Ladies, Gentlemen, and the rest of the World

The Ceccano garden will once again this year turn into an open stage, an agora where a series about political activism will unfold, where the invisible will be seen and heard. An artist scandalised by inequalities, David Bobée has chosen to use that space to explore the misunderstandings, taboos, and preconceived ideas about a concept nowadays most useful to redefine the right not to be discriminated against: gender. Using sociological research, but also literary and poetic texts, as a starting point, the director invites amateurs and artists to embody, on this public place, one of the liveliest of modern debates. In this zone of judgment-free speech, life stories will allow all to understand everyday constraints and unconscious “norms,” but also to celebrate the beauty of diversity and cast away gender to be free together. Performances, readings, roleplaying games, workshops... all that and more make up the different episodes, in which struggle and controversy can't keep away lightness and poetry. David Bobée welcomes us all: “the series allows people to share a moment of critical analysis, a point of view about the world that affects us all, without rejecting anyone, and quite simply offers keys to think about reality.”

David Bobée
A director and scenographer, David Bobée mixes theatre with other techniques and disciplines—video, light, dance, circus, music, and cinema—and works with actors, dancers, or acrobats, professionals or amateurs, some of them handicapped. He has been the director of the Centre dramatique national de Normandie-Rouen, the first interdisciplinary CDN, since 2013. A member of the collective Décoloniser les Arts and of the Collège de la diversité within the Ministry of Culture, David Bobée defends, through both his practice and his public stance, an intersectional approach to the fight against discrimination, and the setting up of positive actions against discrimination in culture.

With Rebecca Chaillon, Gerty Dambury, Radouan Leflahi, Adam M., Grégori Miège
And thepromotion 29 de l'École de la Comédie de Saint-Étienne Lina Alsayed, Yohann-Hicham Boutahar, Ambre Febvre, Brahim Koutari, Chloé Laabab, Jonathan Mallard, Elise Martin, Djamil Mohamed, Julia Roche, Mikael Treguer, Pierre Vuaille
And the citizens Iulia Armand-Dusaussoy, Aurore Auzias, Maïa Baldassari, Virginie Bérisson, Inès Bigonnet, Rosalie Bonneville, Iman Bonnieux, Stéphanie Bourret, Pierrick Bressy Coulomb, Astrée Cadio, Amélie Cassagne, Lola Castano, Maud Crivelle, Florence Dudognon, Malaury Duguey, Audrey Gilles-Chikhaoui, Alain Grangeon, Anita Hadavi, Dominique Jovani, Félix Kouame, Maxime Lambert, Olivier Le Glaunec, Etiennette Lienard Mercy, Céline Marcy, Maïssane Maroqui, Julien Mendez, Océane N'Guessan, Arthur Niel, Gilbert Parisse, Sylvie Pellegry, Annie Perrier, Léa Praët, Marie-Christine Pujol, Janine Rambour, Véronique Ravaille, Esther Torsiello, Marie Truphémus, Edward Ugal, Françoise Zanon
And the guests Zarra Bonheur, Elias Dabboussi, Béatrice Dalle, Virginie Despentes, Rokhaya Diallo, Malik Djoudi, Vincent Guillot, Charly Lionetti, Phia Ménard, Gurshad Shaheman, François Stemmer, Carole Thibaut, Agnès Tricoire, Lolla Wesh, Clémence Zamora-Cruz, Edward Aleman, Mat Pineau, Océan, Wilmen Marquez and other guests
And students from the collège Le Vigneret au Castellet Tom Alvarez, Maxence Bozzo, 
Audrey Decise, Léo de Murcia, Théo Duparq, Marie Fauquet, Taliah Jaubert, Noam Hermelin, Pauline Lebreton, Marius Meneboo, Milena Poupart, Luna Sanchez, Naïs Thévenon

Conception David Bobée
Text Ronan Chéneau
Dramaturgy Arnaud Alessandrin et Ronan Chéneau
Artistic coordination Sophie Colleu
Sound Jean-Noël François

Production Festival d'Avignon
Coproduction CDN de Normandie-Rouen, La Comédie de Saint-Étienne CDN
Avec le soutien de la Région Normandie, Ville de Rouen et pour la 72e édition du Festival d'Avignon : Fondation SNCF, mécène du feuilleton au jardin Ceccano depuis quatre ans, SACD
In collaboration with la bibliothèque Ceccano

Thanks to the Académies d'Aix-Marseille et de Nice, lesAmis du Festival d'Avignon, « Le lien SNCF » avec l'aimable autorisation de SNCF et de Sixième Son.