When teaching English at the Da Vinci secondary school in the San Concordio area of Lucca I collaborated with a colleague in the writing and production of a play with the theme of English history from the Romans to the Beatles. We felt that this would be a great way for our pupils to really speak the language and express themselves through theatre. We obtained the help of a choreographer who taught our classes dances appropriate to various period of England’s history: pavanes for Shakespeare’s time to twist and jive in the 1960’s.

The play was a great success, both with the pupils and with the audience, and it had to be repeated outside the school hall at Lucca’s San Girolamo theatre.

The medium of the theatre is, indeed, a great way to improve language skills both in speaking and in comprehension. It was, therefore, no surprise that the majority of the audience were school children at the English Theatre group‘s production of Shakespeare’s Scottish play in Ponte a Moriano’s Nieri theatre last week.

Five actors played all the parts in this, the bard’s most concise and fast-moving play.

The performance was generally convincing and certainly the attention of the young audience was fully engaged.

But who are the English theatre company? They are a touring group of actors based in Pisa. Some are native English speakers others are speakers of English as a second language. The company’s main aim is to present both classic and original plays in English (with subtitles) so that the audience can get something of the cadences of the language and see it truly work in dramatic situations. In one word …communication. That’s why I feel that English first language speakers in the Bagni di Lucca area who lack confidence in speaking Italian would do well to attend plays in Italian. We have completed a successful and very varied season at Bagni di Lucca’s own theatre. I wonder how many residents from English speaking areas attended any of the plays.