How a Theatre Built a Different Audience
About this practice test
A feature article about Northbank Theatre’s efforts to broaden its audience through programming, pricing, partnerships and a more welcoming atmosphere.
What you’ll practice
Finding detail
Locate specific information and evidence.
Interpreting ideas
Connect main points and inferences.
Evaluating arguments
Assess claims, evidence, and limitations.
What to expect:
2 questions with explanations to review after submission.
Study the questions and tasks
Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.
- Practice level
- B2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.
- Question formats
- Cloze (text)
How to approach this practice
Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.
How a Theatre Built a Different Audience
On the edge of the river, Northbank Theatre had long been known as a place where the same faces appeared every season. The building itself was not unfriendly, but it felt closed to many people who lived nearby. When Lena Ortiz became artistic director, she was told that the problem was not the quality of the work. It was the fact that the theatre had become a habit for a narrow public. Ortiz agreed, but she described the challenge differently: she said the theatre needed a different audience, not simply a bigger one. In her view, the aim was to make the building feel like part of ordinary life rather than a special trip for people who already loved theatre. Her first changes were small but visible. The foyer, which had previously emptied after the interval, was turned into a café and workshop space. Posters went out on to the pavement, and rehearsals were opened to visitors on selected afternoons. The company also began holding open script nights, where actors read scenes and answered questions without the pressure of a finished performance. These steps did not suddenly transform the theatre, but they changed its atmosphere. People who had once walked past the doors now had reasons to step inside before buying a ticket. The practical changes were more important still. Northbank introduced pay-what-you-can previews on weeknights, family matinees on Saturdays, and a season made up of shorter productions, each lasting about seventy minutes. Ortiz also arranged a partnership with a local bus company so that groups from outer neighbourhoods could travel together at a reduced cost. Some long-time subscribers worried that the theatre was losing its serious atmosphere, yet the new pattern brought in a more mixed crowd. The point, Ortiz insisted, was not to make every show cheaper and simpler, but to remove the hidden barriers that kept many people away before they had even considered coming. At the same time, the company asked residents, teachers and shop owners to help shape the themes of future plays. That did not mean voting on plots line by line. It meant listening to the questions people talked about in daily life and looking for a theatrical form that could carry them well. A drama about rent rises, for example, drew modest attendance when it was presented in a heavily symbolic style, but a later comedy based on market gossip brought in people who had never bought theatre tickets before. The lesson was clear enough: if a production recognised local experience without reducing it to slogans, audiences were willing to meet it halfway. After two years, the audience profile had changed. First-time visitors were up, and the age range in the stalls was wider than before, although some older subscribers no longer came regularly. Ortiz did not pretend that the experiment had solved every financial problem. Northbank still relied on grants, and ticket income alone would never have paid for the whole programme. Even so, she argued that success should not be measured only by full houses. A theatre can sell seats and still remain remote, she said. The better question is whether people feel invited to enter, and whether they can see themselves in what happens once they do. What changed most, she thought, was not the box office but the tone at the door. For Ortiz, the aim was not to compete with streaming services or to dumb down the work. It was to make the theatre less exclusive and to accept that a cultural space changes when it welcomes people who do not already belong there. That, she believed, was not a compromise. It was the point.
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Question 1 · Cloze (text)
Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each gap. Complete the summary below. Choose words from the passage and Ortiz said the theatre needed a 1___, not simply a bigger one. She made the building feel less formal by adding a café and workshop space and by opening 2___ to visitors. The practical changes included introducing pay-what-you-can 3___ on weeknights, family 4___ on Saturdays, and productions that lasted about 5___. She also wanted to remove 6___ that kept many people away.
Return to the passage, recording or visualCheck answers and explanations
- Blank 1
- different audience
- Blank 2
- rehearsals
- Blank 3
- previews
- Blank 4
- matinees
- Blank 5
- seventy minutes / 70 minutes
- Blank 6
- hidden barriers
Gap 1: different audience. Ortiz says the theatre needed “a different audience, not simply a bigger one.” Gap 2: rehearsals. The passage states that “rehearsals were opened to visitors.” Gap 3: previews. The theatre introduced “pay-what-you-can previews on weeknights.” Gap 4: matinees. The practical changes included “family matinees on Saturdays.” Gap 5: seventy minutes. The shorter productions lasted “about seventy minutes.” Gap 6: hidden barriers. Ortiz wanted to remove “the hidden barriers that kept many people away.”
she said the theatre needed a different audience, not simply a bigger one
rehearsals were opened to visitors on selected afternoons
Northbank introduced pay-what-you-can previews on weeknights, family matinees on Saturdays, and a season made up of shorter productions, each lasting about seventy minutes
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Question 2 · Cloze (text)
Complete each blank with the missing word or phrase.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each gap. Complete the summary below. Choose words from the passage and Northbank later worked with local people to shape the 1___ of future plays. Not every attempt succeeded, and one drama drew only 2___. Even so, the theatre later attracted more 3___ visitors and a wider age range. Ortiz argued that the venue should feel less 4___, and she accepted that it would still need 5___ to survive. For her, success meant that people felt 6___ when they entered.
Return to the passage, recording or visualCheck answers and explanations
- Blank 1
- themes
- Blank 2
- modest attendance
- Blank 3
- first-time
- Blank 4
- exclusive
- Blank 5
- grants
- Blank 6
- invited
Gap 1: themes. Residents, teachers and shop owners helped shape “the themes of future plays.” Gap 2: modest attendance. The drama about rent rises “drew modest attendance.” Gap 3: first-time. The passage says that “First-time visitors were up.” Gap 4: exclusive. Ortiz wanted to make the theatre “less exclusive.” Gap 5: grants. Northbank “still relied on grants” to support the programme. Gap 6: invited. Ortiz asked whether people “feel invited to enter.”
the company asked residents, teachers and shop owners to help shape the themes of future plays
A drama about rent rises, for example, drew modest attendance when it was presented in a heavily symbolic style
First-time visitors were up, and the age range in the stalls was wider than before, although some older subscribers no longer came regularly
What to review next
Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.
A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.
Before you practise: a worked example
Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.
The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?
The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.
This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.