Théâtre National de Nice Director Muriel Mayette-Holtz along with Deputy Director Ella Perrier recently announced the 2026 programme for the Festival de Tragédies.
Launched in 2024, Mayette-Holtz described the importance of the festival to “celebrate humanity in its most beautiful and most terrifying aspects: the power of the soul, the sacred energy of feelings… Sorrow must be expressed so that it may leave us with a peaceful heart.” She added, “This encounter with drama, we need to face it so that it may awaken us and free us from anger.”
Over the course of three weeks from June 16 to July 4, 2026, the 3rd edition of the festival will feature four staged productions to be presented once again at the Arènes de Cimiez as well as one family-friendly production to be held at Musée d’Archéologie de Nice-Cimiez. Additional programming for Les Autours will take place at the amphitheatre, the archaeology museum, Villa Masséna – musée d’Art et d’Histoire, and l’Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur.
For the 2026 edition, Mayette-Holtz explained: “Tragic texts speak to us of this dark side of humanity. It runs through us, it constitutes us… For if tragedy reminds us of what we are capable of losing, theatre reminds us of what we can still save: the presence of others, and that part of humanity which, despite everything, refuses to be extinguished.”
TNN Director Muriel Mayette-Holtz and Deputy Director Ella Perrier – photo © Marcus Gualberto
THE PRODUCTIONS
Bord de Mer (Seaside)
By Véronique Olmi; Direction, Scenic & Costume Design by Muriel Mayette-Holtz; with Élise Clary.
June 16, 17 & 18, 2026 at 9 p.m. | Arènes de Cimiez
Opening the festival is Bord de Mer, adapted for the stage by Olmi, based on her novel of the same title. The play tells the tale of a single mother who takes her two sons out to the sea for a few days of vacation, finding a few moments of respite from her own miseries.
Directed by Mayette-Holz (who also serves as the scenic and costume designer), she describes Bord de mer as “a song of love and despair, an insomnia of the heart.” She adds “I have always created my shows inspired by an actor. Today, it is Élise Clary, who never gave in to her dreams, with her voice from the grave, who inspires this project.”
Les Suppliantes
By Aeschylus; Adapted & Directed by Charles Tordjman; with Céline Camara, Geoffroy Guerrier, Julie Pilod, Assane Timbo.
June 23 & 24, 2026 at 9 p.m. | Arènes de Cimiez
Courtesy Théâtre National de Nice
Written in 465 BCE, Les Suppliantes recount the escape of the fifty daughters of Danaus who all are forced to commit incest and marry their cousins. Fleeing to Argos, King Pelasgus faces a dilemma: welcome the asylum seekers in the name of sacred law and risk the provocation of war, or hand them over.
Tordjman explains, “To stage Les Suppliantes is to continue along the path opened by Aeschylus. It is to salute, across the centuries, this brother of humanity, and to recognize that we belong to the same family: that of the artisans of language and justice.”
Bérénice
By Jean Racine; Directed by Robin Renucci; with Tariq Bettahar, Thomas Fitterer, Solenn Goix, Julien Leonelli, Sylvain Méallet, Amélie Oranger, Henri Payet.
June 26 & 27, 2026 at 9 p.m. | Arènes de Cimiez
For this production, Renucci will focus on the bare essentials: the text, the artists, and their performance. The play tells the tale of ill-fated love when the newly crowned King Titus is forbidden to marry the foreign Queen Bérénice.
Renucci explains, “Racine uses another universal language to make the song of love resonate: the language of language itself. It is this language, so unique and full of power…”
Mythique !
Text & Direction by Thierry Vincent; with Ellie Robin, Élodie Tampon-Lajarriette, Thierry Vincent.
June 27, 2026 at 10 a.m. & 6 p.m. | Musée d’Archéologie de Nice-Cimiez
Courtesy Théâtre National de Nice
The Compagnie Bal d’Arts Légers (BAL) transforms the museum’s gardens into Ancient Greece and invites audiences of all ages to experience the heroic and mythical world of gods and heroes.
Creator Vincent describes the production as revealing “how the Greeks imagined the creation of the Universe, and how the gods, for their own amusement, created humankind… And among them: heroines and heroes.”
Un Jour sans vent [Une Orestie] (A Day Without Wind – An Oresteia)
Based on Aeschylus, Text by Milène Tournier; Conceived by Céleste Germe and Maëlys Ricordeau; Directed by Céleste Germe; with Aurelia Nova Gschwind, Antoine Oppenheim, Maëlys Ricordeau.
July 1 & 2, 2026 at 9 p.m. | Arènes de Cimiez
Un Jour sans vent [Une Orestie] tells the tragic tale of the Athenian royals King Agamemnon, son Orestes, wife Clytemnestra, and the sacrificed daughter Iphigenia. The play delves into exploring the role of silenced women whose existence are sacrificed for the benefit of the male-dominated city state.
Director Germe describes the relevance of the ancient source to today: “Faced with a world that seems to ignore the past and live without a future, it is our myths that we wish to examine, seen from today’s perspective, seen through the eyes of women. To summon History with the words of the present.”
Courtesy Théâtre National de Nice
LES AUTOURS
Supplementing the 2026 Festival de Tragédies programming are the Les Autours – a series of free workshops, lectures and readings.
L’écriture tragique contemporaine (Contemporary Tragic Writing)
Wednesday, June 17, 2026 at 7 p.m. | Nice-Cimiez Archaeological Museum | Conversation
Nice-born Bord de mer author Véronique Olmi explores the forms and challenges of contemporary tragic writing, between heritage and reinvention of emotions. The discussion is accompanied by Muriel Mayette-Holtz.
Lettres à Lucilius
Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 7 p.m. | Nice-Cimiez Archaeological Museum | Lecture
Translated by philosopher Maxime Rovère (who will also provide critical commentary); read by TNN Troupe member Laurent Prévot. On the eve of his death, condemned by Nero, Seneca redefined the act of philosophising around a single project: to gain absolute freedom, so that his own end, ultimately, no longer concerned him.
En attendant le futur (Waiting for the Future)
Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 9 p.m. | Cimiez Arena | Lecture
By Olivia Chalus Penochet, the texts are read by lawyers Françoise Assus-Juttner, Olivia Chalus Penochet, Robert Chemla, Marc Concas, Frédérique Grégoire-Concas and Olivier Romani. They are accompanied by TNN Troupe members Élise Clary, Armand Pitot, Laurent Prévot, Hervé Van der Meulen, and Carla Ventre.
Les Arènes de Cimiez – photo © RIVIERA BUZZ
“This text was written based on the court notes of a lawyer representing victims during the trial of the July 14, 2016 attack… 270 testimonies were presented in court at first instance, and the same number on appeal,” described Penochet. “En attendant le futur is written solely from the victims’ point of view. It describes exclusively their feelings and their experiences. The words used are theirs, spoken in the courtroom. No facts are invented; only anonymization has been carried out.”
Une Séparation
Monday, June 22, 2026 at 7 p.m. | Côte d’Azur Observatory | Reading
By Véronique Olmi and read by Muriel Mayette-Holtz and Laurent Prévot.
“I am deeply moved by Véronique Olmi’s writing, which I wish to honour this year at our Festival of Tragedies. Une Séparation, a text written for the stage, explores with rare delicacy the intimacy of a couple who miss each other as much as they can no longer bear each other, who no longer know how to reinvent themselves and yet remain bound by an unbreakable thread,” described TNN Director Muriel Mayette-Holtz.
Le Chemin des Danaïdes (The Danaid’s Path)
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at 7 p.m. | Nice-Cimiez Archaeological Museum | Workshop & Performance
By Adela Coman and Diana Iliescu.
After participating in workshops to understand symbolic movements, shared rhythm and form a procession, guides will take the audience for a collective walk towards a sacred passage, from the Museum of Archaeology to the amphitheater of the Cimiez Arena, at the opening of the show Les Suppliantes.
Call for participation: Free workshop for participants ages 15 and up. Limited space; registration required. A group of participants, guided by workshops on step-by-step symbolic gestures and movements. This is neither a performance nor a simple stroll, but a silent, ritualistic walk that resonates with the body, memory, and public space. Le Chemin des Danaïdes invites the audience to cross the threshold of tragedy together, not only as spectators, but as participants in a shared gesture. For further details, visit the Théâtre National de Nice (TNN) website.
D’Eschyle à nos jours – La tragédie : une réflexion sur le concept de frontière (From Aeschylus to the Present Day – Tragedy: A Reflection on the Concept of Borders)
Thursday, June 25 at 7 p.m. | Salle des Franciscains | Conversation
“These works (Aeschylus’s Les Suppliantes, Racine’s Bérénice, Aeschylus’s Oresteia) highlight the important role of boundaries, whether political between states or legal and mental between the sexes,” explains French historian Ralph Schor, who will lead the conversation.
Le Feuilleton d’Artémis (The Artemis Soap Opera)
Saturday, June 27 & Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 7 p.m. | Villa Masséna, musée d’Art et d’Histoire | Reading
Text by Murielle Szac, read by Hervé Van der Meulen; accompanied by the ERACM acting apprentices Amélie Kierszenbaum and Lîla Sanchez.
Villa Masséna – photo © RIVIERA BUZZ
Artemis, goddess of nature and the hunt, prefers to live far from Olympus and its intrigues. Around this free-spirited woman gravitate formidable characters, whom Hervé Van der Meulen will bring to life.
A summary of previous episodes [read as part of the Festival of Tragedies 2025] will be given before each reading by students from L’École Régionale d’Acteurs de Cannes et Marseille.
Les Procès des grands personnages (The Trial of Great Figures)
- The Trial of Theseus | Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 11 a.m.
- The Trial of Pandora | Saturday, June 27, 2026 at 11 a.m.
- The Trial of Clytemnestra | Saturday, July 4, 2026 at 11 a.m.
All performances take place at Parvis de la salle des Franciscains.
By Laurent Prévot, Carla Ventre, and Muriel Mayette-Holtz, accompanied by lawyers Benjamin Charlier, Olivia Chalus Penochet, and Olivier Romani; and by ERACM acting apprentices.
Guilty or victims of a destiny beyond their control? It’s up to you to judge!
PROGRAMME DETAILS
Tickets for shows at les Arènes de Cimiez cost €20 for adults, €15 for TNN subscribers and those with disabilities, and €10 for those Under 26 or on minimum wage. Les Autours events are free admission, but reservation is required.
For further production details and ticketing information, visit the TNN festival website.
Courtesy Théâtre National de Nice
The third edition of the Festival of Tragedies is generously supported by: Explore Nice Côte d’Azur Tourisme & Congrès; Ville de Nice; ibis Styles (Nice – Centre – Port); Télérama, as well as Musée d’Archéologie de Nice-Cimiez; Villa Masséna – musée d’Art et d’Histoire; and l’Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur
PHOTO CREDITS
- All photos and images courtesy Théâtre National de Nice unless otherwise credited
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