Anne Gilibert - Contre-courant

Anne Gilibert brings Contre-Courant to Espace Gerson

At Espace Gerson, we love nights when craft, courage, and complicity with the audience converge, and Anne Gilibert arrives with Contre-Courant precisely in that spirit. Our intimate stage, nestled in the heart of Lyon’s historic presqu’île, was built for storytelling: the low ceiling focuses the voice, the room’s warmth amplifies laughter, and every seat feels close to the performance. In this new creation, Anne leans into a clear artistic proposition: to move against the prevailing tide, to examine the buzzwords and routines that carry us along, and to gently, joyfully resist them. Expect a set paced by sharp observational beats and generous moments of silence where meaning lands; expect a performer who uses the room as a partner, riffing with the front rows as easily as she builds a narrative arc that holds the entire house. Espace Gerson’s design makes that dialogue natural—our lights carve a space for nuance, our acoustics keep the softest confession and the loudest punchline equally crisp, and our team shapes the night so the first chuckle can arrive as early as the welcome at the door.

Her current momentum, on stage and in the zeitgeist

Contre-Courant marks a moment for Anne Gilibert where writing, rhythm, and presence align with the concerns of right now. The questions that animate contemporary talk and culture shows—Quotidien, La Bande Originale, 28 Minutes—find a playful echo in her set: anxiety wrapped in productivity, the endless scroll vs. real connection, the paradox of wanting to be unique while following the algorithmic current. Anne approaches these themes through precise character work, quick pivots between sincerity and irony, and an ear for the revealing detail. She has been refining this material in clubs and theatres much like ours, cross-pollinating with audiences who reward risk and relish honesty. The result is a show that feels lived-in without losing its spark, and timely without chasing headlines. When she leans into the “contre-courant” of daily life—privacy in public spaces, the odd rituals of office and family, the tiny rebellions of saying no—she gives the room permission to exhale, to laugh at what we all recognize, and to glimpse sturdier ways of standing upright amid the flow. For us at Espace Gerson, hosting her now feels right: Lyon’s appetite for smart, human-scale comedy is surging, and Anne’s voice fits that appetite with confidence and care.

What happens in the hour with us is entirely theatrical: a clear opening gesture that frames the evening, a mid-show swell where she orchestrates callbacks with surgical timing, and an end sequence that lands both emotionally and comedically. We see how she threads contrasts—tenderness and bite, self-deprecation and assertion—so that each laugh also moves the story along. The craft is evident in how Anne manages the room: she invites participation without derailing flow, riffs on a latecomer while keeping the narrative intact, and uses rhythm to let laughter breathe. Espace Gerson is built for that interplay. Our close-up sightlines make micro-expressions readable from the back row; our stage fosters the kind of eye contact that turns a punchline into a shared secret. If you’ve been waiting for a night where stand-up feels like theatre and theatre feels as immediate as stand-up, this is it. Come early, settle into the glow of the room, and let Contre-Courant carry you—ironically, by teaching you how to push, with grace and humor, against the current.