Ancestors of the Future

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.

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.