In a summer residence in post-Victorian England, two women give way to their most intimate musings. Mrs. Ramsay, the model lady of the house, seeks happiness through marriage, while Lily Briscoe, a fiercely independent artist, dreams of life as a painter. Although everything seems to oppose them – matrimony, children, art – the flow of their meditations reveals a fascinating game of mirrors in which their unspoken desires are reflected. Ten years later, war has emptied the home and left its ghosts…
Freely inspired from Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece To the Lighthouse, playwright Evelyne de la Chenelière renews with the dreamlike and contemporary universe of director Florent Siaud and his company Les songes turbulents. This singular coproduction, the very first between the prestigious Comédie-Française and Quebec, offers the Parisian troupe a sensible exploration on the passage of time.
Text Evelyne de la Chenelière
Freely inspired from To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
Direction Florent Siaud
With the Troupe de la Comédie-Française Aymeline Alix, Florence Viala
Assistant director Natalie van Parys
Set design Romain Fabre
Costume design Jean-Daniel Vuillermoz
Lighting design Nicolas Descôteaux
Sound design Vincent Legault
Sound spacialisation Maxime Gamache
Video design Éric Maniengui
Tour production director Mélodie Lupien
Coproduction Comédie-Française (Paris), Les songes turbulents (Montreal)
Coproduction partner Les Théâtres de Compiègne
Support Conseil des arts de Montréal, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts du Canada, Institut-Français, Délégation générale du Québec à Paris, Ambassade de France au Canada, Région Hauts-de-France, DRAC des Hauts-de-France, Conseil départemental de l'Oise
Photo credit Agathe Poupeney
The text is published by Théâtrales editions.
Show created at the Studio-Théâtre de la Comédie-Française in Paris in May 2026.
