Villeneuve-sur-Lot: Edouard Baer in Cyrano, a tribute to Devos and a play with 5 Molière awards, the cultural season is moving upmarket

With 43 proposals, including shows for young audiences, the 2025-2026 season will see a multitude of headliners and Molières, as well as creative residencies at Roger-Louret and Georges-Leygues.

Unveiled this Friday, September 5, Villeneuve-sur-Lot's cultural season duly embraces diversity, both in content and in form, whether for adult or youth performances. But where this 2025-2026 season stands out is the number of landmark offerings, from October to May.

First up is the play that will be premiering for three weeks in February, with the arrival of two figures from the theater, but also from the big and small screen: Sébastien Castro and José Paul. The two actors, transformed for the occasion respectively into author and director, chose Georges-Leygues to create "Succès fou" from start to finish. They know the venue well, having performed "Une idée géniale" there in 2024. "Succès fou" will be performed four times, at the end of February-beginning of March, in previews, in front of the Villeneuve audience, before going on tour throughout France and settling into the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris.

It is with one of these that the season kicks off with the arrival of Anne Sila, winner of "The Voice all star" in 2021. The latter is programmed in collaboration with Voix du Sud, in Astaffort, and comes to test her latest tracks live before freezing them on her next album. Three dates were scheduled at Roger-Louret, but, to everyone's surprise, quickly sold out. As a result, the one on Friday, September 19, was moved to Georges-Leygues, with a larger capacity.

At the end of October, a local boy will return, with the arrival of Tom Baldetti, aka La Sardine, originally from Villeneuve. He arrived on France Inter last year with his humor and pronounced southern accent. His first show is a stand-up where improvisation plays a large role.

Six famous actors will be on stage in January for a tribute to Raymond Devos in "Il a la cote Devos". While the casting has not yet been finalized, the names of Christophe Alévêque, François Berléand, Michel Boujenah, Zabou Breitman, Clémentine Célarié, Stéphane de Groodt, François-Xavier Demaison, Julie Depardieu, Mélanie Doutey, Stéphane Guillon, Arthur and Gérard Jugnot are among the potential names.

In March, women take center stage. Elena Nagapetyan, a daring Russian who dares anything, now more accustomed to venues the size of a Zenith, arrives with her caustic humor on March 12. Eight days later, it will be Christelle Chollet's turn to celebrate her twenty-year career in a theater she knows inside out.

What if Edouard Baer played Cyrano de Bergerac? This was the tempting offer announced in early April. He will be joined by 14 actors to perform the great Edmond Rostand classic, directed by Anne Kessler.

Finally, it will be Natasha Saint-Pier who will close the season with songs on May 26.

Three plays scheduled for this season graced the Folies Bergères stage last March for the Molières awards ceremony. The first to perform has two nominations. It's called "Ring" and tells the story of the daily lives of 16 couples through the duo Jina Djemba and Amaury de Crayencour.

The second, scheduled for December 18, was a resounding success, winning five Molière awards. "Coal in the Veins," starring Jean-Jacques Vannier and directed by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, delves into the mining world of the 1950s.

Finally, the third, voted best comedy of 2025, is "The Loop", the latest invention of Romain Goupil, which puts on stage two baroque police officers investigating a murder in Kansas.

With the proposal of November 13, we discover that a conference on "The Raft of the Medusa" by Géricault can be turned into humor, when the speaker learns, a few minutes before her performance, that her husband is asking for a divorce... Anne Cangelosi, alone on stage, plays an art historian in the middle of a meltdown.

Another diversion, and not the least, with "Britannicus Musical Circus" at the beginning of February. A crazy, rock'n'roll circus troupe revisits Racine's classic, while retaining the original text... at least in part.

The Dreyfus Affair has often been the focus of artistic works. "The Bold," on March 25, will shed new light on it with the little-known story of the film that Méliès shot at the time alongside Zola.

Finally, a new version of the masterpiece "12 Angry Men" is coming on March 31st with the name of a former Baladin, Pierre-Alain Leleu, on the poster.

Online programming and ticketing on the town's website www.ville-villeneuve-sur-lot.fr