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Theatre
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| Level |
Video clip |
Description |
| 7 |
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28-02. Our first extract from Au théâtre ce soir gives us the extra pleasure of seeing the great comic Fernand Raynaud on stage. In Auguste we open with an agent and his young and pretty would-be movie star. They have concocted a plot whereby she will throw herself in the Seine to be rescued by a famous Hollywood star. Unfortunately a bank clerk with a penchant for being helpful, gets there first... |
| 7 |
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28-02. Here is an excellent piece by André Roussin. A young woman sweeps into her clairvoyants room threatening to kill herself after the end of a love affair. Follows a magnificent solo by Elvire Popescu |
| 8 |
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07-03 A fast paced extract from Pour avoir Adrienne. I am not at all sure that you could even produce this play today - the sexual harassment which pleased the audience of the 1960s would be very unPC today. However, it makes an excellent transcription exercise. |
| 8 |
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07-03 The first 'classic' extract, which means
Molière. For the British, acquiring a taste
for Molière is not always easy. We grow up with the
great tragedies of Shakespeare. Molière brings
to perfection the brittle, witty comedy of moeurs of the end of the
18th century. We have the same epoque, that of Pope and Dryden, and the
style is similar...,
A man so various, that he seem’d to be
So I'm taking some extracts from a
documentary on Molière
broadcast by France Télévision. Great actors and
enthusiastic commentators - that always helps.
Text here
Audio only |
| 7 |
 |
13-03 This is from a 'two-hander'. The second play is Boubouroche, by Courteline, and the first Au travail a little play in which Sacha Guitry imagines Courteline at work (in the local bar) on his play. It's not hard, because the rhythm of this excellent monologue is very slow. However, the language is very sophisticated, so it is quite a difficult dictation exercise. I give my transcription below. Apologies for the errors which are no doubt plentiful. |
| 8 |
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13-03 This isn't a play. It is an extract from Kind hearts and Coronets, dubbed into French. The film is a favourite of mine, and I was delighted when Arte broadcast it. It's Edwardian, and the language is that of Punch magazine of the époque. Mannered, precise, academic. As always with classic films the French translators and dubbing actors take great pains over the French version. Here is the first encounter between Mazzini and Edith d'Ascogne, where Edith quotes Tennyson's Kind hearts are more than coronets / And simple faith than Norman blood. But they didn't take the hint and called it Noblesse Oblige. |
| 9 |
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21-03 Part II of Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Alec Guinness as the Rector of the country church. The perfect example of
over-educated aristocratic English imbecile. We have so many... I was so proud that I managed to decipher doucines foliacées et fleuronnées and then my ear let me down at the very end. Can any kind person fill the gap ? Text here Audio only |
| 6 |
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Chevallier and Laspalès are that rather rare thing in France, a comedy duo. They are witty and intelligent and always very funny. Here they are in a play, Le Banc that treats of the difficult relationship between two concert pianists who play piano four hands. It's a long extract and an excellent transcription exercise |
| 8 |
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12-06 A final extract from Kind Hearts and Coronets where Sibella
cruelly rejects our young hero.
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| 6 |
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Here is Eddy Mitchell and the gorgeous Cécile de France in Le temps de cérises - grumpy old artist collides with cool modern miss. A nice play and all honour to France Television for putting on stage plays from time time. |
| 8 |
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Here is Folie douce, a bright brittle play full of repartie |
| 8 |
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Most of us come to Molière via plays like Le bourgeois gentilhomme. To our ear they can sound like our Restoration comedy, the worst of English theatre. Vapid amusements for a king. But Molière is a taste worth acquiring. Here is Dom Juan, a text play, rather dark and quite magnificent |
| 5 |
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Feydeau is still immensely popular. Much more sophisticated than the British 'farce', the mixture of respectability and raffishness is always appealing. Sadly, in England at the same period we had the respectability but without the fun |
| 9 |
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I do so admire France Télévision's policy of broadcasting theatre plays live. Here is an extract from a real gem chosen by the summer festival of Avignon. A play by Victor Hugo, Angelo or the tyrant of Padua. |
| 2 |
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In his novel Oscar et la dame rose Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt succeeded in presenting the letters of a little boy dying in hospital of cancer, without being mawkish. The great French actress Danielle Darrieux made of the book a one-man theatre show, from which this extract is the beginning |
| 7 |
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An extract from Parle-moi d'amour with Michel Leeb. An excellent vehicle for the fine comic actor, but my goodness, one gets a little tired of the French love of representing the world of business as rapacious and cruel. So what's new ? It's a hard old world |
| 2 |
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One of France 2's wonderful monthly live theatre presentations, ADA, L'argent des autres came from Nice. With Michel Boujena and Alexandra Lamy (wife of Jean Dujardin), and this comedy is just sparkling. On the well-worn French theme of the evil financier, this is actually an American play, so it escapes from the Marxist rut. Here is a wonderful scene between the principal characters. (And the diction is clear as a bell) |
| 3 |
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Here is a nice Feydeau piece L'hôtel de libre échange, from the Au théâtre ce soir series with the excellent Jean Poirot, whose articulation is always precise. |
| 3 |
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Arte screened Chekhov's La Cerisaie. Apart from being a classic, it is interesting in having a very clear sound quality. Of course, on stage, those passages where the voice drops, speeds up, or where background noise interferes, become that much harder to follow. Not a great performance, but interesting |
| 5 |
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I won't repeat what I've said before about Molière. What helps us (anglophones brought up on Shakespeare) to appreciate him is this sort of excellent modern performance led by the comedy actor Christian Clavier. Here's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme |
| 7 |
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Christmas saw France 2 screen the new Comédie Française production of Molières l'Avare with Denis Podalydès playing a Harpagon who looked and behaved unsettlinglingly like Rowan Atkinson in Mr Bean. A modern production, it was not so easy to follow without the text. The text I offer here is therefore Molière's and not my transcription Text here Audio only |
| 8 |
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Douze hommes en colère is the French version of the play Twelve angry men by Reginald Rose, a very good piece, with Michel Leeb here playing the lead role. Now here is a strange thing. I watched the programme from start to finish, enjoyed it and thought what a good extract it would offer for this site. Not too difficult. However, when I started to transcribe it I realised just how often my ear had failed to pick up the detail. This demonstrated why merely watching a TV programme isn't enough. As long as we are following the sense, our brains seem to skip over the 'holes' and we think we're doing fine. Making your own transcription is the best exercise. |
| 9 |
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Sans mentir is a rather good modern piece by Xavier Daugreilh. However, I offer it as a fascinating listening exercise. It's the sort of sound quality - often found on televised stage productions - where the actors speak very clearly, but every so often the voice just drops below the level of comprehension, and no amount of replaying helps. In fact you will see that I have not transcribed the last minute - the scene with Cyril, where the background music makes life very difficult indeed. However, one can still pick up the gist |
| 7 |
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Thanks to the kind person who sent me a clip from Ils se sont aimés, which I shall hope to see on French TV in the future. Perfect for this site. It's very funny, the dialogue is crystal clear - but the speed of delivery makes for a quite severe comprehension test. |
| 3 |
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Art, by Yasmina Reza was shown on France 2, following the death of the actor Pierre Vaneck. It is in the surrealist mould, very funny, and very comprehensible |
| 8 |
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I found this a very difficult extract to transcribe Sentiments provisoires, by Gérald Aubert, is the type of surrealist, disconnected play where it is difficult to follow the action. The sound from the stage has the fuzzy quality caused by microphones too far from the actors. And of course, all that makes it a very good transcription exercise ! |
| 3 |
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Chevallier and Laspalès do excellent theatre shows. Here is Déviation obligatoire, half way between play and spectacle. The voices are clear, the sound production excellent. But we have to train the ear to the rapidity of the speech as well as the informal language. |
| 2 |
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Amélie Nothomb's first novel, Hygiène de l'assassin was made into a play. A strange writer, Nothomb, and this is a strange play. But it's one of the easiest theatre listening exercises I've come across |