Au Bonheur des Mômes

This year’s theme is “Zanimal”. It’s a theme that highlights the instinctive and joyful bond that children have with animals, and inspires some twenty shows combining feathers, fur and scales. Giant puppets, clowns, burlesque theatre, participatory installations or illuminated walks: wildlife invites itself on stage to arouse curiosity and, sometimes, to question our relationship with living things. Creations such as Poil de la bête by Compagnie des Plumés, in which dogs, hens and ducks share the stage with an improvising pianist, and Princesse Jenny qui ne voulait pas se marier by Gina Gagap, twist the codes of storytelling and animal shows with humour and tenderness.

The festival also includes meetings, debates and workshops to extend the artistic experience. Belgian philosopher and writer Vinciane Despret, this year’s special guest, will be in conversation with psychoanalyst Sophie Marinopoulos at a conference on the subject of “Making children with animals”. The fifty or so workshops on offer this year encourage parents to get together and create with their children, in line with the festival’s slogan: “Let go of your screens, come and see something alive!