actors to perform as well as they can (the best), so:

_Give it all you've got_, make your/the audience forget their own mother(s).  (The simplest construction _*make someone do something *_avoids a clumsy subjunctive) 

_(Always) give it your best (shot/effort)_, make your/the audience forget their own mother(s). 
(Depending on the context, which we don't have, *always* may be justified, since it's imperfective (играй - act always, in general, *"do your acting"* as well as you can), not perfective (сыграй - act/play this particular role, act/play this particular scene now - and in any case I think the object of сыграй would have to be stated or implied).

_Make it sing_, make your/the audience forget their own mother(s).
This phrase _make it sing_ is very useful. It usually has nothing to do with singing. It means _bring it alive_, _make it exciting/convincing_ to your listener or reader. It can be used when you are in any kind of public-speaking role, if you are writing a report or newsletter, or even acting/playing a part in a film/movie.


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## IrinaD

Thanks a lot to everybody.


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## gvozd

Enquiring Mind said:


> _Give it all you've got_, make your/the audience forget their own mother(s).



So, a sentence about mothers would be quite understandable for English speakers?


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## Enquiring Mind

It's not a standard idiom, but I think it's quite understandable. If the theatre director is trying to be original and maybe avoid clichе́s, the image works for me.  I certainly wouldn't quibble with "blow their minds". That's used a lot.  It would be good if we had been told what sort of register the OP is aiming for and what the director is directing - serious drama or a spaghetti western.


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## IrinaD

Вот контекст:

АКТЁР-СОЛДАТ отжимается, над ним стоит СЕРЖАНТ и орёт на него.

СЕРЖАНТ
Это тебе не театр! Это грёбаный кинематограф! Играй лучше! Играй так, чтобы зритель забыл свою родную мамочку! Я повыбиваю из тебя всё дер…

Актёр-Солдат перестаёт отжиматься и встаёт, словно он здесь главный. Но, собственно, так и оказывается.

АКТЁР-СОЛДАТ
Нет-нет-нет. Стоп. Не верю. Больше жести, ты же старый прожжённый вояка, мы обсуждали твой бэкграунд.


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## gvozd

Ну, в такой контекст матери вписываются весьма органично


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