On Friday 11th February, Year 8 and 9 were treated to two performances in Spanish and in French from the Onatti theatre company. We were very excited to offer this enrichment opportunity to our students, especially as we have been waiting 3 years for this to happen in school!

Onatti theatre are a very talented group of young people who target a teenage audience of 13-16 year olds. The plots will highlight many similarities to our student’s lives, but in a humorous and exaggerated manner, making them relatable and increasing their enjoyment by empathising with the characters and storylines.

The Spanish play was called En El Campamento about two friends who went on a camping trip. After a train and a taxi ride they arrived at the campsite to find that it wasn’t exactly what they had expected and they were totally unprepared. No phones and no food turned friendship into friction.There was a lot of interaction with the students in the audience who engaged well with this performance.

The French play was called Mon Père Ne Me Comprends Pas. It was about a 16 year old girl called Helen on her birthday, having difficulties with her best friends who appeared on a video screen (a very modern touch!) and her dad and brother. It all went a bit random when a magic wand changed things up a little and the family she had known well became very different to normal life.

Here’s what a Year 9 student had to say about the French play –

The performance was easy to understand, and any vocabulary I haven’t learnt yet was made up for by the visual performance. It was really interesting to hear the French language used conversationally and to see how much French my class have learnt in the 2 and a half years we had been taking the subject. The costumes and sets were really good and the actors were very good in the roles they played. The dialogue was easy to follow but the storyline (though funny) was less so. Overall, I really enjoyed the performance and found it a very interesting experience.

Lana Wurr, 09S

We would welcome any other feedback on the plays to be able to organise future events. Please send any reviews to Mrs Hargreaves, hargreavesv@busheymeads.org.uk.