From the Paris Periphery into the Limelight: Staging New French Identities in Ahmed Madani’s Incandescences

Abstract

Incandescences by Ahmed Madani, first performed in France in 2021, represents a growing trend in contemporary French theatre towards creating shows based on the real-life experiences and testimony of non-actors. This movement gives voice and visibility to new storytellers and transports them from the periphery of theatre to centre stage. All of the characters in the play are performed by the individuals on whom their stories are based. They are eighteen to thirty years old without prior professional acting experience, from underprivileged areas and have parents or grandparents who immigrated to France. Yet while their portrait of France today is new—incorporating a variety of languages, ethnicities, sexual identities and values—the struggle at the heart of each story is not. What shines through in spite of linguistic, generational or cultural differences is the universal struggle each of us faces in moving from being a child to becoming an adult.