Thomas Dutronc, Alex Lutz, Constance... Favorites from the upcoming season at Carré Sainte-Maxime

Each season at the Carré Sainte-Maxime further reinforces the very essence of this nationally recognized venue: its openness to the world, bringing together leading artists from the national and international scene, in all disciplines. These shows represent a diversity of artistic creations to cultivate youthfulness. This openness to the world on stage goes hand in hand with the foundation of the artistic project: conviviality and hospitality, aimed at both audiences and artists.

"It is important for me, for us, that spectators can come not just to see a show, but to live a strong, unique experience, a moment where they will feel more connected to others," emphasizes Valérie Boronad, artistic director of the Maximoise scene. A living together that we find in the program. Among this, nourished by big names in theater, music, dance too, "there are also shows for which we will solicit the trust of the public, their spirit of discovery," adds Valérie Boronad, giving us her favorites.

Dance

The National Choreographic Center Mandalain Ballet Biarritz will launch the 2025-2026 season with Les Saisons. "Thierry Mandalain is leaving his position at the CCN at the end of 2026. He is an iconic choreographer, one of those who tours the most internationally." Here, his dancers—the cream of classical and neoclassical dance—reinvent the ballet of the seasons to the music of Vivaldi. A commission from the director of the Château de Versailles. "Mandalain, who found the music very worn, turned it into a neoclassical ballet, in a very aesthetic contemporary scenography." Also associated with it is the score of the four seasons by the Italian Giovanni Antonio Guido, a contemporary of Vivaldi, written about ten years earlier (October 14 at 8:30 p.m.).

At the end of the rope dances Peeping Tom , a "dance theater company" as it describes itself, but which still dominates the register of the unclassifiable: "Its universe is strong, surreal, dreamlike, cinematic." Imbued with humor. "These artists play with the absurd, with mythology. With dystopia in this creation," adds Valérie Boronad. Chronicles , by Peeping Tom, whose five artists cultivate this youthful spirit and discovery (Friday 5 and Saturday 6 December at 8:30 p.m.).

Theater

In this register, the Cyrano played by Edouard Baer heralds great promise on stage. "We find all the beauty of the text of course, in this staging by Anne Kessler [honorary member of the Comédie-Française, editor's note], but we also discover a more contemporary, much more psychological version of the character, whose staging reveals all the vulnerability, all that hides behind the eloquence, the flamboyance and the insolence." As if, while retaining his panache, Cyrano were dropping the mask (February 13 at 8:30 p.m.).

In the Eyes of Monet , directed by Tristan Petitgirard, Clovis Cornillac delivers a formidable performance in the role of Monet. "Playing a painter who is, by nature, very mute is something exceptional. Here we discover Monet in 1892, after the death of his wife. He also discovers the beginnings of blindness that calls into question his art itself. He is in Rouen, staying near the cathedral. He seeks the path to inspiration. And through an encounter, he will succeed in reinventing himself." The text is by Cyril Gély, "an author we were lucky enough to welcome with the play Diplomatie , he is an author who writes about encounters and key moments in life" (February 5 at 8:30 p.m.).

Music

Thomas Dutronc offers a journey through time. This gypsy guitar enthusiast, at the crossroads of funk, folk, and jazz, for whom It's Never Too Late , named after his new album and the name of his tour, will be accompanied by 8 musicians (October 25 at 8:30 p.m.).

He dreamed of returning to the theater stage for more intimate concerts: Calogero is stopping his theater tour at the Carré. "He wanted this closeness with the audience." The opportunity to present his tenth album but also to go back in time and rediscover all the highlights of his repertoire, all the songs that made him successful (February 27, 2026 at 8:30 p.m.).

Humor is something that "we may do against the grain of national scenes and/or of national interest as we are, but we absolutely wanted to defend it. Humor is still a form of resilience, also a way of questioning major social issues, sometimes serious issues."

If Wally Dia will share Une heure à tuer in January, it is in May that the Carré will offer a broader humor focus with three meetings. First that of Xavier Guelfi which lives up to its name: Brasser de l'air et s'envoler. "A nice discovery that this artist who reflects on how to move from despair, from depression, to a propensity to believe in the world, to move from pessimism to a form of optimism" , in this very personal way of reinventing humor (May 5 at 8:30 p.m.).

The introspection continues with Constance in her new one-woman show: InConstance . "A show that is both very funny and moving," for an artist who, in recent years, has made no secret of her burnout or her bipolar disorder. " It's a magnificent moment of resilience, in which she talks about mental health, psychological health. We're seeing a lot of creations this season that address the issue of mental health; it's one of society's major issues. We saw this with Panayotis Pascot's book, which was adapted for the stage at Le Carré. Constance talks about it with a lot of humor, and shows how she emerges from her trials more virtuoso in her use of humor" (May 7 at 8:30 p.m.).

Finally, it is with Alex Lutz and his two horses, companions and accomplices of play that we will close the humor parenthesis. "He returns to the stage of intimate paths. Because when he was writing this show, he lost his father, who ended his life with Diogenes syndrome and bipolar disorder. After his death, he found a mountain of accumulated detritus, and he had to live and build this show with that. Through this death, he went back over the thread of an entire era: the sixties, from post-68, from flower power to the eighties. He goes through his father's life and through him, the lives of several generations, which he traces." Sex, grog and Rocking chair is A very moving show, obviously full of humor and laughter, in homage to his late father and to this intergenerational journey of what France and the world have been since after 1968 (May 9 at 8:30 p.m.).

Detailed program of the Carré and prices on www.carre-sainte-maxime.fr