The Théâtre de Carouge is a prestigious cultural institution devoted to the performing arts. Since its creation in 1954, the theater has cultivated a legacy of excellence and innovation in theatrical expression. Boasting two auditoriums—one with 470 seats and the other with 135 seats—the venue offers a diverse program of approximately 12 shows annually, showcasing both in-house creations and productions from other swiss and international theaters and festivals.
Actor Samuel Labarthe turns Nicolas Bouvier’s fever-drenched memoir The Scorpion-Fish into a hypnotic, miniaturist tour de force: marooned in 1950s Ceylon after a headlong road trip from Geneva through the Balkans and Afghanistan, the once-ebullient traveller spirals into tropical delirium, trading human company for buzzing insects, mirage-bright visions and mordant humour that flits between the sublime and the grotesque. Under Catherine Schaub’s finely gauged direction, Labarthe channels both the lush lyricism and the slow-burn torment of this “motionless voyage,” distilling Bouvier’s languid prose into a tactile, rejuvenating elixir that lets the audience feel every bead of sweat, jolt of wonder and sting of isolation.
In French. Ages 12 and up.
Back from the ashes like a mischievous phoenix, this stage adaptation of Hergé’s timeless comic hurls Bianca Castafiore’s shrill “Heavens, my jewels!” onto the boards and detonates a riotous, closed-door whodunnit inside the tranquil walls of Moulinsart: red herrings fly, misunderstandings snowball and Tintin’s entire gallery of eccentrics careen through a dazzling, hyper-faithful recreation of the album, where actors vanish into near-unrecognisable guises and the set itself crackles with playful theatrical sleight-of-hand—proof that some productions really do possess a magic, living soul of their own.
In French. Ages 7 and up.
Nine exiled Afghan actresses and their director turn Sophocles’ Antigone into a luminous act of defiance, weaving their own flight from tyranny into a fluid chorus that moves between whispered poetry and blazing resolve; on a moon-lit set where shadows ripple across a reflective pool, their shared fervour collides with oppression’s darkness, conjuring a present-tense theatre of resistance performed in Dari (with French subtitles) that pulses with the courage, grace and unbroken spirit of women who refuse to fall silent.
In Dari, with french subtitles. Ages 14 and up.
Swiss music icon Stephan Eicher pares everything to the bone in this intimate solo soirée, blending grainy-voiced classics with wry, raconteur anecdotes to chart a life spent wandering off the mainstream map; sparked by a chance stroll, honed with director François Gremaud, the show unfolds like a dandy’s confessional, letting familiar melodies bloom into candid, humorous revelations that lay bare the poetic, ever-restless spirit behind the hits.
In French. Ages 12 and up.
Molière’s Tartuffe tells the story of a slick con-man who hides behind ostentatious piety to worm his way into the wealthy Orgon household. Orgon, dazzled by Tartuffe’s sanctimonious rhetoric, defends him even as the impostor’s hypocrisy poisons family bonds and pushes the household toward ruin.
Director Jean Liermier underscores how, in Molière’s work, the female characters serve as the moral compass and spark of resistance, a beacon of hope against oppression. Staged on a stark, minimalist set that exposes the family’s rigid tensions—and featuring Gilles Privat as an unbending Orgon—this production highlights the play’s continuing resonance in a world beset by egotism, fanaticism, and conspiracy thinking. The central question remains timeless: will society keep falling for Tartuffe’s brand of seductive deceit?
In French. Ages 12 and up.
Chekhov’s Ivanov follows Nikolai Ivanov, a middling Russian landowner crushed by debt and by the slow decline of his wife, Anna Petrovna, who is dying of tuberculosis. Across four acts, his inertia curdles into melancholy and self-destruction, swinging between biting comedy and harrowing despair. Written in a ten-day burst in 1887, when Chekhov was only twenty-seven, the play crackles with youthful urgency as tragedy and humor intertwine.
Director–actor Jean-François Sivadier infuses this new staging with his distinctive theatrical energy, pairing veteran performers with fresh faces to reignite the play’s original heat. Echoing Gustav Mahler’s dictum that “tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire,” the production seeks to keep Chekhov’s raw, combustible spirit blazing on today’s stage.
In French. Ages 16 and up.
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