Nikki

I am headed to Paris in March. I was wondering whether any of the resident Parisians or francophone visitors here have any ideas about plays they have enjoyed or heard good things about. I'm looking for theater in French to challenge my French listening skills.

I usually head to the Comedie Francaise but I don't see anything for my dates at the moment. I already have tickets to two plays: one at the Theatre du Rond Point, "Honneur a Norte Elue", by Marie NDiaye, and the other is "Cuisine et Dependances" by Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin.

I am willing to consider any genre, classic, contemporary, comedy, whatever. Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

kerouac

By March, there will be all sorts of new plays of interest available. In Paris, most things do not go on interminably like in London or on Broadway. (Yes, there are exceptions.)

Cuisine et Dépendances has been played often and is definitely a reliable thing to see.

The private theatres of Paris do have a website showing what is planned in March: http://www.theatresparisiensassocies...?month=2017-03

If I had to choose one spectacle on that list, it would be Fabrice Luchini at Théâtre Montparnasse. (page 2)

But I normally go to the subsidized theatres, which are not at all listed on that site.

Christina

It hasn't opened yet, so not sure what reviews will be, but they are doing "l'Etat de Siege" by Camus a the Espace Pierre Cardin in March (that's in the 8th arr). here's a summary of the play http://www.4-wall.com/authors/author...tate_siege.htm

And they are doing Un Amour IMpossible by Christine Angot at the Odeon in the 17th arr. location. It's rather intense, I think Le Monde liked it, which is where I read about it.

Here is a description of the book it was adapted from
http://www.albertine.com/staff-picks...ur-impossible/

see
http://www.theatre-odeon.eu/en/2016-...our-impossible

Nikki

Great ideas, thanks!

The Fabrice Luchini looked great to me but will be ending March 7, and I arrive March 12.

Looking into Un Amour Impossible, looks like a possibiity, as it were.

I've been reading a lot of existentialist stuff for a course I'm taking, so the Camus is a possibility too.

Christina

I love Camus. Having said that, not sure I've ever seen a theater piece of one of his works.

WoinParis

I love Camus until I tried to read 'le mythe de Sisyphe'. One sentence per page. I read the first 5 pages 10 times over a period of 20 years. NEver reached page 6.

We just saw a play at theatre de la Michodiere, les fiancés de Loche I think - more an opérette. Lighter than Camus or one of those intellectual things. Contrary to food, where I can go to 'fine cuisine' and pay for it, going to intellectual plays bores me to death. I want and need to laugh or get my eyes full at a movie/theatre/show... not have my brain challenged. I'm pretty sure I'd fall asleep at a Lucchine performance.


This being zaid, from the excellent link Kerouac provided, I'd select
- l'Avare : a must for me : a classic and yet funny and still actual with a perfect French
- Tagbo : she is a lot of fun, but it would be quite challenging.
- A gauche/droite - simply because I like F Balmer...
- Les choristes : a great success as a movie
...

Envierges

Two theaters in my neighborhood I enjoy. You might check out the websites and see if the locations and offerings interest you

http://www.theatredebelleville.com/s...ttendant-godot

http://www.menilmontant.info/fr/programme

Nikki

More great ideas, thanks.

Haven't read Sisyphus since I was in high school but it made such an impression I have been citing it ever since. That's the kind of thing that is probably better when not read alone, so you have other people to help make sense of it with you.

I saw l'Avare a couple of years ago at the Comedie Francaise. Doesn't mean I wouldn't go again.

I'll check out the rest of Wo's ideas later.

Love the idea of the theaters in Belleville, putting on interesting stuff.

An embarassment of riches. And I feel I should leave some evenings free for things that come up in the meantime. But lots of fun planning.

MaineGG

From Kerouac's link, I see that two theaters are doing Molière's Fourberies de Scapin. I love his comedies, as well as his more serious works, and may try to catch a performance when we are in Paris in April.

susanbroome

Is Proust-Dire Combray being performed anywhere in Paris this spring?

Nikki

Hi Susan!

Just googling, it looks like there was a production that opened in November and closed in December at the Theatre de la Huchette. But I don't see anything later than that.

Nikki

With just two weeks to go, I am revisiting this thread to see if anyone has seen anything that will be playing in March that they would like to recommend.

Sadly, I was unable to get tickets for the Camus; they didn't release the tickets until two weeks ago, and when they did, they appeared to be sold out for all performances already. Either it is all by subscription or I'm not understanding well enough, but in any event they're gone.

Kerouac, you said you are mostly interested in the subsidized theaters, that are not included in the link above. Has anything come up since I first posted that interests you?

Thanks for all responses.

annhig

as ever, Nikki, I am enjoying your hunt for french theatre, albeit vicariously. It was thanks to you that we got to the Comedie Francaise a few years ago, and as it looks as if that may be our last visit, certainly for some time, I'm doubly grateful.

I look forward to hearing more about whatever you go to see.

kerouac

I will take this opportunity to give an example of how stupid I can be. The other day I was going to see a production of Shock Corridor based on the Samuel Fuller film. This was at the municipal theatre of Montreuil. It had been written up in the press as a quite remarkable production (and only 24 euros). So I went to Montreuil and saw the theatre directly across from the metro station. It had a big Shock Corridor poster on it. I showed my printed receipt at the desk and the girl barely looked at it, just saying "you'll get your ticket at the entrance." This somewhat amazed me, but I figured "hey, this is a communist town; maybe they just trust people." I entered the theatre with the rest of the crowd when the doors opened and sat in the middle of a section.

The lights dimmed and the play began, and I immediately felt that something was not right. I found myself watching a performance of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus instead of what I had come to see. It was very well done and I'm glad I saw it, because there was no way that I could discreetly escape from there with all of the other people around me.

Upon exiting, I was able to determine that I had wandered into a free Shakespeare marathon they were doing all weekend and that the play I wanted to see was being performed in a different building two blocks away.

So I never saw Shock Corridor, which has ended its run.

annhig

lol, kerouac, that is funny. shame about the other play.

I've never seen Titus Andronicus - would you recommend it?

Nikki

I can easily see myself doing that, kerouac.

So what else is on your list?