French Theatre Performance, SIGNÉ DUMAS

On Friday 29 March all year 10 and 12 French students watched a French play entitled Signé Dumas. Part of the HK French Theater Festival, Signé Dumas is a single scene in which takes place a complex and heated argument between Alexandre Dumas_ the celebrated author of such classics as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo_ and Auguste Maquet, his ghost-writer.

The argument arises out of the news of the abdication of King Louis-Philippe following the 1848 French Revolution and the establishment of France’s second Republic. Dumas is a loyalist whilst Maquet is a republican. Their opposite political views morph into a bitter, personal cruel argument. Humble, hardworking Maquet wants his work and contributions to be recognised whilst arrogant, larger-than-life Dumas belittles and humiliates him. The tables suddenly turn when Maquet threatens Dumas with a courtcase in which Dumas has everything to lose.

The play was a tour-de-force of acting. The students and Mesdames Le Goff and Tranter enjoyed it tremendously.