Home|News & Events|Sixth Form - King Alfred School|Bravo! Our French Drama Festival celebrates 10 years

Bravo! Our French Drama Festival celebrates 10 years

17th March 25

Three students sit around a table on stage. One reads a newspaper, one is writing, and one is reading a book and looking incredulously at the others

Young linguists used their French speaking skills to dramatic effect this month at the 10th installment of our French Drama Festival.

The annual event welcomes students from different schools, who perform an extract from a play in front of parents, fellow students and the all-important jury members – all in French.

Texts selected by participants from the 13 schools that took part this year ranged from turn-of-the-century vaudeville La Puce à l’Oreille to the script from the 2022 biographical film Chevalier.

With KAS’s Phoenix Theatre temporarily closed for renovation, the Arts Depot in Finchley played host to this year’s event.

The King Alfred School was represented by a group of Sixth Formers studying A level French. One student, Luella G (Year 12), was awarded Best Individual Spoken French – the tenth win for the school in as many years.

“We performed a piece from the French film La Rafle,” Luella shared. “It depicts the 1942 Velodrome Round-up in Paris, where over 13,000 Jews were arrested by French police and sent to concentration camps during World War Two.”

“We rehearsed a lot in the lead-up to the performance,” she added. “The whole experience has built our confidence for the spoken part of the A level exam.”

A full list of winners can be viewed below.

This year’s installment of the festival was extra special as the festival celebrated its 10th year. It was originally founded by KAS Modern Languages teacher Pauline Moloney in 2015.

Since then, the festival has gone from strength to strength, attracting sponsorship from organisations such as the Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association (ISMLA), French language school Lyon Bleu, La Fédération Wallonie–Bruxelles, and the French Institute. Nowadays, it is even on the radar of interview tutors at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Pauline travelled to London especially for this year’s festival, having moved back to her native France earlier this year after stepping down from her role of 17 years.

“Creating the French Drama Festival has been my proudest professional achievement in the UK,” she shared. “It has become a renowned event that schools and students look forward to every year.

“When I announced I was stepping down this year, the audience gave a standing ovation, which moved me to tears. It was a beautiful send-off.”

Happily, there are many more years of French Drama Festival ahead. Going forward, the Head of French at Tonbridge School will take the lead in organising it, assisted from afar by Pauline, who hopes to be on the jury next year.

Félicitations to everyone involved, especially Pauline for all her hard work in creating such a special event. Here’s to the next 10 years – and beyond!