In 2023, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès partnered with the Théâtre de la Cité internationale in Paris, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, Les SUBS in Lyon and the Théâtre National de Bretagne to imagine the Transforme festival. This collective artistic adventure looks to support the creation of new forms for the stage and to encourage encounters between artists and audiences in different territories. In order to meet this dual aim, the Foundation and its partners construct the programme for each edition collaboratively, and imagine “Going Further” actions to enrich audiences’ experiences.
Taking care of one another
The thirteen projects selected for the 2026-2027 edition – including ten works that were supported through the production phase – share a keen interest in care, with some inviting us to take care of one another, in particular when we are confronted with death. Tiphaine Raffier undertakes an extended exploration of this idea in L’hors-présence ou Chimères du pays de Morsan by questioning the right to die in dignity and the way in which we can prepare for our own death when it becomes and inevitable prospect. Approaching the question of death from another angle entirely, Aurélia Lüscher offers a humorous take on our ways of caring for the deceased in Les Corps incorruptibles, and extends this reflection in Au Grand Passage (les mort.es se logent partout), which examines the singular nature of our relationship to our loved ones who have passed on. In SÔ AVA by Smaïl Kanouté, Voodoo philosophy emerges as a possible means of finding harmony with the beyond and with all that escapes our understanding.
Caring for our ways of being in the world
Living together as and constituting a society is an aspiration that allows us to find our place in the world that we share with one another. As Mathilde Monnier and Lucie Antunes show with Silence, this aspiration can take the form of an immersive musical and sensorial experience to be experienced collectively. In his work Confabulations, meanwhile, Diederik Peeters adopts a more metaphysical approach as he explores our relationship to mental health, between reality and the imaginary. Clédat & Petitpierre unfold a dreamlike landscape inspired by the universe of René Magritte in L’art de vivre, in a piece that centres on the relationship between a pair of endearing figures. In Le Bruit des pierres, the two protagonists of a poetic, airborne choreography imagined by Domitille Martin, Nina Harper and Ricardo Cabral enter into harmony with the elements and seem to become one with the mineral world. Finally, the collectif Les Idoles investigate ways of being present, holding fast and coming together with others in their piece STRIP.
Taking care of what connects us
Speech is a major element in the bonds that link individuals to one another. Two projects in this year’s festival explore what happens when it is undermined: Thibaud Croisy directs a version of Federico García Lorca’s La Maison de Bernarda Alba, while Marion Siéfert and Matthieu Bareyre imagine a dystopian fable with Bunker. Elsewhere, it is text that acts as the motor of the work, as in La même chose mais pas tout à fait pareille by Anne-Sophie Turion, a piece which invites the audience to share a little more than usual. The same is true of a choreographic performance by Calixto Neto which concludes with a shared tasting of a feijoada, the emblematic Brazilian dish from which this generous and welcoming work takes its name.
“Going Further”
Beyond the shows themselves, the Transforme festival continues through “Going Further” events, which enrich the public’s experience by offering the opportunity to encounter artists and understand their works through a range of tailor-made formats. The aim of these initiatives is threefold: they look to open up new local contexts in which artists can intervene, invite young generations to come together for festive or participative moments, and propose accessible formats that allow for a truly inclusive creative experience.
