Category: centre-val-de-loire

Les 2 Lucioles, a professional theatre company, turns George Sand’s correspondence into a staged reading. The chosen letters pass between the novelist and Musset, Michel de Bourges, Maurice Sand, Victor Hugo and Flaubert. The reading treats that correspondence as her major work, ahead of La Mare au Diable, Indiana and La petite Fadette. Berry is marking 150 years since the death of its Berrichonne writer, and Moulins-sur-Céphons takes its turn.

Thirty posters line the Belvédère on Place Cujas, one for every edition of the Bourges comics festival. The 29 artists who signed them make the wall a graphic history of the event. One rule bound every contributor: each poster had to work in some element of the Saint-Étienne cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The sheets show how the festival’s drawn identity moved from hand to hand.

The Comité du Cher des Amis de l’Humanité fills the Maison de la Culture in Bourges for a day on George Sand the political thinker. Her pages on la République, women’s rights, education and ecology are taken theme by theme and weighed against the present. Michelle Perrot, Marie-George Buffet, Jean-Christophe Rufin, Brigitte Krulic and Éric Lenoir speak, under Muriel Steinmetz, of L’Humanité. Admission to the salle Pina Bausch is free; book ahead.

Sandie Chapiseau leads a nocturnal storytelling walk through Chartres. Dressed as a witch, she shares Beauce legends passed down through generations. The route follows the city’s narrow streets and the banks of the Eure. Mischievous devils, talking animals and buried treasures populate the tales. These popular stories bring the region’s oral traditions into the streets of Chartres.

The Foire aux Vins de France brings winemakers from across France to Saint-Satur for tastings and direct sales. More than 50 appellations are represented. The Sancerre selection includes Domaine des Buissonnes from Sury-en-Vaux and Domaine Guérin from Vinon. Spirits and cider join the wines, while the food stands include Crottins de Chavignol from Ferme du Feulard.

L’Escadron Volant de la Reine brings its Concerts Ô Marché series to the Salle des colonnes in Nogent-le-Rotrou. La Tarte à Timbre! gives this baroque programme its title. Viol, violin, double bass and guitar are among the instruments announced for the series. The free half-hour format is part of the ensemble’s regular local concert activity. The group also organises Les SuPercheries across the Perche.

A lecture in Bléré examines the Touraine countryside in the Gallic and Roman periods. Jean-Marie Laruaz, an archaeologist, presents findings from preventive archaeology in Indre-et-Loire. Dozens of rural sites provide material for studying patterns of land use. Recent excavations at Bléré and Autrèche give two concrete examples, connecting the department’s archaeological research with the history of its countryside.

Les Maîtres Sonneurs becomes an illustrated musical reading at Théâtre Maurice Sand in La Châtre. Géraldine Gallois adapts George Sand’s novel and composes its music. Olivier Chéné supplies the illustrations, while Manu Tourny plays Centre-France bagpipes. Tiennet, Joseph and Brulette inhabit a peasant world shaped by work and popular dances. The production pays tribute to Sand and traditional music.

Claire Le Guillou examines George Sand’s celebrity in a literary conference at Le Blanc. The historian of literature considers the controversy, admiration and fascination surrounding the writer. Sand’s status as a celebrated woman of letters is traced through examples from her lifetime. The talk looks at the media excitement that made the Berry author an exceptional public figure.

Canton de Lamotte-Beuvron d’Hier à Aujourd’hui traces a rural landscape through photography. The Club Photo-Lamottois returns to the same places and recreates the original compositions. Participants of all ages pose in these new photographic tableaux. In Chaon, the Amis de la Maison du Braconnage host a comparison of the canton’s earlier views and present-day scenes.