Maiween and Marie-Yvonne are billed as the last two bigoudènes of their region, and they are fighting over the right to carry l’esprit bigouden to the ONU. The Comédie du Finistère sets the quarrel on the small port of Guilvinec, where the pair feed Kouign-Amann to the gulls. It gets settled by contests: the sturdiest crêpe, a Gavotte danced in the Fest-Noz, the biggest haul of bigorneaux. The company signs the result a comédie armoricaine.
Tag: comedy
Les Théâtrales du Kreiz Breizh
Eight shows travel three communes of the Kreiz Breizh: Gouarec, Rostrenen and St Gilles Pligeaux. The programme is théâtre populaire, open to the amateur companies of the region, and comédie holds a settled place in it. One session, Attroupons-nous, hands a salle des fêtes to troupes of the Centre-Bretagne, who introduce themselves or play an extract of a creation in progress. Every aesthetic and every language is welcome there, at any stage.
Hop ad hoc: Musée Breton and Kernault Theatre Tours
The actresses of Hop ad hoc take the architecture of the Musée Breton and Manoir de Kernault as their starting point. Their theatrical visits reinterpret the buildings with humour, breaking with the format of a conventional guided tour. The programme links both heritage sites, inviting participants to begin at one and continue the experience at the other.
Parler Pointu — Hélène François & Benjamin Tholozan
Benjamin Tholozan recalls learning to erase his southern accent in Parler pointu. Personal storytelling and a gallery of characters examine why some ways of speaking are associated with success and legitimacy. Co-written with Hélène François, who also directs, the play combines linguistic inquiry with comedy and music by Brice Ormain.
Vaille que vaille at Savigny
The Sans Attendre collective revisits the Copiaus troupe in Vaille que vaille, a cabaret commissioned by Maison Jacques Copeau. Actors and comic mischief bring this chapter of Burgundy’s theatre history into the performance. The package pairs the show with estate wine and a regional meal of Cîteaux and Comté gougères, roast pork and apple tart.
L’HippoCampe: Cabaret des animaux
L’HippoCampe arrives as a travelling theatre drawn by Breton draft horses, carrying a cabaret troupe of actors, circus artists and musicians. Le cabaret des animaux à fleur de peau turns Jean de La Fontaine’s fox, crow, frog, donkey, ant and cicada into comic mirrors of human impulses. Songs, clowning and live music give the fables an irreverent family form, while the horse-drawn stage keeps spectacle and Breton equestrian know-how connected.
Thomas Piet: Koala
Thomas Piet takes apart the lessons in masculinity that follow a boy into adulthood in Koala. His solo show combines comedy and songs while confronting the pressure to hide emotion, reject one’s body and perform virility. Staged by Stéphane Corbin, the Clermont-Ferrand performance explores consent, vulnerability and the possibility of making peace with oneself.
David Sun: Titi
With three medical qualifications behind him, David Sun weighs a medical career against a life on stage in Titi. A breakup leads him towards CrossFit, personal development and comedy, turning a change of direction into the material for his first show. Sun writes and performs the solo comedy in Clermont-Ferrand, directed by Victor Ohmer.
Ariane Brodier: Bonne
In Bonne, Ariane Brodier takes apart the demands placed on women, from the dutiful mother and loyal friend to the person expected to do everything. She draws on her own contradictions and experiences, using self-mockery to question the pressure to be good in every role. Kevin Levy directs this solo comedy in Clermont-Ferrand, co-written by Brodier and Vincent Leroy.
Gaetan Delferiere: Special
Gaëtan Delférière turns memories of being left out at school into Spécial, a solo comedy performed in Clermont-Ferrand. He builds his outsider persona around a mixed Belgian and French background, geek culture and the experience of never fitting in. Dark humour and absurdity shape his comic revenge on behalf of the children pushed to the margins of the playground.