Theaters (theatres) – All our local tips

If you have theater plans for the night but no tickets yet, the Kiosk at Madeline is perfect. It sells the remaining seats of most theaters for low prices.

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Kiosque billets Madeleine | Theaters
Place de la Madeleine | Grands Boulevards
Tue -Sat 12:30 – 20:00, Sun 12:30 – 16:00

Le Popul’Air behind the Parc de Belleville is a unique location for those who want to discover comedians before everybody else. Situated on a suntrap corner, it attracts locals who want to enjoy a quiet drink and soak up some rays of sun, but many also hang around for the packed programme of comedians and story tellers.

Each day, up to 6 different shows may be scheduled, ranging from stand up to more structured performances, taking place in a space not much bigger than a large living room behind the bar. The venue has been such a success that they are currently creating a second performance space.

If you do not feel that your French is up to the experience, the bar is still a cool place to hang out. Almost all the comedians pop out afterwards for a chat, so this may well be the place to meet tomorrow’s stars before they get too big to notice you!

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Le Popul’Air | Bars, Relaxing, Theaters | Beer € 2.50
36 rue Henri Chevreau | Belleville/Nation
12:00 – 00:00 daily

Whilst much of Paris is wide, uniform Haussmannian Boulevards, the Rue du Faubourg du Temple is a throwback to the medieval city layout. The Faubourgs were the original natural routes that lead visitors into the city, and with the curving, cobblestone road, and wide range of building heights and forms, it is immediately obvious that this is an ancient pathway. Down at pavement level though, you are dragged back to the 21st century, to a noisy, bright world of commerce, amusement and nourishment.

Paris is a city that goes to bed early, but this is a street that never sleeps. A constant stream of people parade up and down the pavements, some to shop at the cheap clothes outlets, some to buy chinese or North African foodstuffs, some to drink in bars, some to photograph the atmosphere and some just because it’s what the street tells them to do. It is a world to itself, peopled with a hundred different nationalities.

The street itself is a narrow one, but if you manage to push open some of the large doorways into the buildings you’ll discover sizeable bucolic landscapes behind. Some of these shelter lofts and houses, offering atypical housing the heart of the city to fashion designers and singers. Easier to spot is the Palais de Commerce, a 1920s shopping arcade which has been converted into office units for graphic designers, but which still houses the famous Java nightclub. Lower down towards the Place de la Republique, you’ll also find two theatres which programme up and coming comedians, le Palais des Glaces and le Temple.

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Rue du Faubourg du Temple | Art & culture, Relaxing, Shopping, Theaters
Rue du Faubourg du Temple | Belleville/Nation
24 hours daily

Théâtre National de la Colline is an important Parisian theatre. It is situated in the 20th arrondissement, founded in 1951 (today’s building opened in 1983) to decentralise theatre life and to create one relevant place of the theatre creation of the plays from the end of the 19th century till our days.

It is a National theatre meaning that it is funded by the state/ministry of culture (with only 4 other theatres in the country), it’s openly leftist with a diverse and well thought-out repertoire. At the moment the shows on the repertoire are: The Just Assassins by Albert Camus and directed by Nordey Stanislas (19.3.-23.4.) followed by Koltès’ Black Battles with Dogs in the Main theatre (26.5-25.6). In the Small theatre you can see now Frank Wedekind’s Spring’s Awakening, provocative anti bourgoise play from the end of 19th century directed by Vincent.

This literature based theatre that doesn’t neglect quality acting, so if you don’t understand French it’s still worth visiting. Though you shouldn’t expect experimental theatre here. In the season 2009/10 there will be some English subtitled performances. In march The Just Assasins will be subtitled on 3rd and 20th.

The present general director Stéphane Braunschweig defined his program as the one which will promote contemporary plays and openness to its public. There are often lectures, public reunions, thematic workshops and discussions with artists.

Except interesting theatrical program, Theatre National de la Colline is an architecturally powerful site, appearing around the corner in a small street where you wouldn’t expect big modernistic theatre hall.

If you are younger than 30 years or student, the ticket price of 13 Euro is also inviting (in Parisian terms).

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Théâtre National de la Colline | Theaters | Ticket € 27.00
15 rue Malte Brun | Belleville/Nation | +33144625252
Box office 11:00 – 18:30 & 19:30 – 21:00