On Wednesday, December 11, the twelfth grade English class Poetry to Plays took a field trip to The Rep’s performance of Pride & Prejudice. The course centers on the relationship between literary works and performance, so the students spend time reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses and then juxtaposing the source text against Roger Vadim’s 1960 film by the same name, Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons and Roger Kumble’s Cruel Intentions.
Amarah Friedman ’20 said, «I really love my Poetry to Plays class; I’m learning new insights about not only how literature can be interpreted when it changes forms but also how our communication styles are impacted by presentation. I had a great time with my class at Pride and Prejudice, and I enjoyed seeing our class discussions about adaptation come to life on the stage.»
Another unit looks at Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Romeo & Juliet through the lens of John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love. As these students studied Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice in the tenth grade, The Rep’s performance was a fun and fast way of introducing another work and companion piece into the conversation. English Teacher Mr. Tex Tourais said, «Ultimately, the students will be asked to produce their own adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses that comments on the ways in which we communicate today, so the more examples of adaptations we can fall back, the better.»
Max Tourais ’30 tagged along on the field trip, since his father teaches the class. That’s him in the front of the picture!