24 Place Beaumarchais

How do you build yourself when everything around you seems to have already decided the place you will occupy? Brahim Koutari brings to the stage an intimate and political narrative, born from his journey as a child from Échirolles who became an actor. A singular trajectory, marked by police checks, social assignments, thwarted dreams, but also by the love of his family and his neighbourhood, faith, mutual aid, humour, and the decisive discovery of theatre.

Written by author Adèle Gascuel based on her own story, the text delivers a lively, direct, deeply embodied voice. It blends the language of the neighbourhood, stand-up, rap, Moroccan Arabic, the language of prayer, but also Molière and Shakespeare.

This plurality of languages and registers creates a theatre that is as close as possible to life, far from clichés about the suburbs and from exemplary, pre-ordained success stories. On stage, Brahim Koutari creates everything in plain sight.

Places shift, memories surface, stories are re-enacted. What emerges is not just the story of a man who supposedly “found his place” in theatre, but that of a deeper gesture: bringing a world, a memory, an address, a reality too often left out of frame, with him.

As director Catherine Hargreaves writes, the show is not just a simple testimony; it was born from an encounter – that of a trio: a way of reminding us that theatre can also become common ground.

Between life story, address to the audience, and power of embodiment, 24 Place Beaumarchais is a salutary and unifying show of transmission.

It delivers a voice that speaks of the violence of social pigeonholing, but also the possibility of shifting boundaries, of reclaiming one's place, to invite others to enter the theatre in turn.

Cast Text Adèle Gascuel, with the collaboration of Brahim Koutari Directed by Catherine Hargreaves, in collaboration with Adèle Gascuel With Brahim Koutari Set design Benjamin Lebreton Lighting Stéphanie Daniel Sound Patrick Jammes Costumes Suzanne Devaux Assistant Director Angélique Heller Production MC2: Maison de la Culture de Grenoble – Scène nationale, Cie les 7 sœurs With the support of the City of Échirolles, the Théâtre National Populaire de Villeurbanne and Théâtre Ouvert – Centre national des dramaturgies contemporaines.