After seducing the public and critics in the spring in Paris, during 35 performances at the Studio-Théâtre du Louvre (one of the three official venues of the Comédie-Française), the Quebec play LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES by Evelyne de la Chenelière will begin its tour in Montreal at the Salle Fred-Barry of the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, from September 2 to 19, 2026. before hitting the road through Quebec and Canada.
Third Quebec text to be presented at the Comédie-Française, an unprecedented co-production between this institution and Quebec through the company Les songes turbulents, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES was received by packed houses and unanimously praised by the French press. The journalists spoke of “great art”, a “fascinating moment”, a “small marvel”, a “delight of writing and staging” and a “bewitching” spectacle of “masterful fluidity”. Created in 2014 then published in 2015, this play, freely inspired by Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece Towards the Lighthouse, directed by Florent Siaud, brings together several local designers and two actresses from the Comédie-Française troupe, encountering for the first time the writing of Evelyne de la Chenelière: Florence Viala and Aymeline Alix.
LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES explores the passage of time, the heartbreak of love, mourning and hope through the memory of a journey constantly postponed. In her free rewriting, Evelyne de la Chenelière offers a dreamlike and conflicting dive into the flow of consciousness of two characters in the novel: Madame Ramsay, model mother, and Lily Briscoe, fiercely independent artist. These two opposing women ardently resonate with the tensions still alive today between creative freedom and social norms.
Entering here an eighth collaboration with Florent Siaud, Evelyne de la Chenelière confides: “It was through her novel Towards the Lighthouse that I discovered Virginia Woolf. Nothing had prepared me for this literary shock, which would forever change my outlook on the world and open up new writing possibilities in me. »“What upsets me in this magnetic text is the way in which Evelyne shows that the life of consciousness is an active magma dotted with explosions. I am also touched by the strength of these two female portraits, their reflection on the power of art, their melancholy in their relationship to time, the dizzying painting of the landscapes,” declares director Florent Siaud, co-founder and artistic director of the company Les songes turbulents. »
EVELYNE DE LA CHENELIÈRE – AUTHOR AND PERFORMEREvelyne de la Chenelière is an actress and writer. His plays, translated and staged in Quebec, Canada and elsewhere in the world, question the limits of language and the experience of writing. Among them, Bashir Lazhar was the subject of a film adaptation by director Philippe Falardeau: Monsieur Lazhar, nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film. Her collection of short stories Les traits difficile won the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal, 2025 edition. As an actress, we have seen her shine, among others, under the direction of Marie Brassard, Daniel Brière, Alice Ronfard, Jérémie Niel, Brigitte Haentjens, Florent Siaud, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard, Denis Côté and Jeremy Comte. Evelyne de la Chenelière’s journey is marked by a formal exploration that defies expectations. Present in major institutions, it also works in secret on their margins.
FLORENT SIAUD – DIRECTORFlorent Siaud develops a unique artistic approach between Europe and Quebec. In the theater, he has produced notable productions of contemporary texts such as Quartett by Heiner Müller, 4.48 Psychose by Sarah Kane, Les Enivrés by Ivan Viripaev and Toccate et fugue by Etienne Lepage. He also revisited classics like Marivaux’s La Dispute, Racine’s Britannicus, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Molière’s The Misanthrope and Chekhov’s Three Sisters. More recently, he created Une fête d’enfants by Michel Marc Bouchard at the TNM. In 2026, he made his debut at the Comédie-Française with Lumières, Lumières, Lumières by Evelyne de la Chenelière, after Virginia Woolf. At the opera, he has notably staged Pelléas et Mélisande, Tosca, La Beauté du monde, Lohengrin, Eugène Onéguine, Armide, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Madame Butterfly in houses such as the Montreal Opera, the Strasbourg National Opera, the Bordeaux National Opera, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Royal Opera of Drottningholm. In 2023, he received an honorary diploma from the University of Montreal for his theatrical activity in Quebec.
LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRESCOPRODUCTION COMÉDIE-FRANÇAISE ET LES SONGES TURBULENTSText Evelyne de la ChenelièreFreely inspired by Towards the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfDirected by Florent SiaudCo-production Comédie-Française, Les songes turbulentWith the troupe of the Comédie-FrançaiseFlorence Viala, Aymeline AlixAssisted director Natalie van Parys and Mélodie Lupien │ Scenography Romain Fabre │ Costumes Jean-Daniel Vuillermoz │ Lights Nicolas Descôteaux │ Sound design Vincent Legault │ Sound spatialization Maxime Gamache │ Video Éric Maniengui Show created at the Studio-Théâtre (Paris) in May 2026. The text, created in 2014 in Montreal, is published by Editions Théâtrales.