FR CC - Quand viendra la vague, Alice Zeniter (2019)

First, the students read and study Alice Zeniter's play ‘Quand viendra la vague’, created in 2019. Alice Zeniter is a French author, playwright and actress, who has written a large number of novels and essays on moving topical issues. This play is a philosophical and ecological fable : threatened by rising global waters, a couple take refuge at the top of a mountain. On their rocky outcrop, they love each other and tear each other apart, in the image of our society : they wait for the wave, for the arrival of climate refugees, for salvation, for death, for love... In this waiting, both realistic and absurd, the island becomes an allegory of our planet and a dreamlike story of the attempt to save the whole of humanity. What's left and who's left to save? It's a question of saving the human race in a world doomed to drown under the withdrawal of identity, the privatisation of space and even of water. The wave here refers not only to water and ecological catastrophe, but resonates with all the waves of history (ideological waves, waves of populations, populist waves, waves of conflict, waves of the soul). The aim of this text is to proclaim that it is only the desire for others, for meetings and for the collective that keeps us alive, and that on our own we are doomed to shipwreck. During the analysis of the play, students are asked to work in groups of 2 or 3 on a specific scene and to produce a poster in English based on the following instructions : draw a symbolic object from the scene ; reword the message of the scene in 1 sentence ; identify 5 key words and justify their choice ; propose a setting for the scene : 5 justified elements (set, props, costumes, sound/music, light, gestures, movements, tones, etc.).

In groups, the students create their poster in English based on a scene from the play. Each group then presents its poster to the class, in the order of the play, in French and/or English. This activity is stimulating because students are invited to read and learn by working independently, exchanging ideas and reaching agreement, using their creativity and imagination and sharing tasks (drawing, writing in English, speaking in their mother tongue, speaking in a foreign language).

Instructions

1- Create a poster in English
- Title of the work, name of the author, painting
- Draw a symbolic object from the scene
- Restate the message of the painting (1 sentence)
- Identify 5 key words and justify their choice
- Proposed staging: 5 justified elements (set, props, costumes, sound/music, lighting, gestures, movements, tones, etc.)

2- Present the poster in French