Onatti Theatre Productions, a company that specialises in French plays for GCSE French students came iinto school in January to perform La Chambre De Jean-Paul. This is a fine axample of how performing arts can add value to others areas of the curriculum.

Below a Commonweal student gives his review of the play:-

On Wednesday 20th January, two French actors came into Commonweal to perform their play ‘Le chambre de Jean-Paul’ to GCSE French students. The main plot of the story is that a boy called Jean-Paul tries to get a girl called Angelique to like him and is given many different fashion tips by different women to help him in his quest to find love.

The play begins in Jean-Paul’s bedroom where he is ringing friends. All his friends are going out with their girlfriends and he is saddened by the fact that he doesn’t have one. He starts thinking about Angelique and what he could do to win her over when all of a sudden; a woman, who is supposedly in the know about fashion, arrives in his bedroom. She demands that Jean-Paul changes into the clothes she gives him and he comes out of his wardrobe looking absolutely ridiculous. She then shows him how to do a ‘sexy’ walk, but Jean-Paul makes a complete mess of it, to the amusement of all
of us.

This wasn’t the only fashion guru Jean-Paul was to have an encounter with though, as various others came into his bedroom. For example, there was a sport mad woman who showed Jean-Paul how to box but ended up getting her teeth knocked out due to Jean-Paul’s over enthusiasm which was highly amusing to the audience.

The funniest of all these though, had to be when the rock star woman came out onto the stage and taught Jean-Paul about music. This involved bringing two Year 11 girls and one Year 10 boy onto the stage to create a band, the Year 10 on guitar and the two girls dancing to the beat with some hilarious dance moves created by Jean-Paul.

The play ends with Jean-Paul putting everything he has learnt into action when Angelique arrives at his house. Jean-Paul manages to win over Angelique, even though he made a fool of himself at times. They both leave the house to go to a concert together to conclude the play.

This play was very funny but also
very clear and easy to understand. The two spoke slowly so that a majority of the play could be understood. Overall, a fantastic experience for all those involved!
Michael Titcombe.