On Monday 30th June 2014, nearly 200 children from primary schools across the Barnstaple Learning Community gathered in the Park Community School Hall for ‘Le Bistro de Dan Roro’, by the one man ‘Compagnie Tête- à- Tête’. The audience was entertained for 75 minutes by the fast moving and humorous production. It centred around Dan, an eccentric café owner who invited all to join him in preparing his bistro for opening. This included cleaning the floors and windows (it was probably the first time many of the audience had seen juggling with cloths), laying the table (clever plate spinning including balancing a spinning ball on top of a pole), preparing the meals (everything on the meal seemed to be omelettes – it’s amazing how much fun can be had with eggs) and previewing the entertainment (we met a delightful character called René who captivated the audience with his cute smile and witty dialogue).
The production was almost entirely in French and there were opportunities for the audience to join in. At the end of the show the children left having been taught a lot of new words and expressions thoroughly entertained and hopefully more confident and enthusiastic about the language. In the words of Dan it was ‘sympa!’
