Carmen, opéra-paysage itinérant - Opéra-Comique 2026-27 - Carmen, opéra-paysage itinérant - Opéra-Comique 2026-27, Jeanne Desoubeaux

Description

A revival of Carmen, a traveling "landscape opera" conceived by Jeanne Desoubeaux which reimagines Bizet’s work as a mobile performance that actively involves the audience.

With this traveling "landscape opera" version of Carmen, the Opéra-Comique offers a unique and deeply contemporary reinterpretation of Bizet’s masterpiece. Under the direction of Jeanne Desoubeaux, the work breaks free from the traditional proscenium stage (the Salle Favart is currently undergoing renovations that prevent public access) to become an immersive, ambulatory experience, with the drama unfolding in the very heart of the city. In Paris, spanning the area between the Cité Internationale des Arts and the François Couperin middle school in the 4th arrondissement, the production transforms the urban landscape into a living stage; streets, thresholds, passageways, and public squares become natural extensions of the themes of passion, freedom, and tragedy.

This traveling Carmen (originally created in May 2023 and revived several times since, notably at the Midsummer Festival in Hardelot, where the production was previously reviewed in French) perfectly captures the spirit of an opera defined by movement, desire, and fate. The audience’s journey mirrors that of the characters, as if the story of Carmen could no longer be contained within a single venue but had to confront reality – with all its multifaceted faces and its social and human tensions. Jeanne Desoubeaux’s staging, described as a journey that is at once sensitive, humorous, and incisive, brings out the searing modernity of a story known to all: that of a free woman, a violent love, and a tragic outcome that resonates with unsettling contemporary relevance.

The cast brings together a group of artists with complementary profiles: Anaïs Bertrand, Kaëlig Boché, Benoît Rameau, Igor Bouin, Samy Zerrouki, Solène Chevalier, Jeanne Desoubeaux, Jean-Christophe Lanièce, Vincent Lochet, Pauline Leroy, Flore Merlin, and Agathe Peyrat. Under the musical direction of Jérémie Arcache and Igor Bouin, the performers bring this score to life through gesture and voice – where music, theater, and movement combine to transform *Carmen* into not merely an opera, but a way of inhabiting the world.

Further information is available on the official Opéra-Comique website.