Vous permettez: a comedy of manners at the Funambule Montmartre

Vous permettez, a new creation by Manon Rony, will be at the Funambule Montmartre from November 20, 2025, to February 1, 2026. The play depicts the meeting of two families-in-law gathered for a dinner at which the main participants, the children, are conspicuous by their absence. In this closed setting where everyone tries to keep up appearances, the show explores the discrepancies, misunderstandings, and overly polite smiles that fuel this playground of live performance, rooted in everyday customs and social codes.

Manon Rony, who wrote and directed the play, focuses here on the first encounter between "outsiders," a moment rarely explored in theater and conducive to verbal slips. Between overt politeness and tacit judgments, the characters oscillate between restraint and unexpected frankness. The staging favors detailed writing, playing on glances, silences, and micro-shifts that trigger laughter without resorting to caricature. This approach is part of a 2025 creative dynamic that is attentive to contemporary behaviors and discreet family tensions.

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The cast includes Pénélope Perdereau, Xavier Thiam, Julien Héteau, and Salomé Mandelli, who play the guests thrust into an evening they did not anticipate. The hushed exchanges, ambiguous compliments, and overly quick remarks form a comic fabric based on the precision of the acting. Manon Rony develops a tightly knit situation comedy, where restraint becomes a dramatic engine and laughter emerges from finely observed realism, echoing the expectations of Parisian theater audiences.

Produced by Funambule Montmartre, the show highlights the universal significance of this imposed family gathering, reflecting on what it means to welcome and accept others within a codified framework. By playing with social conventions, it questions the place of the unspoken and the art of conversation in Parisian theater, while offering an accessible and unifying cultural outing. The show can be seen at Funambule Montmartre from November 20, 2025, to February 1, 2026.

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