More than 200 students of I Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Bolesławiec watched an exceptional performance of “The History of England” on Tuesday, 25 September. It was presented—in the language of Shakespeare, of course—by Olga Kukuła and David Fisher from the touring theatre The Bear (in English, bear).
The actors came to I Liceum Ogólnokształcące at the initiative of Katarzyna Cieślak-Ostrowska, an English teacher. “I had the opportunity to see this theatre’s performance during the international IATEFL Poland [Stowarzyszenia Nauczycieli Języka Angielskiego w Polsce – przyp. „ii”] conference, which was held in Wrocław,” the English teacher recounts. “Three actors, including Olga and David, presented ‘The Bear’ by Anton Chekhov at the time. I liked the performance very much. I thought then that we should invite them to our school.”
The Bear was founded 10 years ago in Prague, Czech Republic. It was established by Englishman David Fisher, an English teacher who decided to use elements of theatre in teaching. The first performance he prepared was… “The Bear”, based on Chekhov’s one-act play. The performance was very well received by audiences. Interest in the theatre grew year by year. Fisher began writing and successfully staging his own plays.
“Our theatre is international in composition. As a result, our audiences can hear different accents,” Olga Kukuła, a Polish woman who joined the Prague troupe three years ago, says with a smile. “The team consists of about 10 people. We perform, among other places, in France, Slovakia, Germany and Austria, and for the past two years we have also travelled throughout almost all of Poland.”
The Bear is an educational theatre, which absolutely does not mean that its performances are boring and overloaded with didacticism. “Our repertoire includes performances devoted to grammatical topics, but we present them in a somewhat exaggerated, comic-book style,” Kukuła explains. “We use irony, there is plenty of English humour and cabaret elements.”
What is more, the Czech Bear focuses on interaction with the audience. The students of I Liceum Ogólnokształcące had a great time at the performance devoted to the history of England, answered the actors’ questions without difficulty and also… took part in a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, in which King Harold II was killed after being struck in the eye by an arrow (played by Olga Kukuła). “Every form of students’ interaction with a foreign language is desirable,” stresses Katarzyna Żak, deputy head of the school. “At I Liceum Ogólnokształcące, we try to ensure that our students have contact with a foreign language not only during lessons.”
There is a good chance that the theatre will visit Bolesławiec again soon. “I would like the actors to present Chekhov’s ‘The Bear’ here as well,” says Katarzyna Cieślak-Ostrowska.
(information: ii)