Simon Gauchet

Simon Gauchet is an actor, director and visual artist, a 2012 graduate of École Supérieure du Théâtre National de Bretagne and co-creator of Jeune Théâtre-Laboratoire Européen and École Parallèle Imaginaire. He invents innovative creative processes that push the boundaries of our imagination, with projects in public spaces (Le Radeau Utopique, a fleet of rafts that set sail in search of the island of Utopia); in theatres (L’Expérience du Feu and Projet Apocalyptique) and museums (Le Musée Recopié and Faire Campagne). As an actor, he has worked with Eric Lacascade, Stanislas Nordey, François Tanguy, Thomas Jolly, Benjamin Lazar and Bernard Sobel.

In 2008 in Japan, Simon Gauchet met Udaka Tatsushige, a young Noh actor of the Kongo school, who spent one month teaching him the rudiments of this age-old art. When the time came for Gauchet to return to France, Tatsushige refused payment and asked instead that Gauchet one day return to Japan, to teach him about western theatre. The Théâtre de l’Arbre project invents the next chapter in this story and creates a space in which to question what it means to pass on a legacy. The stage becomes a place where two cultures learn one from the other. The pine tree, painted on the back wall of every Noh theatre, is witness to this experience.

© Caroline Ablain