In the French play, an over-enthusiastic, detail-oriented girlfriend (Léa) and her Marvel-obsessed dancer boyfriend (Théo) decide to plan a ‘forever together’ party to celebrate their three years of dating. However, this meant that it was time to meet each other’s parents, and while Léa was excited to meet Théo’s parents, he was a bit more apprehensive (for good reason). Perhaps fortunately, his grumpy parents only spoke English and Léa only spoke French, and this language barrier prevented the exchange from going too badly as Théo was able to twist what his parents were saying (mainly insulting Léa) to more pleasant translations to avoid her getting upset. All things considered, their meeting could have gone worse if they were able to actually understand each other. To top it all off, the play ended with a dance that saw all the characters working past their differences, including a number of students who had been involved in the play along the way, filling in roles such as the parents, janitor, chef and manager of the premises.

The German play we watched was about a haunted house that was a bit more on the spooky side. It started off with two friends, Saskia and Sofie, taking shelter from a storm in a seemingly abandoned house. However, Sofie felt that something was off, and a few moments later a hunky police officer burst into the house and declared that there was a murderer on the loose! And that the house in which they were standing had been the murder scene of an old couple, Frau and Herr Hoffman! He then advised them to stay inside while he hunted for the criminal. However, when he left and Sofie was alone in the house as Saskia was outside chopping wood, the ghost of Frau Hoffman appeared! But as soon as Saskia returned, the ghost disappeared and Saskia thought that Sofie was crazy. They then spotted a child outside (played by a student) and invited her in, but Saskia still didn’t believe Sofie about Frau Hoffman until it appeared to her, and she fainted from shock. And that was the moment the murderer broke into the house and tied up Sofie and the poor, innocent child. Luckily, they saved themselves and beat up the criminal just in time for the police officer to reappear and the unconscious Saskia to wake up. 

This was a really fun and exciting opportunity to practice our French/German by listening to and understanding native speakers and more complicated storylines, and despite the sometimes complex vocabulary, you were never too lost as the actors were very expressive and made it easy to follow what was going on. Furthermore, it was especially engaging because the actors selected students from the audience to fill in the minor roles, giving us the opportunity to interact with the plays and practice our own speaking. All in all, it was a really great experience and a chance to really absorb new vocabulary and practice listening/comprehension skills along with context-based learning.

By Katy - Year 10