Genre! a participatory show to question sexism at the Théâtre de Belleville

Théâtre de Belleville welcomes Genre! from September 3 to 27, 2025, a show imagined by Les Mille Printemps and starring Shannen Athiaro-Vidal, Gabrielle Chalmont-Cavache, Sarah Coulaud and Louise Fafa. At the crossroads of fiction and documentary, this creation questions gender relations through a participative approach that turns the stage into a space for dialogue.

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Genre! is part of the company's ongoing research, which for over ten years has combined theatrical writing and fieldwork. This new proposal no longer separates the moment of performance from that of exchange: the actors address the audience directly, inviting it to take part in a lively experience where individual stories mingle with collective issues.

The show moves back and forth between testimonials, performed scenes and spontaneous interventions, deliberately blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. Through this constant to-ing and fro-ing, Genre! sheds light on the mechanisms of sexism, social norms linked to gender and the multiple resistances that run through them, while creating a space for open discussion.

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This all-terrain form is aimed at an audience curious aboutcontemporary theatrical proposals that accept the porosity between stage and auditorium. Audiences accustomed to traditional narrative formats, or who prefer a clear distinction between fiction and exchange, may find this type of experience unsettling.

Genre! proposes a theater that is both political and intimate, where the voices of artists and spectators respond to each other in a collective construction of meaning.

This article is based on publicly available information and is not based on direct experience of the show.

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