Immerse yourself in the great works of classical theatre while developing your critical thinking, your voice and your stage presence? This is the challenge taken up by Year 13 students in their Literature course. Between passionate readings, heated debates and theatrical performances, discover how words come to life on stage...

A rich and demanding theatrical journey

In our Diploma in Literature courses, students - in this case Mr Fazan's 11 final-year students - explore a wide range of literary works, including several plays. This year, they immersed themselves in Edmond Rostand's romantic and epic Cyrano de Bergerac, Swiss-German author Friedrich Dürrenmatt's cynical and burlesque comedy Les Physiciens, about the dangers of science, and Molière's provocative comedy Dom Juan, which caused a scandal at the court of Louis XIV.

Excerpts from in-class presentations - to explore the full range of student work on these plays, access the full presentations below. These files are lively: they reflect both the activities carried out in class and the reflections, collaborations and interpretations proposed by the students:

• Cyrano 2024
• The Physicists Literature 2024
• Dom Juan Litt. 2024
• Dom Juan Act IV

Explore, compare, debate

In class, we dissected scenes, produced comparative posters, analysed comic techniques and staging choices. Students also shared their views on these works through debates, written analyses and numerous oral presentations.

The pleasure of play: when words come to life

But it was in acting out the key extracts from these three plays that we had the most fun! This is how the students best grasped the provocations of the libertines of the Grand Siècle, or the ironic injunctions of the Swiss playwright on the atomic bomb.

Theater remains a performing art, and it's by embodying the characters and interpreting the text aloud that we really understand the significance of the texts.

Personal choices for the final oral

Most of them chose to use these works for their final oral, addressing universal themes such as :

• Why do people commit crimes?
• What are the ethical responsibilities of scientists?
• Why do we fall in love?

Experiencing words to better understand what's at stake

Over the months of study, the class explored political satire, the role of libertines in the 17th century and the techniques of the comic register. They also unravelled the rules of classical theatre, analysing misunderstandings and the essential elements of farce.

But it was by playing Charlotte, the brave peasant, Dom Juan, the provocative seducer, or Einstein, the mad scientist, that they really grasped the stakes of these plays and paid tribute to the playwrights who shaped them.

✨ " Above all, theatre is the art of living words," reminds Mr. Fazan. And his students proved it with passion.