Phèdre - François Gremaud - le Cargo

A reimagined production of Racine’s tragedy *Phèdre*, directed by François Gremaud, on Friday 11 December 2026 at Le Cargo, Segré.

How does one convey one’s passion for a text? François Gremaud directs the comedy *Phèdre!*, a light-hearted monologue based on Racine’s tragedy *Phèdre*. He does not stage Racine’s play to the letter, but rather the passion for Racine’s words: Phaedra’s passion (Queen of Athens, wife of Theseus and lover of her stepson Hippolytus) becomes that of the theatre itself.

With a simple table as his set, alone on stage, Romain Daroles plays a lecturer who, script in hand, presents Racine’s text to a theatre audience. He recounts the wonders of the alexandrine, the divine mythological lineages of the main characters – Phaedra is the granddaughter of Helios, the sun god – and the mischief of the supporting characters…
Little by little, as he sets about recounting the story act by act, he is swept away by his passion for Racine’s text and soon finds himself playing the characters and reciting the alexandrines, using his book as his sole prop to mimic Phaedra’s crown, Theramenes’ beard or Theseus’ armour, wholly imbued with the shared joy of discovering the text’s successes and insights. Like Phaedra, the speaker is swept away by his fervent emotion, and his words express an irrepressible passion.
Play within a play, *Phèdre!* tells how theatre arises from the pleasure of collectively believing in a fiction and how it encounters reality in ever-unexpected ways.

Suitable for all ages from 15 years old