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famous French actors: Christian Clavier and Thierry Lhermitte. Getting started Launching Tamise en Scène was a progressive process. It took about three months from the moment we decided to set up a drama company to the launch of our website, while promoting Futur Conditionnel. During that time we choose the name, defined our goals and the philosophy behind the organisation, and registered with Companies House. We were originally a group of five: four actors and a drama director. Each of us had different tasks, but it was a very collaborative process. Tamise en Scène is a free organisation with a common goal of sharing French culture and promoting French artists in London. We plan theatre and musical projects around this aim. Our second production was a partnership with Les Fauristes, a French choir directed by Blandine de Raulin. We continue to share our skills and networks to enable us to reach more 10 The Linguist FEBRUARY/MARCH www.iol.org.uk FEATURES Léonore Saintville on the appeal of the French drama company she set up in the UK with a group of friends I t all started in 2008. Marie-Camille Schweizer gathered some friends for an after-work drama workshop in French. We were all young professionals working in the corporate world in London, and we wanted to have a different experience one evening a week. Our drama teacher, Victoria Cassimo, soon suggested directing us in Old Saybrook by Woody Allen. This was to be our first show in London, and we performed it in French. It was an amazing experience that we wanted to repeat, but Victoria had other commitments and could no longer work with us. So we decided to create our own company. A few months later, Marie-Camille, Nicolas Soum, Emmanuel Clement-Wilz and I founded Tamise en Scène. Our first production, directed by Diane Murat, was Futur Conditionnel, a French comedy about the Parisian bobos (or 'bourgeois Bohemians'). More than 1,000 people saw it and we received excellent reviews. London has the sixth largest French population of any city in the world – about 350,000 French people live here – yet there have been few French drama companies in the city. Today, the companies that exist are relatively small, producing two or three shows a year. The Institut Français provides lots of events, especially through the Ciné Lumière, but their focus is not on theatre. For anybody raised in the language of Molière, it is a special moment when you can experience theatre in your mother tongue and speak about the play in French with your friends. There is a special bond; you get the joke in your language. Quickly, we realised the potential of a dramatic and artistic organisation for the French community in London. The wide gap in the French cultural market at the time, coupled with our passion for theatre Théâtre à Londres as well as the great professionals we worked with, enabled us to make Tamise en Scène a success. We believe that the more French cultural events there are in London, the more people become aware of the vibrancy of French cultural life and the more they search out French events. Over the past few years, the offer of French cultural events has increased. Recently, Soho Theatre produced Address Unknown, directed by Steve Marmion, in French and English, with two London has the sixth largest French population of any city, yet there are few French drama companies