On the Road: Nomadland

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 09 June 2021 > What's On

Nomadland is a fascinating insight to a largely invisible U.S. community: modern-day nomads not so far removed from the Depression-era migrant workers from John Steinbeck’s novels. Based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century by Jessica Bruder, it explores a diverse group of often elderly Americans who have decided to reduce … Continue reading “On the Road: Nomadland”

David Copperfield

Posted by Speakeasy News > Sunday 23 May 2021 > Ready to Use

Dickens’ classic, David Copperfield, is given new life in this movie by Armando Ianucci. Beyond the slightly reinvented plot itself, we are given to experience a new way of telling stories, as boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred if not crossed. What’s more, this brand-new funny version features colour-blind casting and leads us to … Continue reading “David Copperfield”

New Reading Guides

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 04 May 2021 > Pedagogy Shine Bright Lycée

Two more Reading Guides for LLCER Terminale are available: Paul Auster’s novel Moon Palace and Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. Our Reading Guide collection helps you and your students get the most out of their set books with background information, extensive extracts and guided activities to help them understand and analyse the works. … Continue reading “New Reading Guides”

News of the West

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 26 April 2021 > Ready to Use

News of the World is a not-so-classic Western starring Tom Hanks as a newsreader travelling across the U.S. during a violent and tumultuous period after the American Civil War. In a neat inversion of Indian abduction narratives like John Ford’s classic The Searchers, the Confederate veteran here is trying to return a child to her … Continue reading “News of the West”

David Copperfield: Dickens for the 21st Century

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 22 March 2021 > What's On

The Personal History of David Copperfield is far from the first adaptation of Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel. But Armando Iannucci has given the story a very new feel, while keeping Dickens’ humour and playing with that idea of autobiography and the art of inventing oneself through the act of writing. Iannucci is known for … Continue reading “David Copperfield: Dickens for the 21st Century”

West Side Story Free for Classes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 24 February 2021 > Pedagogy

The educational TV channel Lumni is offering the Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise film of West Side Story free to stream for collège and lycée classes.  The film of the musical comedy by Bernstein, Sondheim and Robbins is a reworking of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the Capulets and Montagues being replaced by rival gangs  … Continue reading “West Side Story Free for Classes”

Roald Dahl’s The Witches

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 05 November 2020 > Ready to Use

Roald Dahl’s The Witches was published in 1983, a typically twisted tale of witches who look like normal women and want to eliminate children by turning them into mice. A second film version, this time  by American director Robert Zemeckis, was scheduled for a November release. Like everything else, it’s on hold for lockdown, but … Continue reading “Roald Dahl’s The Witches”

Enola Holmes: Not Elementary My Dear Sherlock!

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 23 September 2020 > What's On

In the Netflix adaptation of the Young Adult mystery-adventure by Nancy Springer, Millie Bobby Brown is playing Enola Holmes, the sister of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes! Over 130 years after the world’s most famous detective made his 1887 debut in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, comes a new mystery-adventure about another … Continue reading “Enola Holmes: Not Elementary My Dear Sherlock!”