Familie by Milo Rau

For theatre lovers seeking rich and complex plays in avant-garde productions by diverse European directors, there is no better venue in Paris than the Théâtre de la Colline. Since 2016, the theatre’s director Wajdi Mouawad, who is also a playwright and director, has devoted himself to championing four key principles: new writing and devised pieces, diversity, youth, and place.

This season, the Théâtre de la Colline presents Familie (Family), a new play by Swiss playwright, essayist, and journalist Milo Rau. Familie is the first part of Rau’s Trilogy of Private Life , which plunges audiences into the most deeply intimate scenes and tells stories of human courage, resilience, and vulnerability. Performances of the play will alternate with those of the second part of the trilogy Grief and Beauty.

Familie is inspired by the true story of an incident in Calais, which resulted in the collective suicide of an entire family for no apparent reason. On the stage of the Théâtre de La Colline, we are plunged into the day-to-day intimacy of one family, as its members eat, talk, listen to music... This is a family just like any other.

Setting out to understand the tragedy, director Milo Rau asks how we build a family unit in a Western society in crisis. Where do doubts come from and how do we engage with the meaning of life? In this play that tackles society’s problems head on, Rau offers a powerful and uncompromising reflection on the erosion of meaning in contemporary life.

Familie is not recommended for children under 16.