AWARD-WINNING play “L’Homme et le Pêcheur” (“The Man and the Fisherman”) by the French-Italian troupe Cie Teatro Picaro will be staged in Shenzhen this September as part of the 20th Festival Croisements.

The play swept the “Prix Coup de Cœur” (Heart Award) at the 2023 Avignon Festival OFF unit, standing out from over 1,000 competing productions. Since then, it has packed houses for three consecutive years at the prestigious French festival and earned a remarkable 8.8 rating on Douban during its Asian tour.

A modern comedy inspired by surrealism and popular theater, the play explores the paradox of human existence with wit and absurdity: “I think, therefore I am.”

The story unfolds on a bridge, where a man with a noose around his neck and a stone in his arms encounters a fisherman staring indifferently at the water. What follows is a journey across reality and fantasy, comedy and tragedy. Three interwoven vignettes — man and fisherman, hunter and hound, captain and sailor — blur the lines between truth and illusion. As the man confronts death, the audience sees a reflection of their own struggles with compromise, loneliness, and conformity.

The play features a layered narrative structure — the man’s conversations with the fisherman are punctuated by surreal “flashbacks” performed by the same two actors, creating a mirror of the protagonist’s inner world.

The show will be in French with Chinese subtitles.

Founded in 2009 by Italian director Ciro Cesarano, Cie Teatro Picaro is dedicated to contemporary theater that provokes thought through emotion. Cesarano describes the work as a tragicomedy that makes audiences laugh while confronting serious questions.

Time: 3 p.m., Sept. 13

Venue: Grand Theater, Guangming Culture and Art Center, Guangming District (光明文化艺术中心演艺中心大剧场)

Metro: Line 6 to Fenghuang Town Station (凤凰城站), Exit B

(Tang Li)