Dolto - Lorsque Françoise Paraît - Théâtre Comédie Odéon - Lyon

Welcoming Dolto, lorsque Françoise paraît to Théâtre Comédie Odéon

At Théâtre Comédie Odéon, we are delighted to host Dolto, lorsque Françoise paraît, a theatrical immersion that invites audiences in Lyon to encounter the voice, ideas, and humanity of one of the most influential French thinkers on childhood and language. On our stage, the production sketches an intimate space—part consultation room, part radio studio—where the public sits close to the heart of a life’s work dedicated to listening to children. The play’s writing assembles moments of frankness, humor, ethical doubt, and intellectual ardor, allowing spectators to discover the warmth and rigor that defined Françoise Dolto’s approach. Without didactic heaviness, the performance carries her legacy into the present, touching on subjects that feel urgent today: the power of words, the place of desire in education, the right of every child to be heard, and the responsibility of adults to translate emotions into language. As hosts, we have shaped the room to preserve that feeling of proximity, so the exchange between stage and audience remains alive, precise, and deeply personal.

An intimate portrait shaped for our room and our audience

The experience at Théâtre Comédie Odéon centers on the quality of presence: the performer’s attentive gaze, the silences between sentences, and the quiet music of thought that holds the audience in a shared moment of attention. Our technical team has refined lighting to follow the pulse of the monologue, allowing the set to shift from a study to a listening room, and then to a public forum where Dolto’s insights find their modern resonance. The writing balances biography with living dialogue, evoking formative episodes from youth to late-career reflections, and echoing the popular broadcasts that brought psychoanalysis into countless homes. From the vantage point of our seats, spectators witness the tension between doubt and conviction that animates real care for children; it is a theatre of ideas in the most human sense, enlivened by wit and tenderness. The show’s rhythm favors moments of shared breath over spectacle, and in our venue’s intimate scale, that choice becomes a strength—every confession, every principle, every story arrives with clarity and nuance.

Presenting this work now feels especially timely. Across France, conversations about school, mental health, and the family are moving fast, and Dolto, lorsque Françoise paraît offers a rare opportunity to slow down and listen. The artist behind the performance has been engaging audiences with this portrait over multiple seasons, and the piece continues to find new listeners—parents, educators, students, and theatre lovers alike—who seek art that thinks and feels at once. In hosting the production at Théâtre Comédie Odéon, we have focused on creating an environment where the intellectual precision of the text meets the gentle hospitality necessary for such a meeting. The staging’s simplicity—objects that carry memory, chairs that invite dialogue, images suggested rather than imposed—gives the words space to resonate in the room long after the final line. We welcome the public to join us for an evening that refuses nostalgia in favor of living inquiry: a reminder that theatre can function as a place where knowledge is shared, myths are questioned, and the child in each of us is invited to speak.