“Bringing the audience into the room without making them laugh is less simple. We have to be able to convince people to overcome this barrier,” says Valérie Delva, actress and adapter, who has run the Les Sélénites festival since its creation two years ago. If the pieces offered during the first two editions received a favorable reception, the public has not yet passed through the doors of the Family in as many numbers as desired. “We must encourage the public to come and see the pieces,” indicates the mayor of Landerneau Patrick Leclerc, who supports the initiative. “It’s interesting for the city to have an offer that has not been available so far. Theater is perhaps a little less explored by programmers, when current music or circus art are regularly welcomed at the Family. So, the Les Sélénites festival intends to take advantage of word of mouth to gain momentum this season.
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2 Love as a common thread
For this third edition, programmer Valérie Delva has chosen love as a common theme for the three pieces presented, which will be presented in a very different way at each performance. Regulars of the place since already present during the first two editions, Les Mauvais pupils will open the ball this year on Friday evening with a very free and burlesque interpretation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, with a crazy production by Shirley and Dino. Another style on Saturday evening with “An Ideal Husband”, by Oscar Wilde, a more contained entertainment with a backdrop of political intrigue, presented this summer in Avignon. And to close the ban, a “Tristan and Isolde” intended for a family audience will take the stage on Sunday afternoon. The proposals, as we see, are very diverse, while “remaining on authors’ texts”, as the programmer reminds us.
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3 Enriched “off” programming
Alongside the theater program at the Family, other “outside the walls” events, most of which are free, are offered as part of the Selenites festival. The kick-off will be given Thursday evening at the Kéranden manor, with poetic readings as a prelude to the presentation of the festival. Other meetings are scheduled on Friday, with musical readings in the Thomas Godin gallery, then on Saturday, at the same place, with a conference on love, before a dive into the world of Oscar Wilde at the Family. Finally, on Sunday, the Festival will leave Landerneau to conquer the new Bag Noz concert hall, in Saint-Thonan, with two short and joyful pieces (entrance €10). “It’s a bit of a challenge to bring people to Saint-Thonan on a Sunday evening for theater,” recognizes Romain Arazm, author and coordinator of these events off the theater festival.
Practical
From October 3 to 6, 2024 in Landerneau. Price: €19, reduced €10, free for under 12s. 2-day pass: €30, three-day pass: €42. Complete program on the Selenites Facebook account.
