Location
Théâtre Varia
Duration
± 1h10
Languages
French — st. English
Prices
Public
12 and up
Accessibility
pmr accompagnant
pmr
Warning

This performance contains strobe lighting

17—25.09.2026

Rodéo

Léa Drouet &
Vaisseau

Theater
Performance
Création

We often speak of a sick society, as though it were an abstract, disembodied collective body. Yet Léa Drouet and Camille Louis find in burning forests and our inflamed bodies the signs of a very real conflagration.

Summary

Five years ago, Léa contracted COVID-19. While time has passed, the illness has remained: the artist was diagnosed with long COVID. Meanwhile, our natural resources and water supplies continue to dwindle, and forests are burning.

Camille Louis’s text explores inflammation as an epiphenomenon. From traumatic memory to the Sonian Forest, weakened by water stress, and on to the conditions that fuel social unrest in the suburbs of Lyon, we are immersed in an interweaving of images, sounds, and narratives that reveal what consumes individual, social, and earthly bodies. The lingering presence of mist resonates with brain fog, suppressed political memories, and the moments that precede an outbreak of fire. Léa Drouet’s staging takes shape through the organic scenography of the collective touche—touche and the soundscapes of Laurent S. Gérard. Three performers give voice to a multiplied “I”, exploring the collective dimension of suffering and the attempts to heal it.

Léa Drouet’s new creation, Rodéo, moves beyond realism and individual narrative while fully embracing our emotional responses. Long COVID becomes a persistent condition that speaks to a certain permeability to the world, with the affected body acting as its mirror.

Distribution

Directed by Léa Drouet
Performed by Juliette Chmielarz, Léa Drouet, Eli Mathieu-Bustos
Text and dramaturgy Camille Louis
Set and costume design Carolin Gieszner (touche—touche)
Costume production Workshops of the Théâtre de Liège
Sound design Èlg
Lighting design Léonard Cornevin
Choreographic collaboration Manon Santkin
Technical director Ferri Van Overstraeten
Production and touring AMA Brussels – Babacar Ba, France Morin, Emi Parot, Clara Schmitt

Crédits

Executive production Vaisseau asbl

Co-produced by Théâtre de Liège, Le Varia – Théâtre & Studio, Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Les SUBS, BUDA, Festival d’Automne, Maillon – Théâtre de Strasbourg, Scène européenne, La Coop asbl and Shelter Prod.
With the support of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, General Service for Artistic Creation – Theatre Department, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, and Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre / Danse.
Supported by taxshelter.be, ING, and the Belgian Federal Government’s Tax Shelter scheme.
In partnership with the Centre des Arts scéniques.
Residencies BUDA, Les SUBS, La Bellone, Théâtre de Liège, Le Varia.
A project co-produced by the Prospero New European Wave platform (Prospero NEW), co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme.

Tour dates

Le Varia – Théâtre & Studio (Brussels, Belgium) – World premiere
17–19 September and 22–25 September 2026
NEXT Festival – BUDA (Kortrijk, Belgium)
28 November 2026
Théâtre de Liège (Liège, Belgium)
24–26 April 2027