Guillaume & Harold — Gaëlle Bourges

On stage, two performers take hold of a heritage treasure: the Bayeux Tapestry. But here, there is no museum or showcase — History comes to life with three pieces of cardboard and a healthy dose of imagination. Plenty to draw both young and old into this revisited, witty, and inventive medieval serial.

With mischievous humor, the dancers unroll the 70 meters of the famous embroidery as one would binge-watch episodes of a series: rushed heroes, express battles, a mischievous narrator, and… an ABBA song to top it all off — because after all, queens must be honored just as much as kings!

Much like this show, which combines text and imagery to make History and its depiction accessible to children, without sugarcoating the narrative twists or the outcome, the artistic “deconstruction” work of Gaëlle Bourges continues its journey through art history and its most telling forms while injecting a welcome critical perspective.

Marie Plantin, Sceneweb

With the Playground festival, organized by the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis

Around the show

Parent/child workshop: crafting objects and stage props (WED. 18 NOV. 2026｜15h—17h) Duration 2h For children aged 6 and up and their parents Rate 10€ Booking recommended

This parent/child workshop is designed as a fun immersion into the visual and stage world of the show Guillaume & Harold by Gaëlle Bourges. Through making and animating cardboard objects and silhouettes, discover how simple materials — cardboard, kraft paper, or plastic sheeting — can become tools for storytelling and creating moving images.

The content of the workshop centers on the Bayeux Tapestry, a major source of inspiration for Guillaume & Harold. Accompanied by Camille Gerbeau, a performer in the show, you choose one to two episodes from this famous medieval fresco, then recreate them as cut-out cardboard silhouettes, much like the objects manipulated in the play: ships, horses, swords, or shields. Certain materials also make it possible to recreate landscapes and stage effects, such as the plastic sheeting used to evoke the sea and sea crossings.

Throughout the workshop, you experiment with different ways to bring these forms to life: moving an army, making a wave rise, staging a battle scene, or inventing a crossing. You thus explore how a static image becomes motion, how very simple objects can create representational effects, and how collective play helps construct short stories inspired by the world of the show.

A creative and fun workshop to share as a family, diving behind the scenes of creating sets and props for a show and experiencing the connections between visual arts and performing arts.

Tactile tour of the stage (THU. 19 NOV. 2026｜17h45) Explore the set and universe of the show with a tactile tour of the stage, specially designed for blind and visually impaired people.

Post-show discussion (THU. 19 NOV. 2026) Meet with the artistic team following the performance.

LSF adaptation by Lucie Lataste (FRI. 20 NOV. 2026｜19h) The performance on Friday, November 20 will be adapted into LSF (French Sign Language).

; Credits: Agathe Poupeney

; Credits: Agathe Poupeney

; Credits: Agathe Poupeney

; Credits: Agathe Poupeney

; Credits: Agathe Poupeney