Friday 27 March, 18:30

Festival Histoire et Cité: Magicus and the Sleepwalkers

Performances

Free

Through the figure of Professor Magicus, this performance reconstructs early 20th-century Geneva: a conjurer who opened a magic shop, founded the first French magic magazine and, in 1925, died on stage during the trick called «Le sac à l’œuf». The narrative blends archives and fairground attractions, recalling 4,924 tricks shared open-source and a city shaped into the cradle of modern magic. Direction, set, costume, lighting and sound design weave nostalgia and unease, oscillating between spectacle and memory.

In French.

Place des Trois-Perdrix 5,
1204 Genève

Photo Credit: DR

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Photo Credit: DR

3 March – 2 April

Le Tartuffe

Performances

Théâtre de Carouge

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.

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24 – 29 March

Poems in Jazz

Performances

Théâtre des Amis

Performed by Françoise Courvoisier (voice), pianist and composer Moncef Genoud, and saxophonist Valentin Conus, this project sets Henri Michaux’s poems against a sensual jazz soundscape. Genoud’s original compositions and borrowed motifs intertwine with Courvoisier’s vocal phrasing and Conus’s supple saxophone, leaving space for improvisation. The piece explores memory, fragility and shifting ground through fragmented text and elastic musical lines, creating an intimate, dreamlike atmosphere where language and music open doors to the imagination.

In French.

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Friday 27 March, 20:00

Jarry

Performances

Arena

Jarry returns to Geneva with his show “Bonhomme” at the Arena. In a world facing crisis, he embodies a hero whose superpower is laughter, bringing hope and unity. This performance, rich in humor and love, reveals the true Jarry and the superhero within us all.

In French.

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19 – 29 March

La tête ailleurs

Performances

Théâtre Alchimic

Performed by Camélia Acef and Youri Rebeko, La tête ailleurs is a light, comic musical about Norah, who can’t help hearing songs in her head whenever she tries to concentrate. The piece slides between Broadway-classic, funk, pop and tango, treating the intrusive melodies as a playful yet unsettling manifestation of the unconscious. The staging balances energetic numbers and intimate moments, probing memory and identity. The show was nominated at the 2025 Trophées de la Comédie Musicale (Best Book; Revelation Masculine for Youri Rebeko).

In French.

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24 March – 12 April

Comme des bêtes

Performances

La Parfumerie

Directed by Marie Wyler and adapted from Violaine Bérot’s novel, Comme des bêtes follows a man nicknamed “the Bear” whose difference unsettles a mountain village after a child is sighted near his cave. Performed by Marie Probst, Marie Ruchat, Alexandra Tiedemann and David Casada, the piece mixes elements of folk tale and detective narrative to probe mutual taming between humans and other forms of life. Giulia Muniz’s costumes, David Kretonic’s lighting and Rudy Deceliere’s sound design build a tense, mysterious atmosphere that questions the limits of rationality.

In French.

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12 March – 1 April

La grande ourse

Performances

POCHE /GVE

Written by Penda Diouf and staged by Evelyne Castellino, LA GRANDE OURSE is an ecofeminist fable that traces a mother’s descent after a minor incident becomes criminalized. Combining video, choreographed movement and choral voices, the piece weaves police violence, racism and sexism into a hallucinatory, dystopian world where omnipresent surveillance watches every gesture. As the heroine reconnects with ancestral nature by transforming into a bear, the production evokes animal survival instinct, collective gossip and the fragile line between humanity and wildness, offering a visceral, poetic reflection on power and resistance.

In French.

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Festival Histoire et Cité: Magicus and the Sleepwalkers