Am Dienstag, 8. November 2011, gastierte das White Horse Theater am Deutsch-Französischen Gymnasium. Die britische Theatergruppe hat sich auf die Aufführung englischsprachiger Theaterstücke an Schulen spezialisiert und brachte gleich zwei verschiedene Werke mit ans DFG: Für alle Klassen 8 stand die ebenso humorvolle und musikalische wie sozialkritische Bühnenproduktion Lip Gloss auf dem Programm.
Nach kurzer Pause durften dann alle Klassen Seconde L, Première L und Terminale L die Aufführung eines Stücks des zeitgenössischen US-Dramatikers Neil LaBute miterleben. In The Shape of Things stellen sich dem Zuschauer Fragen nach den Grenzen von Liebe und Kunst sowie der Manipulation menschlicher Gefühle.
The play we saw last Tuesday, performed in the common area of our school, was a well-known theater play written by Neil LaBute and staged by four actors of the White Horse Theatre.
When the literature student Adam Sorenson meets the graduate art student Evelyn Ann Thompson in the museum he works in, he directly falls in love with her. She shows him that she is interested in getting to know him better and that is the beginning of a sudden relationship. Evelyn tries to change his character and his appearance. Adam, who is deeply in love with her, thinks that she loves him too and does all things she wants (new haircut, gets a nosejob, and throws his favorite old jacket in the garbage). Evelyn makes him choose between her and his long lasting friends Jenny and Philip. Adam chooses her but notices too late that it was the wrong decision. The graduate art student only used and manipulated him for her final art project.
The play was really well performed. The stage props were simple but significant even if we could not understand the meaning of every picture shown in the background of the stage. The four actors did a great job, they were convincing and interacted with the audience. Their pronunciation was clear and their voices were loud enough, so everybody was able to understand the plot even if a student’s English knowledge was not perfect. Through the play we realized that not all things in the world are like they seem to be. The play showed us that the decision between love and friendship should not be an option because both of those relationships are really part of human life. After the performance the audience had the opportunity to ask questions, which was a valuable opportunity to learn more about the actors and the play.
Concluding you can say that the play was really fascinating and that we would watch it again.
(Selina Eckerle & Sina Welsch, TeL2)