Stubby, a stray dog, became the mascot of an American regiment in World War I and accompanied the soldiers so steadfastly that he was given the rank of Sergeant. A new animated feature brings this true story to life. Millions of animals were used by armies on all sides in WWI — it is estimated … Continue reading “A Canine Sergeant”
Why did the First World War inspire so many participants to write poetry? And what effect does the work of poets like Wilfred Owen, Vera Brittain, Siegfried Sassoon or Rupert Brooke have on our vision of that war today? Author Simon Davies will address these questions in a public talk at the British Council Paris … Continue reading “Talk in English: World War I Poets”
The subjects covered by the films in the main competition at this year’s Cannes Festival are very varied. The English-language competitors are a case in point, ranging from zombies in small town America to washed-up actors in Hollywood, to an indictment of the gig economy in the UK. 82-year-old director British Ken Loach has planned … Continue reading “Zombies, Loach, Tarantino and Elton John at Cannes”
Adapting a scene from a book as a film scene, or a film scene as prose, is an excellent English-learning exercise. To see how the experts do it, a talk at the American Library in Paris analyses the adaptation of one of America’s classic books into one of its classic films. Judith Merians, Hollywood executive … Continue reading “To Kill a Mockingbird: Adapting to Film”
The world of Pop culture will remember April 2019 for two things: the release of Avengers: Endgame and the final series of Game of Thrones. Both mark the culmination of tentacular stories with many iconic characters which could die at the really end… or not. As Game of Thrones approaches the midpoint of its final … Continue reading “This is the end…”
Britain’s celebrated modern dance company, Rambert, is celebrating singer Nina Simone with a dance-theatre piece featuring musicians live on stage. Simone, who died in 2003, was one of the great, and unclassifiable, popular singers of the 20th century, and a strong proponent of Civil Rights. Simone was born in North Carolina in 1933. She had … Continue reading “Dancing Nina Simone”
After 8 seasons, Game of Thrones is finally coming to an end…. until a series of prequels hit our screens. It’s been a long time coming. The last episode of season seven aired in August 2017. But the final season has apparently been a vast amount of work. It only includes six episodes, but each … Continue reading “Winter is Here”
A new exhibition at the Musée Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac explores the vast continent of Oceania, where water is omnipresent in real and metaphorical senses. The exhibition was originated at the Royal Academy in London to commemorate the journeys of James Cook in search of a mythical southern continent in the late Eighteenth Century. Cook never … Continue reading “Discovering Oceania”
One of Ireland’s most popular folk singer-songwriters, Declan O’Rourke, spent fifteen years writing a song cycle of stories about the Great Irish Famine. He’ll be presenting his award-winning songs at the Irish Cultural Centre on Thursday 4 April. Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine has been hailed as O’Rourke’s masterpiece, and he received the prestigious … Continue reading “Singing the Great Famine”
For 25 years, San-Francisco-based theatre company Word for Word has been putting on innovative productions of prose pieces performed as theatre. And each year, they do a small tour of France, giving audiences in Paris, Angers and Nancy the chance to experience their unique style of theatre. They’re back in April and May with two … Continue reading “Short Stories on Stage Paris, Angers, Nancy”