Good news from Glasgow, which not only has a public lighting strategy but a convener who can speak French, which doubtless comes in useful when enjoying well-earned meetings in foreign districts where the illumination is of revolutionary hue:

GLASGOW councillors are to get French lessons to help them cope with formal visits across the Channel. The members, who will also use their new skills to welcome French visitors to the city, are to be taught the language as part of a nine-week pilot scheme costing £3400… Allan Stewart, convener of Glasgow City Council’s public lighting strategy, suggested the classes after finding French was used at overseas lighting conferences. He said it was “vital” that councillors had language skills for trips abroad.

Sez the surreptitously seguing Scotsman:

Beckett himself was of course effectively French [and the film Comédie] is pretty uncompromising even by his austere standards. There are three characters in large pots. Just their heads show. The light shifts from one to the other as they speak and the camera moves, but that is all. There is no other action, no scope for performance other than the lines they speak; or, at least, they are speaking lines and Beckett evidently did write a play, but when it was performed he instructed the actors to speak as fast as they could so that what they said should be unintelligible.

Maybe Glasgow shouldn’t bother with those lessons after all.

Tags: French
Categories: Languages, Theatre

RSS: post comments, blog comments, blog posts

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.