Spanish Theatre Performance

On Friday 17th March, the Year 8-10 Presdales Spanish learners gathered in the hall for an exciting Spanish live theatre experience. The aim of the afternoon was to enhance our Spanish listening skills and learn new words from the performance of the play – all in Spanish! Some of us also had to answer quick-fire questions that came our way during the performance, which was exciting – if a little nerve-wracking! The storyline followed Carmen Tecles García on her birthday as she tried to meet up with her cousin María, a cycle courier in beautiful Barcelona. Carmen thinks that María has forgotten her birthday but there is actually a fun surprise planned at the end – a feast María would never forget!

However, on her way to meeting María (just missing her every time), Carmen comes across many strange people, including: a fortune teller, a watch seller, a tourist looking for directions, swindlers, news reporters, buskers and a very helpful policeman; all portrayed magnificently by the actresses. In her journey, she comes across some of Barcelona’s most beautiful attractions including La Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Plaça Catalunya and Plaça d’Espanya! She even has a rather bumpy journey on the metro and gets a lift from a policeman. During the performance, we were given the opportunity to get up and dance onstage, and to converse with the actresses during an interesting and interactive Spanish television news report.

In our lessons before the performance, we were provided with a booklet that consisted of an introduction to the city, buildings, culture and characters as well as some key vocabulary we would need to decipher what the characters were saying. It provided a breakdown of the scenes and a brief synopsis of the play that allowed the Spanish learners to follow the story as much as possible. As well as this, there was a map of Barcelona, so that we could track Carmen’s journey. In addition, it was full of interesting activities that allowed us to reflect on the play as an experience, and exercises to practise our translation, cultural knowledge and writing skills.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience as it improved my ability to interpret what the characters were saying and I learnt lots of new vocabulary that I will be able to use further on in my Spanish learning career. On behalf of all of the Spanish students here at Presdales, I would like to say a big thank you to the theatre production cast that performed for us, and the Spanish department for organising a very enjoyable and educational day for the students.

Ayesha Unadkat, Year 9