Theatre at home

Spectators sit on a sofa in someone’s living room instead of a seat in a theatre and so get a truly close-up experience of drama in action. With its «Spectacles en appartements», fOrum culture is presenting three different plays in various private homes in the canton of Jura, Bernese Jura and Biel/Bienne. The 50 performances overall are supported by Pro Helvetia in connection with its  «Cultural diversity in non-urban regions» initiative and are scheduled for February to May 2018.

Guests head for the outskirts of Delémont and there, at the foot of the mountains, meet up for a theatre performance by Julien Mégroz. His play «La Table des Matières» is the first in the «Spectacles en Appartements» series. Together with his sound and light technician, he is already there in the afternoon, preparing the stage in an apartment house living-room. The set design consists of no more than a table and a standing lamp. Yet as soon as the one-man production gets underway, light and sound transform the simple scenery into a constanty changing universe.

Julien Mégroz deftly integrates the apartment spaces into his poetically ironic piece, giving the audience the impression of being at the heart of events and creating a sense of closeness that would not be possible in a conventional theatre. It is this intimate and family-like atmosphere of performances in a private home with a small number of spectators that makes «Spectacles en Appartements» so special.