MC93 Bobigny, one of Paris’ leading venues for innovative performance, has been under political threat since the beginning of October, when, without warning, Parisian cultural officials anounced a tentative plan to move the company of the Comédie Française to Bobigny’s space.  MC93 is one of the major spaces in the Paris metropolitan area that includes experimental work from an international context– a quick glance at their current season includes Alvis Hermanis, La Fura del Baus, and Christoph Marthaler.

The theatre’s website has a special section devoted to the developments of their impending crisis.

At the bottom of this section there is an electronic petition calling for support– signatures include Peter Brook and Simon McBurney of Complicite.

An Overdue Update, January 2009

Although the “la MC93 menacée” link on the theatre’s website hasn’t changed, a quick search on Libération’s website revealed that “the affair Bobigny” had been officially abandoned in mid-November in the face of the strong opposition from within the Comédie Française.  Below are a series of stories from that time, which trace a negative PR backlash for the Minstry of Culture– selected translations into English will be forthcoming.

Comédie-Française: rideau sur le déménagement

Rapprochement Comédie Française-MC93: Albanel refuse de renoncer

La Comédie Français va-t-elle perdre son honneur?