D1047 - Archive of Les Marottes French Dramatic Society - 1955-2001
Contains items relating to Les Marottes productions, including ephemera, production notes, sign up sheets, video recordings, audio reel to reel cassette recordings, photographs, costume designs, props, correspondence, committee minutes and details of accounts.
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| Physical Description: | 29 subfonds: 8 boxes; some oversize items. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Contains items relating to Les Marottes productions, including ephemera, production notes, sign up sheets, video recordings, audio reel to reel cassette recordings, photographs, costume designs, props, correspondence, committee minutes and details of accounts. |
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| Date: | 1955-2001 |
| Reference Number: | D1047 |
| Biographical/Administrative Information: | Until the late 1990s, the annual French play was a University institution. The University of Liverpool's French Dramatic Society performed from the early 1950s onwards, with the name 'Les Marottes' being adopted by the society in the mid 1970s. The name of the society was a pun to flatter the then Professor of French, Claus Mayer, who was a specialist on the French poet Clément Marot, as well as a director and actor. Guy Snaith was the company's producer and director from 1982-1997, and was associated with Les Marottes from 1980. Over the years, plays were performed in the Arts Theatre of the Victoria Building, the Neptune Theatre, the Catholic Chaplaincy and later the Eleanor Rathbone Theatre. Performances were particularly popular with A-level French Students (as the syllabus incorporated French literature), with productions of A-level texts giving sold-out performances to school parties coming from as far afield as Birmingham, Yorkshire, and Cumbria. |