2009 Productions
An Evening of Theater
On January 22nd, at the Collège Jean Moulin in Chaville, the four Anglophone 6e classes, under the direction of Vicki Salmon, Ruairi McCann and Candi Buxton presented an evening of one-act plays by Steve Fitzpatrick: The Nose, The Two Brothers, The Gold of Lies and The Stupid Judge.
An evening of drama and laughter
A corrupt judge, a mass murderer, evil spirits and a cursed lump of gold were a few of the stars of four plays performed by the 6ème Anglophones. Heavy moral issues : honesty, greed, social justice and hypocrisy to name a few,were subtly tackled in the four comedies which are reviewed below by four parents.
The Nose reviewed by Peter Hicks,
Vicki Salmon’s Chaville 6ème class gave a very assured performance of The Nose. The ‘nonsense’ plot centres around a prince whose nose has been lengthened by two bad spirits on a whim. The prince’s mother, the Queen, has her doubts as to the beauty of the baby’s excessive ‘protuberance’, but these are allayed by fawning courtiers who maintain the ‘appendage’s’ greatness in all respects - bigger is better, they trumpet. This base flattery is amusingly challenged at the denouement, where the Prince has to lose his ‘conk’ in order to be able to kiss and so claim his beloved. “How will the flatterers get out of their predicament now that ‘less is more’ in the nasal department?”, cackle the wicked spirits, as the cast dance away this hugely entertaining, non-cautionary, moral-free play to the strains of ‘Some day my prince will come’.
It is hard to find enough superlatives for the excellent performances: Cyril Balay as the Prince (what a nose!), Lucie Cocquet and Julia Pocheau (splendid ‘wicked’ make-up) as the evil spirits, Gabrielle Labourier and Elisa Deuffic (I liked the dealy-boppers) as the good spirits, Alessandro Hicks as (variously), the King, a Counsellor (with a preposterous beard) and a Villager, Alexia de Nays Candau as Queen and Mother (very nice with a fag hanging out of the corner of her mouth) and Alexis Ego, Michael Johnson and Jeffery Johncourt as (variously) courtiers and teachers.
First off, this reviewer was impressed by the clear declamation and sense of timing which all of the players revealed. Having as a parent sat through other more ‘random’ shows, it was really enjoyable to see that the cast knew and felt what ‘pace’ was, and (what is more) kept it up. The staging (like the nose at the end) was ‘small but perfectly formed’. An exit on one side was followed, with neat timing, by an entry on the other. The actors for the most part faced forward and delivered their lines with meaning and clarity, negotiating at one point faux-Homeric lines with aplomb - I very much enjoyed “Hector of the flaring-nostrils”. The actors moved about the stage with purpose and some of the mimes were well executed - I especially liked the digging of the villagers. Particular praise should be given to the acting of the prince (both as a young man, and as a baby) and the first wicked spirit. That said, every member of the cast was convincing - and they all sang very nicely in tune at the end. Clearly the group was well directed. Bravo!
The Two Brothers reviewed by Franck Bilau
- Little and Big Peter
In "The Two Brothers" we witnessed a mother arranging the marriages of her two sons, the elder inheriting all and a venal wife, while his younger and seemingly naive brother receives almost nothing material, but true love and happiness. The power of greed and envy work their way in hilarious fashion until the inevitable self destruction of the bad couple and the triumph of the righteous brother and his wife.
This is a play that had everybody shaking with laugther, with effective punchlines and gimmicks ("Where is my axe ?"), and comically shocking situations, like the younger son wheel-barrowing the beheaded body of his mother to the village, surrounded by apples he had to sell to make a living. Yet, like the three other plays, the more serious message lingers in the minds of the parents and exposes "keeping up with the Joneses" in effective fashion. All in all, an excellent performance, the young actors truly enjoying their time on stage and delivering the action, humour and darker messages with great effectiveness.
The Stupid Judge reviewed by Mr Edelman
Everything was as it should be
or
What 6è7 did on Thursday night
The start was approaching. The actors were making their last preparations and frantically going over their lines one last time. There were nerves, knotted stomachs and heightened emotions - and that was just the mothers. With final adjustments to costume and make-up, the actors were ready and the audience buzzing with anticipation. After several fruitless attempts to quieten the house, a loudspeaker (also known as Ruairi McCann) was called for.
Finally, there was silence, and we were transported off to rural Russia, and the courthouse of Shemiaka the Judge (played by Tristan, Hector and Madeleine). The scene was set by a discussion between an old woman (Louise) and Elena the Wise (Maud). After a consideration of the finer points of law and the merits of evidence and bribery, the various cases were presented by a colourful cast of characters. First, the Rich Brother (Quentin), the Poor Brother (Théotime), the Wood-Cutter (Raphael) and his Wife (Cally), and a Merchant’s Widow (Rebecca) engaged in heated dispute over a baby, a tail-less horse, events at the bridge and complex financial responsibilities. Next, a Farmers’ Wife (Emma), a Priest (Henri) and a Doctor (Matthieu) had got into some difficulty over the priest’s pregnancy. Adding to the proceedings and helping Shemiaka navigate the complexities of law were the Officer of the Court (Matthew, Alexandre), an Idiot (Catalina) and the Guards (Matthieu, Hector).
There were “enters stage left” and “exits stage right” with enthusiasm and frequently at the right time; each character had a more extravagant costume and make up than the last; and the collection of hats, wigs and hair-dos defies description. The whole thing was conducted with such gusto and style that it brought applause, laughter and cheers from the audience, and even the prompter felt compelled to contribute. Completely unable to make sense of what was going on in front of him, the Judge turned to Elena the Wise: she sorted out the seemingly insoluble cases and (so unlike the actress involved) told everyone what to do. Finally, the curtain came down to thunderous and deserved clapping, with the public crying out for more. To quote Shemiaka “Everything was as it should be”.
The Gold of Lies reviewed by Elizabeth Davi-Macintyre
- A packed house
The Gold of lies starts with two strangers (J. Bonnard, P. Heitzmann) who arrive in a land where people know neither what gold is, nor how to lie. The strangers become convinced that these people are mad, especially after watching a thief (D. Nicolic) admit that he has stolen the inn-keeper’s (G. Knox-Kelly) beer from him and discovering that the inn-keeper prefers to be paid in cabbages rather than gold.
The strangers explain that everyone wants gold, and that they’re prepared to kill, cheat, scheme, fight and lie in order to get it, something that they find normal. The thief begins to understand the potential of lying and steals the gold, whereupon the strangers decide to leave. As punishment for having had their gold stolen, they put a curse on the people, whereby the person who has the gold will always lie, whether he wants to or not.
The thief then starts to practise using lies on the maid-servant (E. Simeon). He realises that lying can get him into trouble if he doesn’t use it carefully. So he secretly puts the gold in the inn-keeper’s bag, as he leaves to go to the market with his wife (E. Cousin). The merchant (H. Travers), his wife (M. Rigaudière) and her friends (E. Leenhardt) are having trouble selling their merchandise to the housewifes (A. Davi, M. Doat), since they admit it’s rotten. But when they are honest about their produce to the inn-keeper, he says he wants to buy it, since he has the gold. He also tells his wife to buy a new dress, despite being very thrifty.
The thief (AL. Baldacchino) and the maid-servant (P. Jacquet) explain to the merchant and the inn-keeper what lying is and that it’s the gold that makes people do it. Once the merchant has the gold, he lies to all the housewives, who therefore buy his rotten produce. He passes the gold to the inn-keeper’s wife, who then lies to her husband about her new dress, much to the other womens’ admiration. Finally, everyone wants to learn to lie and becomes greedy for the gold. The thief and maid-servant realise what gold does to people, as they all start to fight for the gold.
At this point the king (A. de Forceville) enters with the Lord Chancellor (J. Delonca). When the king asks why they’re fighting, the merchant falsely accuses the thief, who is arrested. The maid-servant keeps the gold. The king instructs the Lord Chancellor to discover why the people were fighting. When he tells the king that they were fighting to get the gold, the king decides is must be very valuable, and that he must have some. Neither the king or queen (M. Petit-Chatenay) think it looks very interesting.
The thief explains its power and as an illustration of lying, he asks a courtier (A. Davi) to tell the king and queen what he thinks of them. He tells the king that he is stupid and the queen ugly, whereupon he is arrested and hanged. The thief then informs the king that telling a lie would be to say that the king was a glorious ruler and the queen gracious and beautiful. The king is therefore impressed by lying, but the prince (M. Doat) doesn’t understand. So the thief explains that it allows powerful people to exploit the poor, fight with their neighbours and practise dishonest politics. The king likes the sound of this and appoints the thief minister of lies.
The lord chancellor gives the king some gold, but it doesn’t work since it isn’t the strangers’ gold. The minister of lies is ordered to find the gold of lies. The maid-servant tells him that she has thrown it away, since it was dangerous, so the thief decides to use the gold the lord chancellor left behind, and tell the king it is the gold of lies. The thief has learnt to lie without the gold, but the maid-servant has not. The king and queen have to teach the prince not to believe everything and anything, but they get confused between the lies of the thief and the honesty of the maid-servant. The king makes the servant marry the prince against her wishes. He concludes that gold and lying are the real secrets for controlling his people and justifying his wars.
In conclusion, the « Gold of Lies » tells us in a very amusing way that gold, as an analogy for capitalism, makes us dishonest, manipulative and power-crazy.
Dernière modification le 26-03-09 par
