Students bringing 18th-century France to the stage

A PLAY designed to bring French language and culture to members of the public is being performed by students at Sheffield University this week.

Le Barbier de Seville will be performed in Sheffield before the group of 13 students from the department of French take the show on the road. Famously turned into an opera by Rossini, the play was originally performed on February 23, 1775 and will be brought to the stage by the students 235 years later on the same date in Oxford.

Sheffield University has staged a French play annually in the drama studio since 1976, when it put on Jean Cocteau’s Orphe.

The play is the result of a combined effort from the department of French and international Erasmus exchange students.

Dr David McCallam, an eighteenth-century specialist from the department of French, said: “Staging a French play is a unique way to make the French language more accessible to members of the public. “The performance of Le Barbier de Seville will really bring alive a major cultural spectacle of the French 18th century and demonstrate its continuing pertinence.

“It will also allow the students and members of the public to learn French in a fabulously interactive way.

“There has already been a great deal of interest in the Oxford performance from students, staff and the public there, and we are looking forward to taking the play on the road.”

Fourth-year French student Becky Woods added: “We are all really looking forward to promoting ourselves, our university and, of course, the wonderful French language in our first ever French foray outside Sheffield.”

Performances in Sheffield will take place today, tomorrow and on Friday, February 19. Each play will begin at 7.30pm in the university’s drama studio on Shearwood Road.

Tickets, which will cost 5 and 3.50 for concessions, will be available on the door.