Chita Rivera, a Broadway icon, has died age 91. Her first major role was originating the character of Anita in the original stage production of West Side Story in 1957. She was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C., in 1993 to a Puerto Rican father and a mother with Scottish-Irish origins. (Not … Continue reading “West Side Story Legend Dies”
The West Side Story production that has just finished in Paris will be touring to Bordeaux, Lyons, Rouen and Nantes in February and March. A full stage production, it is in English with French surtitles. The musical comedy by Bernstein, Sondheim and Robbins is a reworking of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the Capulets and … Continue reading “West Side Story on Tour Around France”
At age 87, veteran British filmmaker Ken Loach says The Old Oak will be his last film and it closes the trilogy set in the north-east of England after I, Daniel Blake (Cannes Palme d’or 2016) and Sorry We Missed You (2019). It looks at the arrival of a group of Syrian refugees to be … Continue reading “Ken Loach Trying to See the Hope”
West Side Story will return to Châtelet in Paris this autumn. Reservations are now open for schools performances and workshops. 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 in New York. Reservations are now open for a … Continue reading “Save the Date: West Side Story on Stage”
The Fake News exhibition created by the CLEMI which is running in Paris till February 2022 is now also available as 10 A3-sized posters that you can print up and display in your school. There’s a webinar and teaching pack to help you guide your pupils to get the most out of the experience. The … Continue reading “Fake New Exhibition in Your School!”
The Walk with Little Amal project aims to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and particularly refugee children. As Amal makes an 8,000 km journey across Europe on foot, the project hopes to help other children think about the issue, and they’ve provided lots of educational tools to help teachers explore the topic in … Continue reading “Teaching about Refugees”
Little Amal is anything but small: she’s a giant puppet of a Syrian refugee girl making her way across Europe. The 3.5-metre-tall puppet began an 8,000 kilometre journey in Turkey on 27 July. After the south of France in September, she’ll be making stops across the north in October before embarking for the U.K. The … Continue reading “Walking Across Europe for Refugees”
No, it isn’t fake news: Covid permitting, there will be an exhibition on Fake News running from 27 May 2021 to January 2022 at the Fondation EDF in Paris. Designed for school groups as well as the general public, it will be a great opportunity to have your pupils develop their critical-thinking skills. The exhibition … Continue reading “Fake News Exhibition”
Ken Loach is famous for his socially committed films, and his new film, Sorry We Missed You, is no exception. Loach brings the kitchen-sink drama bang up to date with this indictment of the gig economy in the UK with a family struggling to survive in the modern world of work. The gig economy, or … Continue reading “Ken Loach Takes on the Gig Economy”
The This is England short films festival education team has concocted a great programmes collège classes every morning of the festival. Sign up now, and download the teaching pack to prepare for your visit. A unique feature of This is England is that the selection mixes live-action fiction, documentary and animated films. The collège selection … Continue reading “Teaching with Short Films: Collège”