Since its inception in 2018, the Nice City Council has been organizing “Les Compagnies sur le Pont”. The Francis-Gag theater will welcome two troupes on June 6 and 7, 2024, who will present their shows before heading to the Avignon Festival Off.
While waiting for the Avignon Festival Off, Nice’s theater troupes are preparing in front of their audience. Among them, Les Collectionneurs and Ah Le Zèbre! will perform their plays as part of the event “Les Compagnies sur le Pont” at the Francis-Gag theater.
Engaging the Audience
That is the goal of the troupe Les Collectionneurs with their play “Théâtre à la carte, dégustation de scènes”. Julien Nacache, Louis-Aubry Longeray, and Lola Letarouilly invite the audience to choose the excerpts of plays they wish to see performed. To do so, Louis-Aubry Longeray explains: “We seat the audience for 20 minutes as if they were going to a real restaurant. The menu is available for everyone, and to help them choose, we give a brief summary—it could be a phrase or a few lines—to give an idea of what the play is about.”
Thus, a wide range of themes is highlighted, from love to conflict, and even children’s shows. In total, no less than 18 different play excerpts are offered. This allows for 149 possible combinations. Everything is presented as a restaurant menu with appetizers, main courses, the daily special, the children’s menu, the vaudeville platter, and dessert, hence the title of the play.
Each performance is therefore different from the previous one, reminiscent of the spontaneity at the heart of theater. “We wanted to borrow a bit from the stand-up codes while performing scenes from different genres, from 17th-century authors to 21st-century ones, for instance”. Although the show has already been performed, a whole new menu is presented for “Les Compagnies sur le Pont” and the festival.
For more information: Ticket link
- June 6, 2024, from 8:00 PM to 9:10 PM
A Play of the Times
In a different genre, the company Ah Le Zèbre! is presenting its already acclaimed play from last year, Le Mardi à Monoprix. The character of Thierry de Pina, Marie-Pierre, takes care of her widowed father in the neighborhood where she grew up. Every Tuesday, they go shopping at Monoprix to feed the father until the following week. For Thierry de Pina, it is above all “The story of a father and a daughter who do not understand each other.”
Alone on stage for an hour, he performs in a moving piece addressing the issue of transidentity and public perception. “When you watch the play, you see a woman who is suffering. Through very human writing, the view on transidentity changes as you see she is suffering from a lack of acceptance, especially from her father who continues to call her Jean-Pierre,” confides Thierry de Pina.
The play will then be followed by a debate with the association Trans’action and the family planning organization 06. The actor also pointed out that all proceeds from that evening will be donated to family planning.
For more information: Ticket link
- June 7, 2024, from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Preparing for the Avignon Festival Off
In total, there are ten Nice-based companies present in Avignon from June 29 to July 21. You can find:
- Les Collectionneurs
- Ah le Zèbre!
- Cacho Fio!
- Ziri Ziri
- L’Albatros et L’Éléphant
- Collectif 8
- La Compagnie Humaine
- Collectif Femmes en Scènes
- Compagnie Miranda
- Compagnie Gorgomar
