Standby, Stage Left. And... action!
Early learners or fluent speakers alike, this annual festival offers a fun opportunity to put your language skills into practice outside of the classroom. From the first read-through to the final dress rehearsal, this is more than a language exercise. It is a creative and collaborative project that turns the Sheffield Drama Studio into a joyful hub of multilingual theatre.
This year’s programme promises a diverse range of performances, from a Show! gone wrong, a clash between French history and British téléréalité, to a playful take on a classic fairytale.
Each evening is a standalone celebration of a specific language, showcasing the talent of our students on and off the stage. From acting, light and sound design, sets, props and costumes, promotion or front of house, there is a wealth of opportunity to get involved and develop new skills.
You are warmly invited to come and see the result!
This year's Programme
French: Liberté. Egalité. Téléréalité
For the first time ever, the French students have been unleashed on 38 Mappin Street. What follows is a completely unnecessary but deeply disturbing collision between French history and British television: I’m a Celebrity, The Chase, Take Me Out, Horrible Histories, a David Attenborough documentary, The Apprentice, Love Island, Come Dine With Me and The Traitors all suffer the consequences. Napoleon tries to outwit a quizmaster, politicians look for romance under studio lighting, traitors and faithful turn on each other with academic vendettas, and a very British teacher explains “French slang”. Grammar is mauled, history is abused, and absolutely no one leaves with their dignity intact!
- Venue: 38 Mappin Street, Work Room 3
- Date: Monday 16 March 2026
- Time: Doors at 7pm, performance at 7:30pm
- (Free) Tickets: Book your place here.
German: RAPUNZEL
- Venue: Sheffield Drama Studio, Shearwood Road, S10 2TD
- Date: Monday 23 March 2026
- Time: Doors at 7pm, performance at 7:30pm
- Tickets: coming soon!
Dutch: DE SHOW!
Hopsakee, de beuk erin! The Dutch Society play invades the Drama Studio for the fifth time: bolder, and more mischievous than ever.
Welcome to "De Show!" A bilingual theatrical experience blending Dutch and English into its most comedic form. The performance promises a tantalising combination of classical fairy tales and self-aware comedy, overshadowed by the corrupting glitter of gold.
Written by students of Dutch and their tutors, and featuring poems by Dutch poet Pim Lammers, this year’s production continues our tradition of original student theatre — playful, intelligent, and chaotic in all the right ways.
- Venue: Sheffield Drama Studio, Shearwood Road
- Date: 26 March 2026
- Time: Doors at 7pm, performance at 7:30pm.
- Tickets: Get Your Ticket! – NV Toneelstuk 2026 - De Show! – University Drama Studio
- Making Of: Week 1
This week we officially started rehearsals for De show!, turning our modest classroom into a fun-filled theatre!
Our wonderful cast of actors brought our emerging script to life, learning lots of new Dutch words and phrases along the way. We were lucky to have the help of our fabulous tutors who encouraged us to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, to experiment with performance techniques, and to work on expression and projection (sorry to any neighbouring classes...).
Looking forward, I can tell this play is going to be fantastic and I am particularly excited to see how Lena's Strictly Come Dancing choreography will turn out! More to come next week!
Groetjes van Kat!- Making of: Week 2
The Nederlandse Vereniging has been hard at work this week rehearsing for the play, with just a month to go! We went over a couple of scenes from near the start of the play, including one very dramatic entrance from some very special guests and one very fairytale character - you'll have to come along to see who that is!
Filip has been helping us to develop our acting skills and everyone's confidence is growing week by week which is very good to see. Yeti has also been at rehearsals, making suggestions and taking some lovely photos of the rehearsals which you can check out on the Dutch at Sheffield instagram page! Lydia has turned the Study Space on JW Floor 3 into a set building atelier. Do pop in to have a look and a chat.
It's been another excellent week for our company, and we're excited to see where the play will go next! Tot volgende week!
Kat
