By Joe Cummings
Celebrating diversity among Manchester’s student masses, the current Palaver Theatre Festival, taking place this week, will draw to a close tomorrow night.
Students from the University are staging plays in Hebrew, Arabic, French and German.
The University of Manchester’s School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, present the festival in conjunction with the Contact Theatre.
Now in its fifth year, Palaver was created to bring together the rich variety of experiences and ideas within the University’s language schools and societies.
Organiser of the Palaver festival, Thomas Despositos, said: “Palaver is going from strength to strength and we are delighted to be entering our fifth year.
“Who would have thought five years ago that Palaver would turn out to be such a success.”
The University of Manchester boasts students from over 180 countries.
German Studies’ students will perform the dark comedy ‘King Kongs Töchter’, by Theresia Walser, a black comedy about the issues of death and ones place in society.
French studies students will perform ‘Edgar et sa bonne’, the satire of money, class and sexual politics by Eugene Labiche.
Middle Eastern Studies Arabic and Hebrew students present ‘The Stalker’ by Ruti Worrall, a play focusing on Jewish-Arab conflicts, performing in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Mr Despositos went on to say: “If variety is the spice of life, then we think the University, with students from over 180 countries, is the place to be, and this is a wonderful illustration of that.”
The Contact Theatre, on Oxford Road, describes itself as a young people’s theatre, where those who become involved can grow and learn as a young artist, audience member, organiser or leader.
The festival is supported by the Goethe Institute, the German cultural institution.
Throughout the week, there will be musical events as well the theatrical performances.
Tickets are available from www.contact-theatre.org , or call 0161 274 0600.
