Carmen: itinerant opera-landscape

In Seville, soldiers rub shoulders with the women working at the tobacco factory. One of them, Carmen, is arrested for starting a brawl. Don José, a recently recruited young brigadier, must take her to prison. But he falls in love with her and lets her escape.

Of Carmen, we know the famous arias that celebrate amorous freedom. But the toreador's aria makes it plain: death is never far away. The plot can be summed up by the phrase "She leaves him, he kills her", tragically recurrent in today's news. Bizet's work is therefore more political than it has ever been.

Since all Carmen's action takes place in public spaces (the square, the tavern, the mountain, the arena), Jeanne Desoubeaux invites us to find ourselves in the urban space, where debate can and must blossom. A troupe of ten artists narrates the story with humour, kindness and acuity. From the Cité internationale des Arts to the Collège François Couperin, in Paris' 4th arrondissement, the Opéra-Comique invites audiences to this lyrical stroll.