The Local France

France marks 400 years of Moliere, master of stage and satire

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 16:14:57 +0100

France launches Saturday a year of events to mark the 400th anniversary of Moliere, the nation's most illustrious and ever popular master of the stage and satire.

Top Paris theatre reopens as Covid occupy movement ends

Sun, 23 May 2021 17:58:48 +0200

French actors, stage technicians and other members of the performing arts ended a more-than-two-month occupation of the famous Odéon theatre in Paris on Sunday, allowing the show to go on after this week's easing of Covid-19 curbs.

Paris theatre fires its British artistic director in row over money and management style

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 10:48:50 +0200

One of the French capital's most important theatres has fired its British artistic director Ruth Mackenzie due to managerial and financial concerns, the theatre and sources said.

Macron rushed from Paris theatre after protesters break in

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 17:26:32 +0100

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife were rushed from a Paris theatre late on Friday after protesters tried to burst in and disrupt the performance.

Ten must-visit places in the Paris theatre district

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 19:11:34 +0200

A hard to define but thriving part of Paris is becoming more and more popular with visitors and foreign residents in the City of Light. Here are 10 places in the French capital's so-called theatre district that are well worth a visit.

French theatres prepare to break taboo by showing ads before the curtain rises

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 13:07:17 +0200

French theatres are set to break a major taboo and show adverts before the curtain goes up in what they claim is a world first.

Paris opens doors to English theatre festival

Wed, 06 Jul 2016 18:19:02 +0200

A UK troupe has kicked off its second festival of British theatre in Paris, promising to be more even spectacular than the last one.

The Parisian habits you'll pick up 'in an hour'

Tue, 17 May 2016 17:42:41 +0200

The Local spoke to Olivier Giraud, the star of the hugely successful theatre show "How to be Parisian in one hour", to find out how to act like a local in the City of Light.

UK group performs Shakespeare to Calais migrants

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 18:17:51 +0100

The Shakespeare's Globe group has performed Hamlet in the Calais jungle - check out some scenes from the show.

Reality specs opens Paris theatre to non-French speakers

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 13:49:38 +0100

Non-French speakers can soon appreciate the French arts scene even more with the introduction of "augmented reality" glasses that project English translations of French musicals into the air - all for your eyes only.

Paris holds film festival for blind cinema goers

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 16:42:00 +0200

In most movie theatres the lights go dark and the feature begins, but for an audience attending a Paris film festival underway this month, the whole world is dark and stays that way.

France's theatre scene heads underground

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 15:13:04 +0200

From next month and to late June, France will be hosting a festival that is literally "underground": a series of stage shows where private cellars become confidential theatres.

Marion Cotillard to take Joan of Arc to New York

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 10:31:16 +0100

French actress Marion Cotillard will play Joan of Arc with the New York Philharmonic in a production of Arthur Honegger's oratorio, the orchestra announced on Thursday.

Paris gets teeth around disembodied mouth act

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:46:37 +0100

In a pitch-black theatre, a disembodied mouth spews Samuel Beckett in a breathless, non-stop monologue over a Paris theatre audience, in English, without subtitles.

'Paris needs a home for English-language theatre'

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 16:45:00 +0100

As a UK troupe prepares to put on a festival of British theatre in Paris, there have been renewed calls for English-language productions to be given a permanent home amid the French capital's Gallic-dominated arts scene.

'An American in Paris' to debut in French capital

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 10:04:00 +0100

The stage version of cult 1951 musical 'An American in Paris' will this week make its world premiere in the City of Love where it is set, before hitting Broadway next year.

French theatre's Sixties rebel still going strong

Thu, 01 May 2014 12:00:03 +0200

75-year-old Ariane Mnouchkine is a half-English, half-Russian visionary who, in between hunger strikes for Bosnia and campaigns for the homeless, has left her own indelible stamp on the world of French theatre and has never given up on changing the world.

Catholics fined over 'Jesus excrement' protest

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:25:00 +0200

A group of Catholic protestors in France were fined thousands of euros on Friday for interrupting and throwing smoke bombs at a 'blasphemous' piece of theatre, which featured the face of Christ being covered in fake excrement.

Christians throw dog poo at theatre director

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:41:20 +0100

Fundamentalist Christians threw dog dirt in the face of a top theatre boss in Nancy on Thursday, in protest against a controversial play on religion.

French Christian group besieges Jesus excrement play

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:03:00 +0200

Paris police have arrested around 20 Christian fundamentalists who burst into a theatre and threw stink bombs to protest against a play featuring the face of Christ drizzled with fake excrement.