Visit by French Theatre Company

In November the Onatti Theatre Company came to Colton Hills again to perform their annual French play. Pupils studying GCSE French in Year 10 and 11 watched the play, along with some Year 9 pupils.

The play is entirely in French and is written for teenagers. This year the play was called Cache-cache.

The play, plot and story.

Françoise is bullied at school. She doesn't know why and she wishes it would stop. But when it gets too much she goes to her secret place - a derelict barn in the woods. It is somewhere for her to escape to and she has made it quite homely.

Étienne belongs to Les Verts. It's a gang from the north part of town. He didn't plan to get involved in a gang, it just sort of happened. Les Verts have one rival gang - Les Rochers - a larger gang who hang out in the south part of town.

Étienne doesn't really know which territories belong to which gang and one afternoon he is spotted on Les Rochers' patch and is chased into the woods by some of their gang. Quickly needing somewhere to hide, Étienne comes across a derelict barn - perfect!
That same afternoon Françoise has been badly tormented by some girls at schools and retreats to her secret place.

It is in the old barn where Étienne and Françoise meet for the first time.

These two teenagers are complete opposites, which is most apparent when they first meet. But, despite their initial confrontation and immediate loathing of each other, neither of them leaves the barn. They have one thing in common - they need somewhere to hide.

Reluctantly they start to chat and soon distrust turns to friendly chitchat as they start to get to know each other.

It's not long before they both start to relax and confess their problems. Étienne can't understand how such a confident girl like Françoise is being bullied and Françoise can't understand how such a funny and amusing boy like Étienne has ended up trapped in a gang.

It seems such a long time since Françoise and Étienne felt so relaxed but soon their new friendship is tested.

The play was excellent as it always is and the pupils thoroughly enjpyed it as well as learning and hearing lots of French.