Festival of English-language School Theatre: 8 plays at Rotondes

Audiences will once again have the chance to watch eight one-act performances at the Festival of English-language School Theatre (FEST), performed at Rotondes on 27 and 28 February.

For the first time, Lycée Vauban will take part, and Lycée Michel Lucius, which first joined at the last festival, will once again take to the stage.

“Whilst there is more English theatre in Luxembourg than a decade ago, it is limited,” said FEST26 organiser, and director of three of the plays, Tony Kingston.

“It’s the chance to see a lot of plays you might not normally watch – some such as Chaos, are quite famous,” he added.

Kingston highlighted that “there is an energy and passion that kids bring to theatre that’s different from professional performances,” adding that you might just watch someone who is at the beginning of their career before they become famous.

Whilst school drama groups have mostly chosen plays already published to perform, there are a couple which have been devised by students and their teacher.

It’s also an opportunity for drama students to experience performing in front of a mixed audience, beyond the confines of school-based shows.

Kingston explained that FEST also helps build a network amongst school drama teachers and allows pupils to meet other likeminded students.

“Workshops give them a chance to work with trained professionals, and of course occasional friendships develop across schools.”

The festival will open with a reception hosted by the British ambassador to Luxembourg, Joanne Olivier.

Most performances are suitable for ages 12 and above unless otherwise stated below, and for the first time, FEST26 will be a green event. You can purchase tickets via the website here.

Friday 27 February, 19:00
Chaos, International School of Luxembourg

Laura Lomas’ contemporary play Chaos shines a spotlight on how we know what we know, and how one solitary incident can change the course of one’s life. Creating a symphony of dislocated yet interconnected scenes, the characters search for meaning in a complicated and unstable world – touching on physics, the cosmos, love and violence, to find order in the disorder of each other.

Friday 27 February, 20:05
Helpdesk, Lycée Michel Rodange Luxembourg

Had a problem with your laptop or following instructions to construct a piece of furniture? Parents will relate to this and the dreaded phone call to the helpdesk. A collection of hilarious short scenes shows how calls to the helpdesk can go badly wrong in a play written by Don Zolidis.

Saturday 28 February, 14:00 (no age restriction)
The Tiger’s Bones, Lycée Michel Lucius

A quirky comedy from former English poet laureate Ted Hughes about a genius scientist called The Master, and her intrepid assistants who on a mission take every opportunity to “improve” the native people they come into contact with, creating industrialised havoc in their wake, until The Master comes face to face with the wise old man on a mountain, and an epic struggle of world views ensues.

Saturday 28 February, 15:05 (no age restriction)
The Last Reserve, Lycée Vauban

Laura Audrit writes and directs this story where students find their class teacher and fellow students have been beamed into cyber space by the smart bin. Will the recycling machine claim a new victim each night, and send them into a fearful jungle landscape with vengeful wild animals who seek revenge on those who caused the pollution of their habitat?

The disgruntled teens must find a way to free themselves and their teacher before the classroom fills with trash they have thoughtlessly discarded.

Saturday 28 February, 16:10
Of Men and Beasts, Lënster Lycée International School

Inspired by William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ Sarah Lippert wrote and directed this piece for a modern, digitised world. When a plane full of students crashes on a desert island, with no surviving adults, some students long for the arrival of the rescue team, whilst others use this moment to find out what power really means, and how easily their fellow students can be manipulated.

Saturday 28 February, 19:00 (age 13+ years)
Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry, European School Luxembourg II

According a Guardian article, girls suffer disproportionately from sexist name calling, online abuse, up-skirting, and unwanted touching and rape jokes on and off school premises. The school inspectorate in the UK concluded that sexual harassment has become normalised for young people, and this play by Arlene Hutton asks why don’t more people speak out against it.

The play follows a group of high school students through a collage of scenes that look at harassment in school, assault, date rape, shaming, mascara and video games.

Saturday 28 February, 20:05 (no age restriction)
The Day the Internet Died, St George’s International School

School drama teacher Arron Lemon directs this play by Jason Pizzarello and Ian McWethy set in Bloomington on the day the internet goes down. In a world so dependent on the internet for communication, shopping, and organisation, how will society function? The play explores how inept we are at dating, research, and basic human interactions when we don’t do it through a screen.

Saturday 28 February, 21:10
A Human Write, European School Luxembourg I

Living in a freezing flat a writer tries to produce her masterpiece, unsuccessfully. She looks like she’s alone, but she shares a flat with the voices in her head, which plead with her to write them a story, but don’t like what she gives them.

Amelia Armande’s play shows how the voices challenge the writer’s position, until she is finally forced to confront the reason for her writer’s block.