(le/the) Pain

For four generations of his family, baguettes have been made just as destinies have been passed down: without deviation. Jean-Daniel Broussé was expected to take over the family bakery in Béarn, south-western France. But he chose a different direction and to shape the subject matter of his own story. With the polished staging of his collaborator Ursula Martinez and a cloud of flour, he transforms the stage into a place of metamorphosis. This piece tells the story of a queer childhood in the provinces with the urgency of a present freed from the constraints of the patriarchy.

From the weight of tradition to the call of the artist’s life in England, (le/the) Pain sculpts a physical narrative that combines acrobatic prowess and dance in a performance that is as virtuoso as it is intimate. Between his pain and his pain (French for bread), Jean-Daniel Broussé embraces the very real gamble of reinventing himself.