BUTORDE! PENDARD! MARAUD! FRIPON! OISON BRIDÉ! BOUVIÈRE! CAROGNE! IMPERTINENT FIEFFÉ!

After The Misanthrope (1998), Poquelin (2003), and Poquelin II (2017), we present our fourth encounter with Molière at the Festival d’Avignon in July 2026: 1, 2, 3 Poquelin. For this, we have reworked Poquelin I and II. We are playing revised versions of elements from both productions with a partially new cast, and, while we’re at it, we’re also adding some new texts.

The performance will premiere on June 28th at the Lyon Amphitheatre, during Les Nuits de Fourvière. From July 13th to 25th, 1, 2, 3 Poquelin will be performed at La Carrière de Boulbon, at the Festival d’Avignon. The performance will be played outdoors at these two locations. An indoor stage version will tour France in the fall.

In this irresponsibly long and boisterous ode to theatre, you’ll see: Le Malade Imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), Le Médecin Malgré Lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself), L’Avare (The Miser), Le Mariage Forcé (The Forced Marriage), ‘posthumously published’ Les Égotistes (The Egotists), and a few other bits and things…

Paternalism, stupidity, infidelity, violence, suspicion, avarice, selfishness and possessiveness are guaranteed. In short, extraordinarily 2026…

Night has fallen in the West,

no morning star rises,

it is dark now, a Nightland –

In this performance, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Damiaan De Schrijver, and Frank Vercruyssen reunite on stage after a long time, alongside Roos De Graeve, Bert Haelvoet, and Scarlet Tummers.

Germany. Today. Nicola and Philipp, with their respective partners, are clearing out their recently deceased father’s house. When they find an old painting hidden in the attic, the fun begins. The tableau depicts a street scene from Vienna in the 1920s, painted by a certain… Adolf Hitler.

With unapologetic and relentless glee, Von Mayenburg plunges us into the swamp of beliefs, good intentions, and questionable reasoning in which we all desperately try to keep our heads above water…

In short.

An irresponsible comedy.

Or something like that.

A Nightland.

From December 3rd to 20th, we will present the French version of About Elly, our 2023 adaptation of the eponymous film by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, at the CDN (Centre Dramatique National) in Nanterre-Amandiers.

A company of eleven actors, from different generations and backgrounds—Iraqi, Iranian, Dutch, Belgian, and Afghan—will perform a play about doubt, friendship, honor, and betrayal.

Together with the team from the CDN Nanterre-Amandiers, we will also organize several side events centered on the work of Asghar Farhadi and TG STAN.

In collaboration with the University of Paris-Nanterre and La Sorbonne, we are organizing two workshops and a series of conversations before and after the performances in which we will discuss the relationship between the West and artistic production in the Arab and Persian worlds, not shying away from sensitive topics such as cultural appropriation and orientalism.

Khatoon Faroughi, a dramaturge from Tehran and currently a student at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (ENS), and Yassaman Khajehi, an Iranian lecturer and professor of theater studies at the University of Clermont-Auvergne, will be closely involved in this framework.

Asghar Farhadi himself will also be in Paris during in that period, where he is filming the final scenes of his latest film. He could not yet confirm whether he will have time to attend our performance or to have a conversation with the audience, but he has promised us that he will come if he can.

© Kurt Van Der Elst