Read a tense rehearsal carefully
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
Just before a community puppet performance, the stage assistant became agitated when the labeled prop boxes were delivered to the wrong room. He paced beside the doorway and kept checking the clock while another helper searched. The tired narrator sounded irritable, reacting sharply to routine questions, and a first-time puppeteer grew skittish whenever a backstage door slammed. The director noticed different reactions to the same busy setting and avoided assuming that everyone needed the same kind of support.
Once the boxes arrived, the agitated assistant stopped pacing and began checking their contents in order. The narrator remained irritable for a while, so the director combined several small questions into one clear handover instead of interrupting repeatedly. The skittish newcomer asked to rehearse the entrance again with the door held open. These practical adjustments addressed what each person described, while leaving room for the possibility that fatigue, uncertainty, or another concern was contributing to the tension.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.