Acting in a foreign language play – why it’s one of the best ways to improve your language skills

(None of the photos included in this post are my own)

As I mentioned in my blog about joining clubs on your year abroad, whilst studying in Forli I decided to join the group SsenzaLimiti. SsenzaLimiti are a theatre group in the University of Bologna who hold many different foreign language theatre groups for language learners or natives to get together and create a performance. The actual performances themselves are a 4 day extravaganza of 3 different shows every evening where each different group shows the play that they’ve been working on, most of which have Italian subtitles.

I first heard about the group in the welcome meeting during my second week in Forli. As soon as Cristiano – one of the leaders of the group – gave the presentation, it sparked an interest for me. I’d been really missing playing with the various groups in the musicians society in Swansea and this would be the perfect opportunity to get me back on the stage. I emailed the leader of the L2 Italiano group, which is the group for learners of Italian (not natives), who got back in contact with me quickly. We met in her office and she explained to me that, because they’d been practicing for the play since November, and I’d only arrived in February, there was only a small speaking role left, but that I could also help with the scenery. I was perfectly happy with this because it was an opportunity to practice my Italian out of the classroom, so off I went to my first rehearsal.

Before I carry on with the story, I’ll give you a VERY quick summary of the play (we don’t want to be here all day). A princess moves from Switzerland to Forli, falls in love with a journalist who writes a story about her, she gets mad, he begs for her forgiveness and it all ends happily ever after!

Anyway, where was I… I was very nervous and consequently arrived 20 minutes early, which by the way is unheard of in Italy: on time is early and 10 minutes late is on time – you get used to it. I learnt that my role would be “secretary” which was a non-speaking role, and “journalist” in the last scene which was a press conference. Over time, we added more parts to my role, such as taking a drinks order for my boss and bringing her a chair. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but as the saying goes, there are no small parts, only small actors!

During the rehearsals, obviously we had gaps, where I took the opportunity to practice not only my Italian but also my Spanish, because there were 5 Spanish people in the group. It did get confusing at times to know which language I was speaking, but if I’ve learnt one thing it’s that you should always try and people will understand you and help you!

Being able to practice my Italian outside of a formal lesson setting was so useful, even more useful that everyone was learning Italian (albeit most were better than me!), and that no one spoke to me in English! I learnt lots of colloquial phrases, things that you use in actual conversation rather than things that you use in an oral exam.

I also learnt a lot about Italian theatre, and how it’s so much different to English theatre. Some observations I made are: the actors must not wear purple because it brings bad luck, and the audience react very differently in that they’re not afraid to really interact with the show. In England it’s common to clap at the right times and not break the performance up with laughter as it’s seen as “disrespectful”. It surprised me that Italians weren’t afraid to clap, whistle, shout and laugh when they enjoyed what they were experiencing, but it gave me even more adrenaline to carry on because I knew that everyone was enjoying what I was doing.

Phew, this has been a long one hasn’t it! I’ve enjoyed this experience so much because not only has it helped my language learning, but it’s been a great stress reliever through exam season.

Rebeka