Like every month, “Le Point” helps you make your choice from the multitude of pieces on display.
Love tragedy or musical comedy? Historical drama or theatrical lecture? The parts you recommend The Point at the end of spring are, to say the least, eclectic.
âœâœâœâœâœ
Love to death
This is probably Pascal Rambert’s greatest piece to date. Created at the Avignon Festival in 2011, Fence of love has enjoyed, since that date, exceptional international influence. Translated into around thirty languages, it is currently performed on four continents. It must be said that she speaks about a universal subject: the disintegration of a couple.
If the subject has nothing original, the writing of this text is crazy radical. The play takes the form of two long monologues which follow one another, offering two contradictory versions of the story that a man and a woman have just experienced. It is nothing less than the killing of their love that we are witnessing. The strength of this show lies in the raw expression of violence which will surge between the two characters.
For two hours, language becomes a sharp weapon. Words no longer serve to express tenderness or affection but to hurt and break fraying bonds. In rage, each seems to want to ransack the other’s territory. The performers, Audrey Bonnet and Stanislas Nordey, deliver an impressive performance here, inhabiting their characters even in the most chilling silences.
Théâtre de l’Atelier, 1 place Charles Dullin (Paris 18e), from May 16 to June 14.
« Nage libre » âœâœâœâœ
Three women against Hitler
Rachel, Hannah and Esther are former Austrian swimming champions. In 1936, they refused to participate in the Berlin Olympic Games, which resulted in them being stripped of their sporting titles and sentenced to exile. Six decades later, they meet again during an official ceremony organized in Vienna.
Rachel now lives in New York, Hannah in Buenos Aires and Esther in Tel Aviv. Their reunion will be explosive. Inspired by the (true) story of Ruth Langer, Judith Deutsch and Lucie Goldner, the play Freestyle swimming, Written and directed by Lisa Wurmser, pays a vibrant tribute to these three women, masterfully played by Francine Bergé, Flore Lefebvre des Noëttes and Bernadette Le Saché opposite an impeccable Nicolas Struve in his role as an old café waiter and then a Viennese official.
The show, punctuated by musical interludes composed by Éric Slabiak, co-founder of the group Black Eyesreserves beautiful moments of emotion. Despite a minimalist decor – a table, a large curtain at the back of the stage which serves as a projection screen for archive images and three tiled podiums evoking the white walls of a swimming pool – it is a large room.
At Studio Hébertot, 78 bis, boulevard des Batignolles (Paris 17e), until May 31.
« Lights, lights, lights » âœâœâœâœ
Two powerful women
Loosely inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel, Towards the lighthouse (1927), this text by playwright Évelyne de la Chenelière explores only two characters. Two women from Victorian England, staying in a vast seaside residence where, every day, there is talk of a walk to the lighthouse. Two women who respect each other, talk constantly, but everything separates them.
One, Lily Briscoe, is a rebellious, independent and homosexual painter. The other, Madame Ramsay, is a docile wife, an outstanding mistress of the house and the happy mother of eight children. The cerebral Lily, lacking inspiration, tortures herself. While Madame Ramsay radiates a happiness that is only threatened by the passing of time: the children will grow up, leave her, they will also go to war.
Feminist fable, labyrinthine text revolving around the Great War and constantly going back and forth between the present, the future, the past, “Lights, lights, lights†is masterfully staged and carried by two wonderful actresses, Florence Viala and Aymeline Alix. We won’t soon forget Lily’s stubborn little face and Madame Ramsay’s radiant smile. Nor this invisible lighthouse whose visit, constantly postponed, perhaps evokes their impossible accomplishment.
At the Studio Théâtre, until June 28.
“The art of always being right” âœâœâœâœ
Funny conference
Two academics from the Interdisciplinary Research Group for Accession to Electoral Office (GIRAFE) claim to have found an infallible way to allow politicians to win the votes of their fellow citizens. They present this recipe as part of a false conference, in the form of a nod to Schopenhauer’s book, published in 1864, which gives its title to this piece.
The text by Sébastien Valignat and Logan de Carvalho cleverly dissects the sociological concepts that communicators use to impose the discourse of their foes (Overton window, false consensus bias, triangulation technique). Comedians Maïa Le Fourn and David Guez say it with the right amount of scathing irony so that the marketing strategies of our leaders make us laugh (where they could make us cry). A theatrical experience as intelligent as it is entertaining.
At the Tristan Bernard theater, 64 rue du Rocher (Paris 8e), until May 30.
“Heritage Music” âœâœâœ
The melodies of life
As in “the soundtrack of our lives” by Eugénie Ravon and Kevin Keiss where five women from different generations made us listen to the songs that punctuated the great moments of their existence, Ludmilla Dabo’s new creation subtly combines music and theater. On stage, the actress-singer, also director, invites five actors and musicians who help us discover their story by alternating spoken and hummed monologues.
In a candlelight vigil atmosphere, Ludmilla Dabo gives us touching secrets about her mother and grandmother, who came from Cameroon. And introduces the public to a whole section of bassa music. The singer Kaloune tells us about her childhood rocked by servis kabaré, a magical-religious practice used by Reunionese families to pay tribute to their deceased. Anthony Capelli, David Lescot’s friend, recalls the family meals of his youth, during which his family of Italian origin explored a repertoire evoking, implicitly, the trajectory of peasants from the south of the Peninsula, who came to try their luck in France.
The jazzman Louis Jeffroy, alias Lou Sakay, summons moving memories of his Breton grandparents who put him to sleep by whispering lullabies that were sometimes disturbing. Gilles Normand explains to us how, raised by Wagner lovers (listening to Nibelungen et Tristan et Yseut), he came to join the child star group of the 70s: the Poppies. Finally, Élise Vigier reveals the story of her mother, founder of the Café de la danse. Each sung interlude demonstrates the extraordinary evocative power of music.
*At the Théâtre de la Tempête, Cartoucherie du bois de Vincennes – Route du Champ-de-ManÅ“uvre (Paris 12e), until May 24.
« Bollywood Boulevard » âœâœâœâœâœ
India in the body
Bollywood Boulevard stands out as one of the great surprises of the season. At the age of 20, Pauline Caupenne decides to go to India alone with, in her luggage, more questions than certainties. It is this intimate quest, as comical as it is melancholic, which comes to life on stage before our amused eyes.
If the device is minimal, the imagination abounds. A few fabrics, archive images, songs, Indian dance steps: it doesn’t take much to bring out Chennai, the sets of Telugu cinema, the colorful figures encountered during filming, and above all the confusion of a young woman confronted with her own projections. Because this is one of the great successes of the show: never giving in to easy exoticism. Pauline Caupenne tells the story of India without reducing it to a setting, and questions her own Western perspective with salutary lucidity.
Under a precise and sensitive staging, the actress deploys an impressive range of acting. In a gesture, an inflection, a rhythm, she gives birth to a multitude of characters, moving from humor to emotion. Behind the brilliance of the title, universal subjects emerge – the condition of women, mourning, the quest for identity, disillusionment too. With this first solo performance, Pauline Caupenne creates a show of rare delicacy, at the crossroads of an intimate story and a poem visual.
At the Lepic theater, 1 avenue Junot (Paris 18e), Sundays May 17 and 24 at 5 p.m. Then at the Théâtre des Gémeaux Parisiens, 15 rue du Retrait (Paris 20e): May 27 and 29, at 7 p.m. and June 1 and 3 at 9 p.m.
How to decipher the stars of Point ?
✩✩✩✩✩: null; âœ: bad; âœâœ: medium; âœâœâœ: good; âœâœâœâœ: excellent; âœâœâœâœâœ: exceptional.
/2026/06/09/6a27c753977b8047974741.jpg "Malgré les protestations, le Mexique promet une cérémonie douverture de la Coupe du monde de football dans la paix")
